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USC location - TrumpCard - 08-18-2014

SoCalStan:  It was not an auto correct.  It was an LA native's take on the actual danger associated with living in South Central Los Angeles.  I should not have used the term in the context I did because I meant it seriously.  The violence in the area of USC is appalling.

Re: USC location - Mick - 08-18-2014

(08-18-2014, 06:19 PM)TrumpCard link Wrote:SoCalStan:  It was not an auto correct.  It was an LA native's take on the actual danger associated with living in South Central Los Angeles.  I should not have used the term in the context I did because I meant it seriously.  The violence in the area of University of Spoiled Children  is appalling.


Took my youngest to tour USC.  He'd seen UCLA (loved it), liked the campus at UCSB, lukewarm on UCSD, has always liked C.al and Stanford but they were WAY too close.  Loved Princeton, NYU and Hahvahd.  USC?  He wasn't out of the car for 15 minutes before he said "forget it."  And the oldest wouldn't bother with a tour -- said he'd rather attend a JC than USC.

Re: USC location - Farm93 - 08-18-2014

The parking lots were full at the UsC game last year, so my family had to park in the streets nearby.  The neighborhoods are not wealthy, but that does not mean they need to have a lot of violent crime.  Sadly, it is clear that those neighborhoods are rather dangerous.  I ultimately found a spot near a parking lot for public employees that was staffed by guards, so I thought parking across the street from that entrance would be a decent option.

It is definitely too bad that someone was killed at a California university for several reasons.  A real tragic loss of life, bad for the USA's image of out of control violence, and really bad for the impression the best students in China might develop on California.

In any event, I have to think that most parents would prefer to imagine their kids walking around the streets around any of the other Pac-12 schools rather than walking around the neighborhoods outside of SC.  Still the little fake self correct was not funny IMHO.

Re: USC location - TrumpCard - 08-18-2014

Vermont Ave, which is the western border of the USC campus is known as "death alley."  Technically, I think that name applies to a stretch that's further south than the USC campus, but it could just as easily apply to the area around the USC campus.  The LA Times has a homicide report that lists all of the murders in each area of town over the last 13 years.  In Exposition Park, which is probably not much bigger than 1 square mile, there have been 104 reported murders.  It is a legitimate reason to not attend school there.

Re: USC location - socalstanfan1 - 08-18-2014

TrumpCard: i appreciate the explanation. I also appreciate the dangers of the area around USC, having lived in Southern California for 20 years before relocating to China, but the area is dangerous for everyone. Maybe in the  wake of the killing of two Chinese students the reference to them in a callous nickname became commonplace, a kind of gallows humor. Being in China and seeing the amount of anxiety of Chinese parents who are considering sending their children to America perhaps makes me more sensitive to these issues. I also know of parents who have chosen to send their children to lesser universities in other countries because of the fear of violence in America.

Re: USC location - Mick - 08-19-2014

(08-18-2014, 07:39 PM)TrumpCard link Wrote:Vermont Ave, which is the western border of the University of Spoiled Children  campus is known as "death alley."  Technically, I think that name applies to a stretch that's further south than the University of Spoiled Children  campus, but it could just as easily apply to the area around the University of Spoiled Children  campus.  The LA Times has a homicide report that lists all of the murders in each area of town over the last 13 years.  In Exposition Park, which is probably not much bigger than 1 square mile, there have been 104 reported murders.  It is a legitimate reason to not attend school there.


...don't apply to specific schools because they are in iffy areas?  U of Spoiled Children, Yale, Johns Hopkins and others are in comparatively marginal areas.  At one time, you might have said that about Chicago or Columbia.  Conversely, Stanford's idyllic setting probably encourages many additional applications.

Re: USC location - Mick - 08-19-2014

(08-19-2014, 07:37 AM)SUBuddha link Wrote:[quote author=Mick link=topic=7902.msg94651#msg94651 date=1408458867]
[quote author=TrumpCard link=topic=7902.msg94630#msg94630 date=1408415981]
Vermont Ave, which is the western border of the University of Spoiled Children  campus is known as "death alley."  Technically, I think that name applies to a stretch that's further south than the University of Spoiled Children  campus, but it could just as easily apply to the area around the University of Spoiled Children  campus.  The LA Times has a homicide report that lists all of the murders in each area of town over the last 13 years.  In Exposition Park, which is probably not much bigger than 1 square mile, there have been 104 reported murders.  It is a legitimate reason to not attend school there.
...don't apply to specific schools because they are in iffy areas?  U of Spoiled Children, Yale, Johns Hopkins and others are in comparatively marginal areas.  At one time, you might have said that about Chicago or Columbia.  Conversely, Stanford's idyllic setting probably encourages many additional applications.
[/quote]

Mick, the environment around U$C was one reason I turned down the scholarship offer I had there.
[/quote]


I totally understand.  I couldn't get my older son to apply there.  My younger son was on campus for five minutes before he said "I'm not going here."  I said "Give it a chance, let's walk around."  Ten minutes later, he said "Can we go back to the car now?  I wouldn't go here if it was free."

Re: USC location - JohnR34231 - 08-19-2014

(08-19-2014, 07:34 AM)Mick link Wrote:[quote author=TrumpCard link=topic=7902.msg94630#msg94630 date=1408415981]
Vermont Ave, which is the western border of the University of Spoiled Children  campus is known as "death alley."  Technically, I think that name applies to a stretch that's further south than the University of Spoiled Children  campus, but it could just as easily apply to the area around the University of Spoiled Children  campus.  The LA Times has a homicide report that lists all of the murders in each area of town over the last 13 years.  In Exposition Park, which is probably not much bigger than 1 square mile, there have been 104 reported murders.  It is a legitimate reason to not attend school there.


...don't apply to specific schools because they are in iffy areas?  U of Spoiled Children, Yale, Johns Hopkins and others are in comparatively marginal areas.  At one time, you might have said that about Chicago or Columbia.  Conversely, Stanford's idyllic setting probably encourages many additional applications.
[/quote]

Duke is a little iffy, also.

Re: USC location - washingtonismoney - 08-19-2014

(08-19-2014, 07:48 AM)JPRI link Wrote:Duke is a little iffy, also.

It's a Stanford-like bubble. Hard for me to see Duke students dying of anything other than boredom.

Re: University of Spoiled Children location - CornFed - 08-19-2014

Hyde Park, which is basically the campus of the University of Chicago, is referred to as "The De-Militarized Zone".

Re: University of Spoiled Children location - washingtonismoney - 08-19-2014

(08-19-2014, 11:43 AM)CornFed link Wrote:Hyde Park, which is basically the campus of the University of Chicago, is referred to as "The De-Militarized Zone".

The neighborhood has gentrified a fair bit; the reputation is exaggerated.

Chicago: it NEEDED to gentrify - Redrum - 08-19-2014

U. of Chicago was on the HS potential-college tour list of the long-since-graduated Redrumette.  I had to work so mom took three kids up to Chicago to visit U. of Chicago. and Northwestern.  Chicago defeated itself by not really having a campus,  at least not the "campus" image that HS senior girls usually have in their noggins.  Then there were the "sketchy" types that made sitting outdoors as they drifted through a shock to these girls' suburban standards.   

But one ended up at Vandy (which has some urban vibe issues of its own), one at Univ. of Kentucky and one at Stanford.  The Redrumette's tolerance for urban has expanded greatly with world experience.  Enough so that she mused that, looking back,  maybe she should have gone to a more diverse, urban school for her grad work.  Too late!  Besides, somebody had to go to Stanford football games with me during her PhD years, and she owed us bigtime.

Now that I think about it... - Mick - 08-19-2014

...and as I look back at the schools that Mick's kids applied -- Princeton, Harvard, Georgetown, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-San Diego -- I notice a bit of a geographic pattern, perhaps tied to the brutal housing costs in each area.

Re: University of Spoiled Children location - JohnR34231 - 08-19-2014

(08-19-2014, 08:01 AM)washingtonismoney link Wrote:[quote author=JPRI link=topic=7902.msg94655#msg94655 date=1408459724]
Duke is a little iffy, also.

It's a Stanford-like bubble. Hard for me to see Duke students dying of anything other than boredom.
[/quote]

That wasn't my impression when I was there. You're right, though, it's not South Central.

Re: Chicago: it NEEDED to gentrify - CornFed - 08-19-2014

(08-19-2014, 01:05 PM)Redrum link Wrote:U. of Chicago was on the HS potential-college tour list of the long-since-graduated Redrumette.  I had to work so mom took three kids up to Chicago to visit U. of Chicago. and Northwestern.  Chicago defeated itself by not really having a campus,  at least not the "campus" image that HS senior girls usually have in their noggins.  Then there were the "sketchy" types that made sitting outdoors as they drifted through a shock to these girls' suburban standards.   

But one ended up at Vandy (which has some urban vibe issues of its own), one at Univ. of Kentucky and one at Stanford.  The Redrumette's tolerance for urban has expanded greatly with world experience.  Enough so that she mused that, looking back,  maybe she should have gone to a more diverse, urban school for her grad work.  Too late!  Besides, somebody had to go to Stanford football games with me during her PhD years, and she owed us bigtime.

Can't say how the campus may have changed over the years.  It's been almost ten years since I visited.  Had no idea there was any gentrification taking place at the perimeter.  North of 59th was like a bright line between civilization and a combat zone.  During the two years I spent there, there were several students/employees killed who had wandered just across the demarcations of The DMZ.  On campus I would have to say that my impression has always been that it was a classic college campus - like the iconic "ivy-covered" campuses of the East; albeit lacking the consistency of architectural design.

The campus itself virtually never experienced violent crime.  I was told at the time that the school had the largest private police force in the country.  I had several uncomfortable moments over the two years; all when I was walking along one of the streets that defined the DMZ.

Re: University of Spoiled Children location - dabigv13 - 08-19-2014

The area immediately around USC is actually not terrible. I spent plenty of time there late at night coming from libraries, and I never really felt unsafe. Now if you park several blocks away for something like a football game, some of those areas can be sketchy after dark.