[Roger Strummer]

This is my first post in Head Fi, although I've been a frequent reader since last summer.

I'm a college student and will graduate in approximately one year, and due to my personal circumstances I'm in an ideal position to apply to a masters program in just about any place. So I would like to know what places do you consider the best, and why do you do. I've searched all over the net what are the best places to live, but I really think that reading personal opinions and experiences instead of studies based on statistics can help me a lot.

Also I would like to see opinions from any place in the world, but I think the region that interests me the most is Europe since once you are in a place everything is relatively close. In the USA my mind is almost set in a couple of places, but I would love to see opinions about there too.

Just as a little tidbit, I chose to post this topic in Head Fi since I've found this community to be the best among all the forums I visit.

 

[limpidglitch]

Welcome to head-fi!
Sorry about your wallet

What sort of masters program?
I suppose you want a good university for whatever you're doing where you want to live.

 

[cash68]

Seattle, Portland, Germany, Sweden, or Arkansas.

 

[limpidglitch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cash68 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Seattle, Portland, Germany, Sweden, or Arkansas.

Two cities, two countries and one state. super

 

[Roger Strummer]

Thanks, yes my wallet's suffered a bit thanks to my new Apogee Duet, and it will suffer a lot more since I'm planning in a HD800 rig.

Back to the thread, I'm double majoring in Applied Math and Computer Engineering, but I don't have my mind completely set in a masters program, but probably would be in an area related to Computers. Actually I'm more interested in knowing what the ideal place to live would be without taking account the professional aspect, and also would love to know what people think of the place they live in, and seeing the reasons why they think how they do would be really important to me.

BTW I live in Mexico City and people in general are great, but it has a lot of things going against it like insecurity, and HORRIBLE traffic, so I'm looking for something different, for example San Francisco or something near it in the States.

 

[cash68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by limpidglitch /img/forum/go_quote.gif Two cities, two countries and one state. super

Duper. The state was a joke though.

 

[limpidglitch]

Mexico city is quite hot, Could you manage the scandinavian climate? We start complaining about heatwaves when the temperatures reach 20 celsius (68 F).
Other then that Bergen is quite decent.
I just to school here, at the university, and for that it's a very good place. If you like fresh air and hiking and stuff like that, or sailing, it's awesome.
I was brought up closer to Stavanger, about 5 hours by bus south for Bergen, and like it better there. Much the same though, fjords and mountains. The biggest differences is that it's a smaller town, more wooden houses, less tourists and more americans and brits, since it's the main oil town in Norway.

 

[Spareribs]

New York NY, Los Angeles CA, Scranton PA, South Bend Indiana, are what comes to mind.

 

[cyberidd]

Montreal QC. One of my favourite places.

 

[subjekt32]

This may sound a bit strange, but New Orleans would be a great place to consider. Things are actually booming now despite the devastation just over 3 years ago. You can't beat the food and culture. It is suitable to many tastes and there is a suitable atmosphere for just about every personality type. There are a number or great colleges, both public and private, in the New Orleans metro area (which actually isn't that large compared to other large cities). Loyola, Tulane, and The University of New Orleans (which has a Poli Sci department that ranks within the top 10 of the nation). James Carvelle is now teaching classes at Tulane.

From an economic standpoint, New Orleans is holding its own. I recently read an article about unemployment rate. While the unemployment rate in other major cities is skyrocketing, the unemployment rate in New Orleans (and all of Louisiana, for that matter) has actually dropped by a significant amount in recent months.

As much I want to leave New Orleans (for my own personal reasons), I must admit that it is quite an attractive place to reside right now... despite what I would have told you 5, 10, even 15 years ago. I think everyone has a conflict with the place that they grew up, and while I'm no exception, I'm proud to call New Orleans home (for the time being).

 

[Brighten]

Washington.

 

[acidbasement]

Welcome to Head-fi!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Strummer /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm a college student and will graduate in approximately one year, and due to my personal circumstances I'm in an ideal position to apply to a masters program in just about any place.

This tells me that you are funded with a sweet scholarship. Congratulations! My advice to you is to make a short list of universities/programs/supervisors that you would like to study at/in/under. If you are graduating in a year, you are familiar with some of the currently hot research topics in your field. Find out which professors are publishing cutting edge research, and make sure that their graduate students are also publishing. Contact the professors on your list to see if they are interested in having you on board, and then contact some of their graduate students to see how they like working with the professor.

After you've come up with a short list of acceptable supervisors, then you can start factoring in location. Anyone who has been to grad school will tell you that having a horrible supervisor will ruin your life for the 2+ years that you are there, and possibly beyond, no matter how great the city is. However, if you find a great supervisor and an exciting project, you will probably have a great time even if the city is boring as heck.

Grad school is a bubble, and what happens outside the bubble is generally less important than what happens inside the bubble. It is also a lot of fun!

 

[Uncle Erik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Strummer /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...but I think the region that interests me the most is Europe since once you are in a place everything is relatively close. In the USA my mind is almost set in a couple of places, but I would love to see opinions about there too.

Try Portland, Oregon. It's extremely walkable, everything is close, great public transportation, and the beer, wine and food are excellent. There are a number of universities there, and depending on your interests, plenty to do. It's easy to get out of the city and plenty to do outdoors.

If you want to save a little money, then go across the Columbia to live and work in Vancouver, WA. In Vancouver, you'll get lower property taxes and no state income tax. Then you can buy everything in Oregon, where there's no sales tax.

 

[krmathis]

Welcome to Head-Fi!

Oslo is great and so is Copenhagen... Though choice as there are so many nice places to live.

 

[grawk]

If you can handle the temperature in the summer, new orleans really is a special place.

If you can afford it, any major city (New York, Chicago, DC, San Francisco, Boston) is an experience.

If you're still going to be in school tho, I'd focus on the school that will get you what you want, and not where it's located. If you don't care about the school, you'll be better served just by getting a job in your field instead.