My son (not an athlete) is a junior getting ready to dive into college applications next year. He's got a long list of schools from all over the country that he plans to visit over spring break and the summer vacation.
I've lived in several US cities in my life but never east of Chicago. Can someone explain how life is different on the East Coast? He's considering schools there from North Carolina north to Massachusetts.
The best thing about the East coast is that it is as far away as possible from the cesspool that is the west coast.
The distance from Portland Oregon to San Francisco is about the same as Boston to DC.
Portland
Salem
Eugene
Grants Pass
Medford
Ashland
Redding
Chico
Sacto
San Francisco
Boston
Providence
Hartford
Stamford
New York
Newark
Philadelphia
Wilmington
Baltimore
Washington DC
Everything is close.
Life is a rat race.
If people are nice to your face, they really are nice.
Lot's of ethnic pride, but lots hate for other groups too.
Families are close.
People go to church.
There are four seasons.
There really are dangerous neighborhoods.
I am from Colorado and I attend a college in the Northeast and run for a D-1 program. Positives about living on the East Coast: large amount of great cities within a relaitvely short drive, highly ranked academic schools, people are very driven/intelligent, it is like getting to experience a whole other culture, seeing if you have what it takes to compete with the big city kids. The negatives: weather can be pretty crappy, people can be uptight, culture shock (from living in the laid back west coast), and distance from family. Overall I am very glad I am attending college on the east coast. Hope this helps
the east coast is diverse, as is the west coast, so there is no simple description. florida is different from georgia is different from d.c. is different from new york is different from vermont.
i've lived up and down the east coast and also in california. the east coast tends to be way more grounded and less pretentious than the west coast--at least california.
and the weather is different. much harsher on the east coast, especially as you go north. the farther north you go, the less people, and the better the people. then you get to canada, and it gets even better.
East coast has seasons. Snow falls in the winter, and it gets hot and humid in the summer. You might not see either on the west coast.
East coast has old cities full of crime.
Pot holes
emotion is good wrote:
the east coast tends to be way more grounded and less pretentious than the west coast--at least california.
Yep, especially the bankers, Wall Street guys, and lawyers. Very down to earth, simple, humble, and not pretentious at all.
East Coast is about where you are from. West Coast is about where you are going.
I grew up on the east coast and moved to the west coast. Some of my family did the reverse (for college), and told me that almost every single one of their friends had trouble adapting to the cultural difference when they moved east. The idea is sort of that people on the east coast can and will stress you out (although Virginia and North Carolina are closer to the South, and you have a whole different set of issues there). I sometimes felt this sort of stress while growing up and basically dealt with it by thinking about it consciously, and I was fortunate to be extremely competent. But to me it was normal. It's hard for me to explain, since all I've experienced is the feeling of the reverse direction (the west coast being more chill). Don't get me wrong, I've had a number of problems adapting to west coast culture in ways you probably don't even notice (sometimes for similar reasons, sometimes for opposite ones), but that's a topic for another thread.
Things move faster. People tend to be impatient and touchy. Everything gets crowded.
No mudslides, wild fires or earthquakes. But, then again, the highest peak is 6288 ft. and skiing can be more like ice skating.
The East Coast is rich in history and culture. Lots of accents and regional expressions (a soft drink goes from tonic to seltzer to coke, and some wierdos in the Carolinas will claim a soft drink called Cheerwine is some sort of gift from God). The best jazz, classical music and museums are on the East coast.
Winter is too long and dark. Summer is spectacular, but too short. Fall is amazing until the leaves drop. Spring is the best of all as long as Claratin does the trick.
Your college roomate is more likely to be into lacrosse than surfing. Liberals at Harvard aren't quite as crazy as liberals at Berkeley. Conservatives at Liberty University are definitely crazier than conservatives at Pepperdine.
People take the train to work. You can live in Boston, DC or NY without owning a car.
I hate to help perpetuate a stereotype, but once you go north of the Mason-Dixon, people really do tend to be a lot ruder. I can't tell you how many times I've been to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and people haven't said "Thank you" when I've held a door open for them. Or they've chosen not to hold a door for me when they've seen me approaching. Or they've cut me off on the highway and then gave me the finger. It's sad, really, because there are a lot of nice people up there. Unfortunately a lot of folks don't seem to care about anyone but themselves. Most are pretty uptight, as well, regardless of their political affiliation. But it's not all bad. On the East Coast you have easy access to a ton of great museums and attractions. The weather does blow pretty hard, but you get used to it. Also, in most places, you're at most a few hours from the beach and the mountains, so vacation opportunities abound. I'd suggest a few visits before settling on a school. You really will notice a difference.
One aspect of this, in my experience, is that people on the east coast are more straightforward. People aren't shy about hiding their opinions, and abrasive personalities can be tough to handle if you aren't used to them. But on the west coast, it's often hard to tell what people really think, which can lead to problems in the long run.
This is hard to deal with in either case once it's pushed to either extreme.
Being from LI, a suburb of New York City I can definitely say that the people in New York are a different breed. They are not necessarily rude but they are definitely more gruff and care more for themselves and doing everything as quick as possible, and when i say quick as possible i mean it, you will get left behind fast in the NYC metropolitan area if you keep a West Coast laid back mentality. You cannot take rudeness personally and you sometimes must be ready to dish it back. The "melting pot of America" is no more defined than in the NYC area, this is where you will get the best food from any type of culture.
The east coast though is different up and down it. Like the poster above me said the mason dixon line (or close to it) is a good divider. Most cities on the coast in the Northeast are similar but to a lesser degree than NY. As you move south life slows down considerably, does not mean laid back though, the way of life is just slower and people are very nice to your face down there.
Driving is a whole different animal here. So many clueless morons texting, weaving in and out of traffic. Horns all the time. Right of way doesn't exist. You could stand at a cross walk for an hour before someone lets you by.
I enjoy the ***hole mentality of the NE, it would be so boring without it. That being said, people can be friendly, which is often lost in the whole attitude.
Pride among ethnic groups is probably more prevalent then out West. Irish, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Indians, Jews and Koreans are all pretty open about their heritage, sometimes keeping to their own.
If I had to rank the NE cities it would go:
1. Boston
2a. Philadelphia(native bias)
2b. DC
4. NYC (too crowded)
5. Providence
6. Baltimore
As for the South East...ugh.
I grew up in Southern California, went to college in Northern Calif.
and have now lived in Boston for 14 years.
The only thing I miss about CA is the trails.
And I really miss those, so I go back each summer for a fix.
I don't know about NY or DC or the rest of the east coast,
but in Boston people live more vigorously, whereas in CA everything is cool.
Even when I lived in CA the lack of intensity bored and even sickened me:
any mediocrity was celebrated as long as it was new or trendy.
Moving to Boston I got in lots of arguments with people (drivers, fellow tenants, parking lot attendants, cops...) until I realized they were just like me. Vigorous personalities. As a mathematician and runner, there is no better place to be than Boston. Even though anyone not born here will always be a foreigner, it feels like home.
West Coast wrote:
My son (not an athlete) is a junior getting ready to dive into college applications next year. He's got a long list of schools from all over the country that he plans to visit over spring break and the summer vacation.
I've lived in several US cities in my life but never east of Chicago. Can someone explain how life is different on the East Coast? He's considering schools there from North Carolina north to Massachusetts.
It REALLY depends on what part of the east coast you're talking about. If your son moves to North Carolina (that's where I live), it's a whole other ball game from a place like Boston, NY, or Philly. I mean you might as well be talking about two different countries. And even the state of North Carolina itself has quite a bit of cultural diversity depending on the school. If your son is interested in mountains of NC (Appalachian State, UNC-Asheville, Brevard), that's quite a bit different than going to school in the Triangle (Duke, Chapel Hill, NC State).
Basically, the East is steeped in history and rich cultural heritage (for better or for worse), and for this reason you're likely to find dramatic differences in lifestyle and culture from one state to another, or from one city to another.
BICOASTer wrote:
emotion is good wrote:the east coast tends to be way more grounded and less pretentious than the west coast--at least california.
Yep, especially the bankers, Wall Street guys, and lawyers. Very down to earth, simple, humble, and not pretentious at all.
thats a terribly insulting generalization. did michael moore tell you how bad all of them are?
Families tend to associate outside of work only with each other, especially in NJ. I found that strange.
So Cal is all about the bling bling. Not so much I noticed in the east coast. I've only been living in the east coast (DC) for a few years but I've noticed that people you just met will try to size you up based on where you work, where you're from or where you went to school. In the west coast, it doesn't really matter if you're deep in debt. If you own a nice home, you're doing well.