Life of B-School student in a small city

One of things I considered while applying to business school was where I would be living. At first it did not strike me an immensely important but later it did start playing on my mind a bit more. Now that I have lived in Charlottesville and think about advantages and disadvantages of living in a smaller city I realize that location has immense influence on your life at Business school. Not that you should decide where to go based on location but definitely feel you should consider it and think about how you are going to cope or adapt.

While a smaller city provides you an opportunity to be focused and immersed, living in a big city say New York can be distracting. Also it gives you opportunity to develop closer relationships as more often than not people stay closer to school, meet each other frequently and participate in many activities and events together. In a bigger city I can easily imagine people going out and living their own lives. Smaller city also afford a great environment for learning. I can think of better example than Darden in the bigger University of Virginia campus. Another great advantage I find is that it’s pretty easy to get around for any activity and you save lot of time in local commute.

On the other hand there are some disadvantages for B-school in smaller cities. First and foremost is accessibility. It’s hard to find flights to various destinations and you often have to drive to nearby airports. Also like in all small towns the choice of activities or places to go are limited and you get tired of running into the same people again and again. Small towns can never match the eating, dining and other entertainment options, sports and recreation facilities etc of a larger city.

Having said that I would counter that Charlottesville is in many ways unique. It combines the lifestyle, peace and other benefits of a small town with facilities and entertainment of a bigger city. Firstly UVA is a pretty big university which ensures that there are tons of bars with lot of activity in the downtown, also known as ‘corner’ area. There are a few clubs around as well. Charlottesville has quite a few restaurants for its small size and of pretty decent quality. Part of the reason for its dual nature is because it is considered a great retirement option for lot of wealthy individuals, and that brings along several other small businesses. In terms of commute, Charlottesville does have an airport but is limited is its flight options. You can drive down to Richmond (1.5 hrs) or DC (2 hrs) and catch flights from there. Having those bigger cities nearby is also useful is many other ways both for business and recreation.

This is by no means an in depth analysis but I hope I provided some insight into what a Business school in small city offers vs one in bigger city. Also hope that I shed some light on Charlottesville. I am going to follow up this post with few things Dardenites do outside school to provide you better insight on what your life might be life if you choose to come here.