FOR THOSE who know the ARIZONA area

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Hoping i get more responses here, especially for those currently at any of the Arizona schools. This is NOT about any school in particular, just the area.

Whats up yall. asking for some advice from you folks who are either from the area or know the area very well. This is NOT about the educational experience at AZCOM, i know what i need to know already and like what I see, instead, this is concerning the culture/diversity in the area.

I recently got rejected from the only UC i was offered an interview from, so AZCOM is the closest to home i am getting. It comes down to AZCOM, and 2 schools on the East Coast.

My background: Grew up in Cali, raised in the inner city in a city that was VERY influenced by the Hip Hop culture. So I am very used to a diverse group of people, not just racially, but in the way they live thier lives as well (style, manner, music taste...etc)....and I absolutely love the inner city! Well, after graduating from undergrad (In Cali), I ended up going to Grad school in Rural New england and I absolutely HATE IT out here. People are all the same (not only are they of only one race, but the few minorities I have met, they are very homogenous as well), no one listens to hip hop (dont get me wrong, i listen to my fair share of carole king, paul davis, GnR, fLEETWOOD Mac...list goes on)....but the homogeniety (Preppie high class elitist folks) is absolutely killing me, and I feel like an absolute ALIEN out here! lol People have been very sheltered out here and it is has been very tough for me in my time out here.

Question: So, what is the culture like in Arizona/Pheonix/Glendale? The good is that its a very short plane trip to home, but in the city, is it like the northeast? Or are people more laid back and chill like californians? Only thing I dont like about AZCOM is the tuition, but im willing to pay the extra 15k in tuition per year to get back to an area that will remind me of home (also to keep myself from complete insanity!) thanks yall.

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Hey, 1st year AZCOM student here.
I grew up the in the midwest and lived in areas with little diversity. Personally, I think Phoenix has a lot of Cali influence and has more diversity than the midwest. Azcom (and Phoenix in general) attracts A LOT of Cali people, probably more than the east coast would, and there is a big CA "influence" here. Now this is coming from someone who hasn't spent a lot of time in the northeast or CA, but I would imagine the east coast to be more like the midwest and AZ to be more like CA.

My two cents, hope that helps
 
Hey, 1st year AZCOM student here.
I grew up the in the midwest and lived in areas with little diversity. Personally, I think Phoenix has a lot of Cali influence and has more diversity than the midwest. Azcom (and Phoenix in general) attracts A LOT of Cali people, probably more than the east coast would, and there is a big CA "influence" here. Now this is coming from someone who hasn't spent a lot of time in the northeast or CA, but I would imagine the east coast to be more like the midwest and AZ to be more like CA.

My two cents, hope that helps
I definitely appreciate your input!

anymore info would be great yall. keep em coming!
 
Hi: I'm and AZCOM grad and can give a little advice... I am an AZ native, went to college in LA, as did my sister. She's a rave kid - loves the raves, loves drum n bass, burning man, that sort of thing... She hates the AZ music scene, misses the LA music scene... That said, hip hop is definitely present in AZ... but you got your fair number of Country, classic rock, and music in Spanish there, too. (I don't know what style it is - just know it's in Spanish, so I am not going to pretend to know it's tejano or anything.)

Diversity is a different issue. Historically, the metro Phx area was very very white with some local hispanic color mixed in. That has been changing, but comprable cities in the upper midwest (Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit) have far more African Americans than Phx. Phoenix has a huge hispanic population (mostly Mexican) of course, and a huge Native American population.

People are much more laid back in Phx than on the East Coast. There is not an old money/new money issue there. There is money in Phoenix, but the people are more chill about it.

Glendale is an odd city. In south Glendale it is SCARY LARRY!!! They were one of the first THREE cities in the US to have the triangulation system to locate the direction of gunfire (one of the other ones was Compton or Watts, I forget, but that gives you the impression of what it is). Lots of meth addicts and nastiness in south Glendale.

Northern Glendale is very white, very very upper middle class, with lots of McMansions and gated communities. I grew up in the East Valley, so obviously my opinion is biased, but I chose to commute every day from the community I was used to (Mesa, which has it's own problems, I know) and was cheaper than living in Glendale. Glendale also is land of mini-malls and stucco, so if you are not used to light brown everywhere, it may get you down. There are lots of great places to live that are in downtown Phoenix, which is not too bad of a commute, that you may find more of what you're looking for vs living right next to school. Plus, you'll likely be all over the place third and fourth years, so it would only be the first two years that you'll have the commute.

Hope that helped! Good luck!
 
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