Big City vs. College Town

[Moemoemoe]

What are your thoughts on pros and cons of being in grad school in a smaller college town versus a big city (namely: NYC)?

[eternallyephemeral]

I'm moving from a big city (>5mil people) to a small town (well, it's a growing college town with ~400k in the city proper) for grad school starting this year, and I've been visiting the new place.

It was awesome to be in a big city for undergrad and I really enjoyed it. I will probably move back to that big city to settle down.

Opportunities:

There was always something happening in the city, and a new place to explore or to eat at every day. I loved that amount of choice, but other people aren't so thrilled about it.

Less Travel/Different Hobbies:

I feel that when you live in a big city, you do more staycation type traveling where you go to another part of the city for a day. Either that or you don't feel the need to travel as often, because there's less monotony you are trying to break up. Although some hobbies people have may be similar to a small town, I feel that more city hobbies involve going to something new that hasn't yet reached the small town, but of course people in cities still do things like bike/run/go to parks/have picnics and check out local things just like small town people do.

The College as Integrated with the City:

I feel that my college (we call it a university here) was very much integrated within the city. For people in industry-related things, this can be really helpful. If you are only interested in doing research and you have everything you want in the university, it probably wouldn't matter if you were in a big city or not, as far as your research is concerned. In my area, it's important to get human participants and to be close to companies for internships, corporate research, and jobs when you get out of school.

 

However, the students and faculty in the college town did help me see some positives in moving to the smaller place.

Less Distraction:

For example, the students/faculty said that the town is quieter, and there is enough going on to have some fun things to do, but there are not so many choices that there's a new exciting thing to do every day that could distract you from your work. This particular town is a few hours from the big city I mentioned, so it's a close trip to get to all the new exciting attractions/restaurants/shows.

Small-Town Hobbies/Attitudes:

People's hobbies are more situated around nature and the outdoors, and there are still people to get to know in a community setting. It seems people are more welcoming (as they typically are in a smaller town) and that the stressful, crazy traffic is not present, making the pace slower and more relaxed.

Making Connections:

I guess because people typically make connections in academia by going to conferences, it may not matter where you live as long as you go to the same annual meetings everyone else does. I think for industry, if you're interested in it, the connections you can make in your city and the internships you can get may be more important.

 

Each of these factors will matter in a different balance to you than to me, or anyone else. But do remember that it is temporary! I was concerned at first about moving to a much smaller place, but I do think I'll adapt to the new situation eventually.

[mind_reader]

Useful information above but it's also worth noting that there are many small (or even growing!) college towns with populations wayyyyyy smaller than 400k. A population that size puts you well within the top 50 largest cities in the US. Those can feel small compared to cities like NYC but can feel big compared to towns like Ithaca NY or Providence RI both of which have great schools! 

I'm not in grad school yet but I have lived in several cities with population sizes between 300-700k they all provided great career opportunities in psych and I personally never felt bored or without something to do. In a town with a population under 200k, I might start to worry about a lack of career enhancement stuff (and not having much to do for fun) but along the lines of what @eternallyephemeral said, I think it depends a lot on the institution and your personal career goals/interests. 

Generally I think the best way to get a sense for what it will be like in another city is to compare it to where you grew up and/or where you live now. If you're going to a city smaller than where you are now, you'll probably feel like there is less to do for fun, people are friendlier but maybe less open to "unusual" lifestyles, and the public transit is no good. If you're moving to a city bigger than where you are now the opposite will probably happen. Everything is relative!  

 

 

 

[eternallyephemeral]

16 hours ago, mind_reader said:

Useful information above but it's also worth noting that there are many small (or even growing!) college towns with populations wayyyyyy smaller than 400k. A population that size puts you well within the top 50 largest cities in the US. Those can feel small compared to cities like NYC but can feel big compared to towns like Ithaca NY or Providence RI both of which have great schools! 

I'm not in grad school yet but I have lived in several cities with population sizes between 300-700k they all provided great career opportunities in psych and I personally never felt bored or without something to do. In a town with a population under 200k, I might start to worry about a lack of career enhancement stuff (and not having much to do for fun) but along the lines of what @eternallyephemeral said, I think it depends a lot on the institution and your personal career goals/interests. 

Generally I think the best way to get a sense for what it will be like in another city is to compare it to where you grew up and/or where you live now. If you're going to a city smaller than where you are now, you'll probably feel like there is less to do for fun, people are friendlier but maybe less open to "unusual" lifestyles, and the public transit is no good. If you're moving to a city bigger than where you are now the opposite will probably happen. Everything is relative!  

 

 

 

You're absolutely right! I shouldn't have mentioned that I don't really have experience in a small small town, I thought that a place with a research university would always be at least a certain size (but now I should go look that up).

 

There's probably a minimum or an optimal point for the size of a town so that you can have opportunities and things to do, while still maintaining a decent (lower) cost of living and some peace and quiet.