Dayton, OH

[BuzzinAround]

I noticed that there wasn't a thread on Dayton, which is the town I will likely be moving to for grad school. Any opinions or insight on the city and surrounding areas?

[holykrp]

I was born in Dayton, I live in Cincinnati. It's a little bigger than a suburb, not too much exciting going on there. A little run down. They have a mall and a few strip malls. Probably pretty cheap. About 45 minutes to Cincinnati, which is better.

[boncourage]

Hi BuzzingAround,

 

I'm Dayton born and bred. There are parts of town that are run-down, but there's also lots of great stuff going on in the area if you know where to look. The Oregon District has amazing bars and restaurants, and an awesome indie cinema called The Neon. Dayton has a surprisingly large arts scene for a city its size - the Dayton Art Institute has good exhibits as well as a diverse permanent collection, the Schuster Center is top-of-the-line and brings in national tours of Broadway shows, ballets, and hosts the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. I don't know if you're going to school at UD or Wright State, but the UD Arena is an awesome venue for basketball (and the new home of the NCAA First Four tourney) if you're into sports. Around UD, there's definitely a college town feel with a good number of bars and restaurants, including Dewey's Pizza, which is an Ohio favorite. If you drive to the suburbs, there is no shortage of good shopping, as well. Let me know if you have any other questions!


 

[BuzzinAround]

Hi BuzzingAround,

 

I'm Dayton born and bred. There are parts of town that are run-down, but there's also lots of great stuff going on in the area if you know where to look. The Oregon District has amazing bars and restaurants, and an awesome indie cinema called The Neon. Dayton has a surprisingly large arts scene for a city its size - the Dayton Art Institute has good exhibits as well as a diverse permanent collection, the Schuster Center is top-of-the-line and brings in national tours of Broadway shows, ballets, and hosts the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. I don't know if you're going to school at UD or Wright State, but the UD Arena is an awesome venue for basketball (and the new home of the NCAA First Four tourney) if you're into sports. Around UD, there's definitely a college town feel with a good number of bars and restaurants, including Dewey's Pizza, which is an Ohio favorite. If you drive to the suburbs, there is no shortage of good shopping, as well. Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

Wow, thank you! I'll likely be going to Wright State, but I would prefer to live closer to Dayton, as I like living in urban environments much more than suburban (I'll be coming from Atlanta, so I guess it makes sense).

[boncourage]

That does make sense. If you want to be closer to downtown than WSU, I would suggest looking at places in Oakwood or Kettering. Oakwood can be pretty pricey because it's a really nice neighborhood. That being said, the cost of living in Dayton is crazy low so you might find it affordable. There are some new apartments and lofts downtown that I've heard are nice - some are right on the river, near the Dragons stadium (minor league baseball, and it's actually very popular! Always sold out). Either way you'll need to have a car.   

[BuzzinAround]

Thanks for the advice! I'll have my car with me when I move, so I shouldn't have any problems there.

[TonyB]

Wright State is pretty much a straight shot east from downtown Dayton, and it's right on the cusp of two fair-sized towns -- Fairborn and Beavercreek -- that have a lot of shops, restaurants, movie theaters, both an indoor and outdoor shopping mall, and so on between them. They're also very accessible to two of the main highways that go through the region, I-70 (which runs east-west between Columbus and Indianapolis, and points beyond in both directions of course) and U.S. 35, which runs straight east-west through the Dayton area but then arcs pretty sharply northwest-southeast as it leaves town in either direction. There's also an auxiliary interstate, 675, that provides good access to the rest of the Greater Dayton area (particularly South Dayton) and to I-75, which is the main north-south corridor.

 

Honestly, I'd suggest living either in Fairborn or Beavercreek, or somewhere off 675 a little bit south of there. Dayton itself tends to be a bit "ghetto" no matter where you are (though North and West Dayton are especially bad), and the smaller cities to the immediate north and west, like Englewood, Huber Heights, Trotwood, and so on, don't have a lot going on. Any farther west and you're in the boonies (Preble County), and a good 35-40 minutes from campus besides.

 

Again, I'd suggest looking for places in Fairborn, Beavercreek, the south part of Kettering or maybe north part of Centerville, and in general I'd advise you not to stray too far from the 675 corridor.

[PsyDspanish]

Hello everyone, I was recently accepted into the PsyD program at Wright state and was was wondering if anyone could tell me about their experiences at the school? Student living? And possibly someone who has also been accepted for this fall? 

Cheers!