[quote name='Number83']
Is there any links to the info on the Georgia Tech you guys were talking about? My co worker and her daughter visited there last weekend and absolutely loved it. I'd like to send them the links. I'd hate for them not to be totally informed...especially because her daugthter is very pretty and not very street smart.[/QUOTE]
My experience at Ga Tech is dated, mid-nineties/pre-Olympic clean-up. When Summer was raped she was on the city side of the I-75 / 3rd street pedestrian tunnel so it was technically not on campus (but within shouting distance) so it was not a "campus crime" per the Clery act. Much of what happens to Tech students happens on the periphery of the campus so IDK how valid crime stats the Inst. provides are.
It's functionally an urban campus in every sense of the word, right smack in the middle of ATL. That part of the city isn't as bad as it used to be- but it's history has always been one of poverty and crime going back nearly 100 years to Techwood flats. While many of the cities poorer areas (Cabbagetown and Sweet Auburn areas) see improvements ebb and flow it seems to stay, perpetually, in really bad shape.
I would also point you to this article from the AJC archives:
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/persistent-crime-at-georgia-1214081.html
My experience was almost an entirely negative one, despite some great programs the campus really suffers from its surroundings.
Initial impressions can be very deceiving; Driving into campus off of 75 almost all you see are clean high-rises / the city skyline and landmarks the Varsity. Drive just 4 blocks from south campus (where most of the freshman dorms were when I was there) and your perspective on the campus changes.
One of my two classmates who did graduate from Tech is more adamant than me that it is a most miserable undergrad experience and wouldn't dare go there again if he had to do it over, nor send any of his kids there. He would gladly exchange emails with the prospective student, really he likes talking about how much he still hates Tech.
TL;DR If I had a son, who only wanted to be an engineer (Chem E, AE, EE . . etc.) and we couldn't afford Clemson's, Auburn's, or anywhere really OoS tuition then I might let him go- but I would insist he lived on campus for the duration (and ask that he parked his car somewhere off site). I would seriously encourage my daughter not to go there, even if she grew up in a larger city.