… a university town during or after your college days?
If so, did you prefer to live in a dorm or get your own apt. etc.?
How was/is the experience of living in a university town?
Why would one prefer to live in dorm or otherwise?
What are the reasons, benefits, charms :halo: of living in a dorm…?
I have never lived in one so I am just curious 
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I have it all to come :(
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Nice thread AQ...
A university town has its own benefits and disadvantages.
Among the positive things...
Disadvantages:
- A smaller job market
- The regional or major airport may be far sometimes, which may make traveling harder.
- Less places to chill around.
Now regarding the dorm..
I would say never go for a dorm. Usually the kitchen is shared on a floor. In addition people may stare at you if you do wudu in the sink. The room mate may not be nice. I got a nice one though.. I would say one should stay in a dorm at least for one semester. One can familiarize oneself more with the American way of life + make friends.
An apartment even if shared would be much better. Atleast there is some privacy. Most importantly you can use a kitchen easily. Besides its has more space.
Hope this helps.
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lansing.. great info...
it's not that I was looking to live in a dorm... I am done with the best part of life - the college life :(
All I want to know the experiences of people living in a university town ... I recently moved to a place for job and a nearby city (under 15 miles) is a university town...
Initially I was looking for apartment there too... I liked the environment... paRhay likhay loug... but then, decided to stay nearby job...
Few days back, our mosque was invited to an aftaar party in the big mosque of that university town and I was just mesemrized with the environment... So, it triggered this thread to find out the actual experiences of people... are they similar to what I experienced in few hours in a get together..!
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Achaa.... .. Ok here goes..
My uni. town was the best place on earth because it had the best community + as you mentioned the mosque. I would say stay in a place where the work is nearer. Since you would have to commute the extra 15 miles everyday, it would be better if you are closer to your work. You can always go to the mosque whenever you feel and on fridays.
However, if you feel you can drive to work from the university town than thats not a bad idea either. But again, from 9 - 5 you would be at work. When you would come back you may want to relax and rest. Thus there would be no point living in that town just because of the mosque. I may be wrong, but i would visit the mosque on fridays and whenever i have free time.
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I was in a uni town for undergrad and had a blast. Frankly speaking it was a diff time and diff place ans I really dont think that I can live there now, just a diff stage of life, it will just not be the same.
I lived in dorms, a fraternity house and then apartments and each had its own pluses and minuses.
The thing with dorms is with the activities going on, sociallife rocks because there are 100s of people right there, you will never be bored unless you are antisocial.
Fraternity has the same benefits, but it was a lot more fun :)
apartments give u more privacy, more room, and some of the ones by unis in uni towns have a very active social life as well.
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^ Interesting accounts…
I feel like I have missed a lot during my college days :hinna:
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Everything has its own charm, friends of mine who were in larger cities had a good time because of all what the big city has to offer.
The best of the best I think are unis close to a major city, or large unis with very residential campuses and thus an active campus but right in or by a major city, some that come to mind immediatey are Penn, Northwesterm UCLA, Temple, Harvard, MIT, Boston Uni, Boston College, Villanova, St Johns, USC,
with these unis once ua re on campus u cant even tell u are in the middle of a major city, it seems just like a university town.
I think the total experience has a number of things, independence, coming of age, good circle of friends, available time etc..together they make it a very intersting time.