- Joined
- Nov 8, 2007
- Messages
- 282
- Reaction score
- 1
Just like you, the social scene is a key part of what i look for in a school where i'm going to be spending 4 years or more of my life. I'm a Cali party girl from LA and live my life by the whole cliche, "I work hard to play hard." I'm a first year student at the Shady Grove campus (with no car BTW) but I make it a point to socialize with students from both campuses.
Baltimore does have a social scene, (inevitable with so many students) but since the city's in the ghetto (think USC environment - school's relatively safe, but smack in the middle of the ghetto), the nightlife is mostly dive bars, wing nights, and house parties - not really any hot clubs around if that's your venue of choice. The scene doesn't really change much. The people are a good time of course, but the parties are about the same. With drink specials like $1 beers, meals around $5 and such you get more bang for your buck, but less variety to choose from. Pay for a cab/walk to most places. If you are familiar with the SF city, Bmore is kind of like that but without the prominent gay community. It's got the little niches of places to go. Around campus the environment is pretty comfortable since most of the patrons are members of the university or hospitals in the area. Fed Hill is like Berkeley, with the cutesy feel of the small stores aligned down the street. Mt. Vernon is home to many of the "clubs" in Bmore, or basically the area where the richer people of Bmore and Hopkins students live. Fells point is like the Bourbon Street of Bmore. Inner Harbor is the main touristy area by the water with a couple restaurants and across the street from the Gallery mall.
DC/Rockville area has a different social scene. Because we're a smaller group over here, we tend to hang out more often than the kids in Bmore (study daily in the library, eat out together, going out like every week, or multiple times per week). I live literally across the street from the DC metro, so when we go out we try to change things up each time. There's the Bethesda scene with young professionals from around the area, free poker tournaments, and happy hours. Adams Morgan is your equivalent to like a Hermosa Beach or Pacific Beach (for all you Cali ppl) type dive bar street with delicious jumbo pizza and hot dog places and lots of themed type of places to go. Dupont Circle is the hotspot of nightlife in DC with most of the hottest clubs and bars of all different types of music genres. And then there are those days when we go sightseeing - White House, national monuments, Smithsonian, other museums. If you have a lovely significant other you want to take out to dinner, or just want a nice dinner for a special occasion, there are over 100 highly rated restaurants in and around DC with probably 10 fold more variety than Baltimore. Of course there are tons more places in DC to name, but you get the idea. The con is that DC area is more pricey than Bmore so you would probably be spending about the same amount of money if you were to go out to a club in CA (avg $8/mixed drink or $4/beer). Take the metro to get to all these places. There are also the nights where we just have like house "gatherings" (i wouldn't call them parties just yet since there are only like 40 of us) - game nights, poker, rock band, potlucks, etc.
So there are social scenes at both places, but very different in style.
If anyone else wants a comparison of both campuses, I'm probably your best bet if you're looking for a straight forward answer. I'm here to just give you the info, not to coax you to choose my campus..that's your choice. just pm me
great post above!!!!!!
bmore is definitely a blue collar city....alot of cheap bars, wing nights, 50:1 guy to girl ratio nights........as for the crime? its inevitable.......living in the outer suburbs is not bad.........during my four years, i never thought about living in the city........probably the best, and safest, decision i ever made........traffic isn't too bad........and you can always take the metro into the city.........
shady grove campus in rockville is in montgomery county......one of the most affluent counties in the US......pretty much a suburb of DC.......i have friends in NoVa and visit them occasionally to go out......the night scene in DC >>>>>> bmore......DC is a nice mix of people from all around the US........great singles scene.......alot of young professionals.........extreme opposite of bmore, where the majority of people grew up there, went to high school there, and want to move away........
all you people at the SG campus, if you need any furniture or even a CAR!!!!!! let me know.......private message me........im moving back to LA this may and need to sell EVERYTHING........pass the word to your classmates down there