Grad school: University of Oregon or Temple?

Have you been to Temple? My wife went to grad school there and I was afraid for her life. I'm not sure how they recruit undergrads. Philly is great and all, but Temple itself is in the worst part of town.

philly expects its murder rate to top 500 year

If everything else is equal, Philly is the WORST. Have you ever been there?!?

I go to Temple. Last year, Philly had the highest murder rate since 1990(if i'm not mistaken, which I may be). we're already on pace to beat last years record(we were 7 or 8 murders up on last years pace in the beginning or march). Temple has a couple really good professors in the history department, but Oregon probably has equally good prof's.

As a whole, the city is good, not great. Center City is farrrrr too crowded most of the time. Olde City is the cities biggest frat party, and it's every weekend. Most decent restaurants are extremly overpriced, and are tough to get into. If you want a decent sized place to live you either need to fork over a ton of cash to live in a condo or live in the burbs. SEPTA is shitty and getting shittier.

Take Oregon.

which grad program?

Temple has some very, very good ones, and some so-so ones.

UO has very few good ones.

OU in general, isn't a very good academic school. You'll have to give us specifics.

Remember, if this is what you want to do with your life, then take the route the will best enable you to do what you want with your life. Don't go somewhere just because the running is better - you're probably not Olympic material.

Thanks for the info! I've not seen Philly beyond the airport. I had heard that Temple was not in the best neighborhood. It's good to get some confirmation. I'd love to hear any more thoughts about either city. Keep posting thoughts/opinions. Also, if you live in Eugene or Philly and know of any low key running groups that meet regularly, I'd be interested. I'm currently running in the 70 mpw range. I ran for a D III school (graduated 3 years ago), have kept in okay shape (not by collegiate standards, I suppose) ran a 2:55 marathon with wheels falling off at the 19 mile mark. In grad school I'll probably just try to get out for 30-60 min./day. All that being said, does anyone know of any groups with whom I could run? I won't be training seriously for anything, but would still love to put in some faster miles occasionally. Thanks to everyone for the posts so far!

Going somewhere you think you'll like the change in geography is great - but you're talking about having goals of being a college professor? You need to be thinking academic standars, buddy. UO does have a few outstanding graduate programs, but it's not known as an academic stronghold. As a professor myself, I have firsthand experience with how much an academic reputation can make or break a potential faculty candidate. Good luck.

If it means anything to you, the only time I have ever feared for my life was while running through Philadelphia. I thought long and hard about the afterlife that day.

Point noted on the academic reputations. It is true that academics/faculty/repuation is what I really have to consider.

To xyz, I've researched professors in my field (20th c. american environmental history) at each university and found some scholars who appear to be well-regarded. Where could I find info about the overall rankings of each program. Both claim to "consistently" have graduates go on to top PhD programs/professorships, but I'll admit that could easily be departmental propaganda. What sources could I look at to get the reall skinny? Thanks again everyone!

I don't want to highjack your thread, but I'm also trying to decide between Oregon and Philadelphia for a Masters in Architecture.

Right now my 3 choices are:

- U Penn

- UO

- Cornell

Right now, I'm thinking Penn because they have a great program in my field. Don't know the city though. And Oregon is a great place for a runner...

Decisions decisions...

You might want to look into this if you come to Eugene.

The picture below shows where Temple is if you are worried about the murder rate. For some odd reasons all the big schools in Philly are in shatty areas(Penn, Temple, LaSalle, Drexel, could make an arguement for St. Joes). Temple is surrounded by a lot of low income housing. I believe some apartments are literally at the end of the campus. Never been to Eugene, but Temple isn't in a desirable area. It's sad because Temple is good school. I grew up 10 minutes from Philly across the river in Jersey, applied to Temple undergrad and decided that I wouldn't be comfortable there.

J-E-L-L-O wrote:

The picture below shows where Temple is if you are worried about the murder rate. For some odd reasons all the big schools in Philly are in shatty areas(Penn, Temple, LaSalle, Drexel, could make an arguement for St. Joes). Temple is surrounded by a lot of low income housing. I believe some apartments are literally at the end of the campus. Never been to Eugene, but Temple isn't in a desirable area. It's sad because Temple is good school. I grew up 10 minutes from Philly across the river in Jersey, applied to Temple undergrad and decided that I wouldn't be comfortable there.

white flight????

Definitely white flight. There is a LOT of racial animosity going both ways in Philly, especially around the campuses.

The Dude Abides wrote:

white flight????

My parents both grew up in Jersey. Both Grandparents moved over from Philly in the late 40's before my parents were born. Most of my friends and their families moved over in the early 90's. I can't deny that White Flight is very common around my area of Jersey.

I like how people blame the crapification of neighborhoods on "white flight". It seems to me that the decline of an area is caused by the people who are there, not the people who left. If people who sell drugs and carry guns start showing up in my neighborhood, you damn well better believe I'll be moving.

Harry Kooter wrote:

I like how people blame the crapification of neighborhoods on "white flight". It seems to me that the decline of an area is caused by the people who are there, not the people who left. If people who sell drugs and carry guns start showing up in my neighborhood, you damn well better believe I'll be moving.

What are you, some kind of liberal pussy? If someone starts selling drugs and carry guns in my neighborhood, I'm going to call the cops first, shoot second.

how is penn in a bad area? university city has become one of the best ares in the city for young people and there's penn security all over the place.

*areas*