Where would you rather live: NYC, Atlanta or Columbus?

mgoblue wrote:

Homestly, I would rather live in hell than in Columbus. My vote is for NYC with the disclosure that I know nothing about living in Atlanta.

This a perfect illustration of what I described in my first post. The world is a very narrow place for people like mgoblue, believing that a place like Columbus is hell. His job choices will be fewer, his work life will be longer and his rat race will be more frantic if he does not know down the line that there are other options.

He could of course just be trolling because his name indicates that he attended a large school with a 2nd tier football program whose coach tends to pick his nose.on camera.

Zigmund Froid wrote:

All NYC has become, again, is a dirty cesspool of arrogant third world gang members, and self absorbed privileged media controlling hypocrites who engage in groupthink

What??

I’m going to take a wild guess and say you’ve never lived in NY nor probably ever visited.

As an Ohio Native who fled to the PNW for grad school and now only returns to visit family, I agree with some of this. BUT I would not call Columbus a transplant city. Ohio is still something like #5 most moved away from state in the country. Columbus grows because Ohio millennials move there and the ‘Burbs of Columbus keep expanding.

Definitely more friendly though and the running scene is good. I think the OP should consider his own personality in the decision. As a Midwesterner I found my sensibilities fit with the West Coast crowd far more than the East. Although NYC is a wonderful city... I wouldn’t have been happy there because of the culture.

I’ve lived in Columbus past ten years, it’s definitely not hell but it’s not great. Cheap, traffics not bad, ladies aren’t bad but all white, zero historical culture(Cleveland and Cincinnati are way better ethnic food and culture). I’d never live in NYC. My cousin lives in Atlanta, not a fan but that’s me. If I’m going east coast Philly or Pitt. Out west is the best decision.

Experiental wrote:

He could of course just be trolling because his name indicates that he attended a large school with a 2nd tier football program whose coach tends to pick his nose.on camera.

That coach's grandfather grew up in a small town in Ohio. Bo Schembechler was also born in Ohio.

Countrybumpkin from ohio wrote:

Experiental wrote:

He could of course just be trolling because his name indicates that he attended a large school with a 2nd tier football program whose coach tends to pick his nose.on camera.

That coach's grandfather grew up in a small town in Ohio. Bo Schembechler was also born in Ohio.

That's right and some years it seems that half the starting line up in blue uniforms grew up in Ohio.

I know people are rightly worried about the current scandals in the FBI and CIA but I don't think we should allow our attention to be diverted from getting the real facts behind booger-gate.

dkny64 wrote:

lrc for life decisions wrote:

NYU, and yes the Columbus school is OSU. Yeah, you're right in that having a range of advisors that I am interested in working with is the number one priority.

Idle curiosity again: you've said all three programs have pros/cons and you've indicated a pro for the Georgia Tech program. What's your take on the pros/cons for each?

[I have my own poorly informed hunch and I'm curious to see if I'm close.]

Georgia Tech: Another pro is that, in the first year or so where I take classes, I have a lot more freedom to choose which subjects to take. I would also only have to TA here for only my first year. A con I noted is that it took students (on average) slightly longer to graduate than the standard time for chemistry PhDs.

NYU: The other poster is right that TAing is optional here, but I feel like I would need the money if I was living in NYC. This would involve teaching into my 3rd year, which is a lot longer than everywhere else I looked at. This place also has great faculty advisors, but they're more established with larger labs and might not have as much time for individual students.

Ohio State: I wouldn't have to TA here my first year for sure, since they're offering to put me on a research assistantship right away. Not sure about after that. The advisor options excited me a little bit less than the other two places, but still pretty good. I think I would have to take a few more classes than the other two.

This is a very good answer on all three cities.

Columbus, OH is a great place to live and raise kids. I don't want to retire here because I want warmer weather and more sun, but to start out here, it's pretty good. Ohio State for graduate school, and increasingly for undergraduate school is pretty good too.

In NYC, you do have to get used to a ton of people and horns honking a lot, and for longer than in other areas of the country.

Too hot in the summer in Atlanta, and too congested and chaotic in NYC all the time in my opinion.

Now, you have to look at the individual programs at the schools you are looking at, but all things being equal there, I would pick Columbus...and remember, I plan to move away from here eventually, so I'm not one who just loves it unconditionally.

To be fair and upon thinking of this a bit more, as a graduate student (assuming you are of the normal age of a graduate student), if you LIKE big cities, NYC can be very interesting and fun.

I spent my graduate school years in the SF Bay area, and I loved doing all that there was to do there, and then before my wife and I had kids, we lived in the DC area and also liked the fast-paced life there.

So, for me, with regard to big cities (also been to NYC several times), I have been there, done that, so for now I prefer Columbus.

BUT, after reading more of your info, it seems like the program at Georgia Tech is more to your liking, and since that's the most important thing, I would probably go with that.

Bottom line is there are pros and cons to each of those cities.

[quote]Flagpole wrote:

To be fair and upon thinking of this a bit more, as a graduate student (assuming you are of the normal age of a graduate student), if you LIKE big cities, NYC can be very interesting and fun.

I spent my graduate school years in the SF Bay area, and I loved doing all that there was to do there, and then before my wife and I had kids, we lived in the DC area and also liked the fast-paced life there.

So, for me, with regard to big cities (also been to NYC several times), I have been there, done that, so for now I prefer Columbus.

BUT, after reading more of your info, it seems like the program at Georgia Tech is more to your liking, and since that's the most important thing, I would probably go with that.

This is why Columbus might be a person's last choice. Take advantage of an exciting place when you're young. Settle down in a smaller liveable place when you have a family.

Thanks for the interesting info. Fwiw, here's what I was guessing before I saw your answers, what (if anything) surprised me in what you said + what I'd suggest you scrutinize as you go through your final decision process.

Georgia Tech

Pros: Excellent institution with excellent faculty and excellent facilities. People know what they're doing and there's a real process in place.

Cons: Nothing major but it's an engineering school, so there's not going to be a lot of emphasis on bigger-picture scientific questions,

Surprise: the longer time to completion.

To scrutinize: Why is it taking people longer to finish? From what you're saying, it doesn't sound like it's the teaching load, so...what is it? [If it's that being a grad student at Georgia Tech is an ok deal and people aren't in a hurry, fine; if, for example, it's that faculty put unusually heavy demands on their grad students in their labs, maybe not so fine.]

NYU

Pros: Excellent faculty with impressive level of connectedness nationally and internationally.

Cons: Faculty has a lot going on and not much time to devote to grad students. Institution is somewhat underfunded across the baord so facilities aren't as good as at Georgia Tech or OSU.

Surprise: Faculty have large labs (which suggests that they're well funded, which is a good thing and runs counter to what I was guessing.)

To scrutinize (academic): Are there faculty there who will take a genuine interest in your career development? Are the facilities and funding as solid as at Georgia Tech and OSU?

To scrutinize (non-adademic): What housing help do they offer grad students? [NYU has some very nice faculty housing, but I don't know what they do for grad students. If they do nothing for grad students on the housing front, you're probably going to find yourself looking at some tough choices about where to live.]

Ohio State

Pros: solid faculty, good facilities, stuff just kind of works, TON of funding if your interests relate to the life sciences / medicine.

Cons: bit of a factory, doesn't appear to be a lot of faculty interest/expertise in computational chemistry per se.

To scrutinize: who will you work with, especially if you decide the biological stuff isn't for you?

More general non-academic question: you started this thread asking about the cities rather than the programs - where do you live now + what are your biggest concerns about these three cities as places to live?

If you have enough support to afford to share an apartment in New York City while you are in graduate school, then it is difficult to turn down, because you have access to just about everything you could imagine. However, it must be said that it will probably be difficult to finish your dissertation, if you're doing a Ph.D., because you'll have to teach so much around the city to support yourself at that point. In graduate school, it may also be useful to be in a place where you can concentrate fully and where you'll get to know your faculty and fellow students much better. If you are judging by the facilities, then it has to be NYC. There are two of the world's greatest libraries and countless cultural amenities, along with zero need for a car. Atlanta is not as bad as it was, with all the stuff growing up around the rails to trails areas, but be serious. This is a third class city at best.

Columbus you can go to for the graduate school and the student life and that is it.

Poster above is absolutely wrong when says "However, it must be said that it will probably be difficult to finish your dissertation, if you're doing a Ph.D., because you'll have to teach so much around the city to support yourself at that point." At NYU you would be making close to $50K per yr which is more than enough to comfortably do your PhD even if you live in Manhattan. The other points about NYC I would agree with though.

Experiental wrote:

provincialism of having lived in only mega-metro areas

You do know what the word provincial means right? It refers to the small mindedness of people in the "provinces" outside of the city. Here's an easy way to remember: Provincial starts with a "P" and province also starts with a "P".

derp wrote:

Experiental wrote:

provincialism of having lived in only mega-metro areas

You do know what the word provincial means right? It refers to the small mindedness of people in the "provinces" outside of the city. Here's an easy way to remember: Provincial starts with a "P" and province also starts with a "P".

Go look up the use of 'irony' and then get back to us with 150 words proving that you finally get it.

I'll give you a start. It is ironic to visitors to mega-cities to learn that it is not uncommon to encounter residents who know nothing other than everything about where they have always lived and do not feel any need to discover the larger world.

What kind of a twit entirely misses the point of a simple, straight forward use of irony and then feels entitled to display his ignorance in the form of a lecture?

You got lot of opinions from expert.

I was here to answer your query but going after learning lot of new things from here :D

Atlanta. Morehouse and Spelman are there

If I'm wealthy, like bringing in at minimum over $200k per year, I'd go with NYC. If I'm not, I'd go with Columbus. Atlanta would be appealing, but it just gets too darn hot in the summer. I can deal with the few months of chilly weather in the winter if it saves me from the extreme heat and humidity of Atlanta summers.

Lol, I remember making this thread close to three years ago. I ended up in Atlanta for what it’s worth. I definitely think I made the best choice for me, although the other locations/schools probably would have been good as well.