stankubrick

Me and my girlfirend are considering moving to Buffalo, NY (UB Dental School). Considering we're from California (San Francisco area), do you think we'll survive the winters there?! Any other opinions on the area? boring? fun? suggestions? etc...
Our other option is Philadelphia, PA (Temple U).

Whaddya think?

dgHotLava

Buffalo goes for the biggest snowfall every year (around 65-70 inches) the winters can be really rough.
it would not be my choice, unless you like to ski and venture into canada.
philly is ok (temple is a good school)

are you going for dental degree?
how about the university of medicine and dentistry of New Jersey?? (aka UMDNJ)

koasterking

I would say phili....less brutal winters than in buffalo and it's closer the New York City. plus, you can attend some rockin' scion meets around the area! but whatever desicion is best for you, that's all that counts!

Agent_Orange

I was stationed there when the shipyard was open. High crime, drivers were poor, and parking was ok anywhere you decieded to jump out and lock it. It was a pretty good party town for the most part, Jersey was better.
Been to Buffalo also, ya gotta deal with the snow and there's not a whole lot going on there.
How about Pitt Dental School in Pittsburgh? My home town. Go Steelers!
Several Buddies went to Pitt Dental.
Danno the Space manno

Boxed_In

Philly's a pretty nice town. Like any city there's areas to avoid. Plus you'll be within driving distance to NYC, Baltimore/DC, Atlantic City and the whole Jersey shore in the summer.

Buffalo is nice but hope you like snow., snow, snow and did I metnion SNOW lol

And what does snow equate to???? Dirty Scions for 6-7 months

dgHotLava

almost as much snow as you get Boxed_In???

ScummyMcOwnage

pitt has an awesome dental school. less snowfall than buffalo, normally more than philly, and also not as close to NYC, but helly you really cant beat Pitt for dental school

stankubrick

Thanks for the tips guys! Actually, it's my girlfriend going to Dental school while I'll be doing graphic design work. Great suggestions on Dental schools too, but SUNY Buffallo and Temple are the schools she got into. We'd would've liked to stay in sunny CA, but we think the experience will be great!

So far we like Buffalo because it is a bit more suburban (campus is in Amherst I think) plus living expenses and tuition is much cheaper. The snow is the only thing that scares me...

Philly is a much better location, but we're looking at coummuting since the area around Temple doesn't looks so great...

Anyboody know what living costs are like? i.e. town houses, apartments, etc. It can't be worse than here in the SF Bay area where a 2bedroom townhouse is like $500k or a 1bedroom aprtment is like $1k a month!!

SCIONbrouillard

I'm attending RIT for college in Rochester, NY. It's just an hour outside of Buffalo, within driving distance. So far, the winter here has been less than moderate. Then again, it's only my first year. Winter has been more brutal down in the tri-state area than it has been in Rochester.

But if I had to choose personally between Buffalor or Philly. I'd choose Buffalo. I like snow :D. Plus, this area could use some more scions. I've only seen 1 other box during my 5 months here, and it's on campus. There's an xA on campus too. No tC's to be found. Scions are pretty rare up here.

Boxed_In

lol. they get a heck of a lot more than me, they can keep it!

superjeer

Hmm.. SUNY B is a nice campus. Buffalo is a nice town (people are nice). Has the Bills, a triple A baseball team, the Sabres and you've got canada and the falls close by. That's about it though, OH, and It's f'n cold, sketchy in parts and gets a lot of snow.

I've never been to Philly. But, it's got a lot going for it. I understand your situation.. the location of Philly is better, but the school in NY is better. Also, since you mention money, Buffalo has got to be much cheaper than Philly.

hmmmm... I'm a history/Franklin buff.. so I'm biased.

ScummyMcOwnage

I'd prolly choose buffalo then, I'm not a big fan of temple. Philly is a cool place, but I went up to buffalo and if you are looking for something a little more suburban that is prolly the place to go.

jasonbegin

i think u should Go to Philly. Anything past Albany in NY is a little Scarey.... lol

stankubrick

You're right on target about our dilemna. We're history buffs too, but it looks more and more like it's gonna be (the more affordable and loveable) Buffalo.

More Questions:
We're actuallly going to Buffalo next week Jan 11-13, and I have no idea how appropriately I need to dress for the cold. Are we talking hats, gloves, parkas? earmuffs? snow boots? We're renting a car too. I've never driven in snow. Am I gonna be in over my head?

matt_a

Philly - You buy some good all-season tires for your xB and we continue to hear from you.

Buffalo - You'll soon be hanging out at a Toyota 4Runner forum.

Seriously though, I've been to both places many times (I live two hours west of Philly now) and if I had to choose, I'd pick philly every time. I probably wouldn't live right in the city, but there are some really nice areas just outside the city to live with a short commute. As far as how to dress for Buffalo, this has been an unusually warm winter in the NorthEast so far. Normally for this time of year in Buffalo, it would be in the teens, wind blowing, and a few feet of snow on the ground. I'm not sure what they have right now.

Oh man, I almost forgot the NUMBER ONE reason to pick philly......THE EAGLES!!!

Bombshell

Philly is DEFINATELY the place. I live about an hour and a half from there and it's a great city. As far as the livin' around Temple-not so good. But Amtrak has a route directly into Philly (from the suburbs) and would be VERY easy commute from the outskirts of Philly such as Ardmore, Paoli, Exton, Parkesburg, etc. I take the train from Elizabethtown into Philly and it's only like $16. You can also get discounts being a student. There are ALOT of things to do/see around the city, and as a previous post stated-it's a hop, skip, and a jump to NYC, Atlantic City, Baltimore, DC, the beach and even the mountains!(Poconos) If you would like me to get you some more info, please feel free to pm me I would love to help you guys out. (Could send you newspapers,realty info, whatever) But please.....DON'T GO TO BUFFALO!!!! It's SO stinkin' cold and crappy!!!!

superjeer

Dress.. Yes boots, and not those ankle ones either.. nice tall ones. Hats and gloves. a nice warm coat, or a jacket and several layers. Important thing is if it's really cold, don't expose flesh to wind

And, you'll be fine in your XB. I was driving mine this morning before the snow plows came, 7" of snow in a lowered xB and it did great.

As far as what to rent.. something dependable FWD or AWD. places like Buff are use to digging out, so even if you get a storm while up there chances are the roads will be plowed quick.

Thing to know about driving in snow is pretty simple. You can't turn, you can't stop and you need to use little torque not a lot to get going (stay off the pedal). When going to a stop sign go up to it slow, when turning go real slow. Bridges are where most highway crashes happen because they are likely to be complete ice, so don't try changing lanes or twitch your wrist on bridges.

It sounds worse than it is, but you do have to be very mindful of the dangers. It's the same in philly as buffalo, since they both get the snow and ice

superjeer

Another thing, if you lived in Philly and mention it, people will say "the city of brotherly love, eh" or "I heard there's good sandwiches" or "Don't they have a lot of crime?". If you live in bufalo you'll get "Did you go to Anchors and get the wings?" or "Wow, that's a lot of snow!!!" so Buffalo is cooler

kjcdesignz

I'm from Boston and I moved away about 8 years ago to upstate NY. I miss Beantown like crazy but I now live in Rochester and did the whole RIT thing blah blah blah. I hate snow now more than ever now. BUT I used to love it back home! You know what it is... it's not the snow, it's the grey gloomy skies 300 days a year beacuse of the great lakes THEN it's the snow on top of it! Drains all life and motivation right out of ya. It ugly to boot. Personally I want out. I'm lookin for sun. Atlanta or Las Vegas are my towns for work options... From what I hear about friends down in the Philly area they have mild winters (virtually no salt on the roads) and there is lots to do between Baltimore and D.C. being so close. Your kind of centralized. It's nice if you like to visit other cities and take road trips. If I could give you benefits for Buffalo too, I would say that the bars stay open late and you can always find a party. Plus its an hour closer to Toronto then where I am. Where the party goes all night till sunrise! Thats all I can think of for now... Good Luck with whatever you choose!

keith

superjeer

hmmm.. good point.. how many years is dental school? I think 4 years would be good for you to learn about our way of living, but 6-8 would lead to perminant damage!

I moved to SC for 3 years and it made me want to come back here. If I had to live there for say, 3 more years I'd have had to kill myself. That kind of thing