Why Location Matters in Selecting a College

I have never been to the University of Notre Dame, my alma mater, before attending it. In fact, I never lived in the US before college (yeah, it’s in the US not in France 😂).

Attending the Univ. of Notre Dame was a mere coincidence. My friend Victor and I were walking around the high school campus during the weekend and ran into our academic advisor.

She said “There’s an admission officer from the school called Univ. of Notre Dame, but we need more students to attend the info session. Would you join it?”

So we joined the session. And the admission officer showed this view of the campus.

What a view! We were fascinated by this school we heard about for the first time and ended up attending it together.

Almost everything about the school was great, except for the location. It’s located in South Bend, Indiana, a middle of nowhere but corn field.

Back then, there was no Korean or Japanese restaurant within walking distance and very few restaurants near campus. The closest H-mart was in Chicago, with 2-2.5 hours of drive required.

The food in the dining hall was great, but I got sick of it after one semester.

During the winter, the early October to late April, the weather went below 0°F (-17.78°C) and snowed more than 40 inches (~100cm).

Throughout my sophomore and junior years, I was homesick multiple times a year during the spring semester. No direct flight to Korea, no access to Korean food, and wild winter weather only compounded my feelings of longing.

On the other hand, I attended Harvard University for my Master’s in Data Science.

The quality of life, although I had much more academic stress during my time at Harvard, was significantly better because of its superior location.

There were a number of great restaurants near Harvard Square. A subway ride to downtown Boston took just 15 minutes. There was even a direct flight to Korea.

Winter in Boston was cold, yet still bearable.

I strongly suggest visiting schools in person before making your choice. If visiting isn't possible, I would give the school's location considerable weight in the selection criteria (Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Notre Dame! ☘️).