Fact finding mission. LA vs ATL

[mmbt0ne]

As you may remember from my thread in Student Life (lol, jk) my gf is pretty smart. She has since been accepted to Emory med school.

Well, she also turned out to be smart enough that she just got in off the wait list at UCLA. For everyone who hasn't studied med schools, UCLA is one of the top schools and also one of the hardest for an out-of-state applicant to get in to. Unfortunately, coming with that acceptance is a very short deadline for deciding. It was this Friday, but she was able to get it pushed back to next Friday b/c she just got her letter.

On the surface, this is a very easy decision. UCLA is a better school and offers better opportunities. However, with the late news, there are also some downsides. For one, we are already under contract on a condo here in Atlanta and would be out a couple grand in earnest money if we pulled out at this point. Of course, there is also the whole, we both grew up around Atlanta and all our friends and family our here angle. And of course the cheaper cost of living. I'm not too worried about finding another job as a city of 12M or so probably has something I can do.

Anyway, this thread isn't so much about that (however feel free to comment) as it is about trying to find out some stuff about LA. For one, we'd have to have housing close to UCLA secured in the next month to allow time to move and neither of us have much clue about where the good/affordable areas are.

Also, please include any interesting personal anecdotes about moving away from all of your family and friends, or regretting not doing something like that.

[MEbenhoe]

How confident are you in this relationship? Moving across the country to be with this girl is a gigantic step. A lot bigger than just moving in with her in your hometown.

p.s. From other thread, what is her third varsity sport besides the assumed Cross Country and Track?

[mmbt0ne]

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How confident are you in this relationship? Moving across the country to be with this girl is a gigantic step. A lot bigger than just moving in with her in your hometown.

p.s. From other thread, what is her third varsity sport besides the assumed Cross Country and Track?

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The relationship is the least of my concerns honestly. We're both very confident in it.

Indoor track. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[KotOD]

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Of course, there is also the whole, we both grew up around Atlanta and all our friends and family our here angle.

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This alone is enough for me to move, but I love change and upheaval.

[hanster]

Housing at UCLA is gonna set you back about $1200~$1800 a month if you get a 1B/1BA. Studio goes for about $1000~$1500. A lot of students right now are still scrambling for housing so it shouldn't be that bad to find something in Westwood. If you want you can also commute to campus. How much are you willing to commute? There is really no "affordable" housing unless you're willing to drive 15 miles each way (For example Van Nuys is much cheaper and you can take the bus which also saves a lot of gas $ for your gf).

Hm I don't know what you want to know about UCLA and the surrounding area. I'll be writing my paper for the next 3 hours (aka be on my computer) so feel free to ask anything and i'll try my best to answer them. But I'd say from the situation she should definitely go with UCLA (we just built a new medical building too designed by IM Pei. It's pretty fresh)

[mmbt0ne]

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Hm I don't know what you want to know about UCLA and the surrounding area.

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For instance, who lives where? It seems that most med school students live on campus but that's not really feasible as that would require either living separately (too expensive) or being married (not quite in the cards before August 6th).

I heard that UCLA own apartment complexes outside of Westwood. True?

Also, C-walking. Required? How difficult to learn?

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(we just built a new medical building too designed by IM Pei. It's pretty fresh)

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Both Emory and UCLA have new buildings this year and Emory is also introducing a new curriculum (which has its pluses and minuses). UCLA actually does almost everything inside their hospital, while Emory has a class/research building and then uses Grady and the other surrounding hospitals during rotations.

[MrMon]

I don't know about Atlanta, but when I worked real estate in St. louis, almost no one ever lost their earnest money. Common practice was to make a token payment to get out of the contract, as the inspection clause was always an escape clause. It was very rare for anyone to be held to a contract, especially if the reason for the change was legit. I'll guess that Atlanta has the same working relationship between realtors, but even if it doesn't, a few thousand should hardly make a difference in choosing a future like this. Make the earnest money a non-issue, in the long run it's nothing.

[hanster]

All freshmen and most sophomores live on-campus dorms. Most of the upper classmen live in Westwood or Santa Monica (which has shuttles that take them to campus). The graduate student housing is outside of Westwood (about 5 minutes drive on a good day. 15~25 traffic).

lol. I'm Chinese and not gangsta enough to C-walk. It'll b fairly easy to learn, I think. I don't dancce I just pull up my pants and do the rockaway. Westwood isn't really hood (UCLA is about 35~40% Asian). Hey at least if you move out you won't have to be associated with the likes of luda and dipset! hahahahahahahahahahaha

Also,
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...=1#Post10074800
I don't know if it's relevant but maybe you can find some info there that'd help you make the decision.

[lapoker17]

i've lived in atlanta and la - i like them both a lot.

i think that moving away from where you grew up/where your family lives is always a good idea - even if it's just for a few years.

of cities i've lived in i would rank them:

1. LA/Chicago tie
2. Atlanta
3. Philadelphia
4. DC

[Aloysius]

I'm a big LA booster. Incredibly variety / choice wrt food, nightlife, culture, people etc. etc. It's a bit daunting initially cause it's rather huge, and most people stick to their knitting upon moving here (don't leave 5 mile radius of where they live unless they have to), and may have a narrow view of metro LA. But one of LA-area's assets is that it houses incredible diversity and you can get urban, suburban, ocean, mountains all in a reasonable drive.

Also, once you begin to understand the different ethnic enclaves and what they have to offer, your experience in LA area becomes much richer, imo.

Traffic on the Westside freeways (especially along the 405) is pretty miserable (and on some other freeways) so you have to kind of just get over that to enjoy LA.

Of the cities I've lived in for >2 years (post-undergrad) I'd rank them:

1. LA
2. NYC (it's very close to LA though)
3. SF (not very close, although it's a cute city with beautiful views)

-Al