MAN.. what a change from D.C..
Not sure Im ready to go to such a small place.. Completely a college town, but also completely a cool place.. After the trip, I think I've decided its the place I want to be. I can afford to buy a house, the law school facilities are on a beautiful part of campus, the downtown area (if you can call it that) is pretty hip, and everything is CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP... The realestate agent I was with forgot to feed a meter downtown and I offered to go back and throw some quarters in for her.. and she said "dont worry about it, its only 3 bucks".. A parking ticket for 3 bucks!! are you kidding me!?!? I went out to a show and had a few beers later that night and spent less than 15 bucks.. You cant even get two drinks in D.C. for that much!
The students also seemed a lot more diverse than I had expected.. Dont get me wrong, its still the bible belt, but the students I saw milling around campus seemed pretty cool.. Great music, and great bars.. For a little more culture/sophistication you'd probably have to head to Atlanta, but that is only 1.5 hrs. away.
Also, I spoke with a recent grad of Emory who works at a BIGLAW firm in Atlanta (pulling in over 100k) and she assured me that if she had to do it all over again she would have gone to UGA.. She said that the people she works with that graduated from UGA had a much more enjoyable 3 years than herself.. So.. Im feeling pretty good about UGA..
Hit me with any Athens questions you like..
Glad you enjoyed Athens. It's a cool little town, and Atlanta is very easily accessible if you want a bigger city. You'll also be amazed how much cheaper Atlanta is than DC (certainly not as cheap as Athens, but as a medium-sized city cost of living is pretty low). I lived in New York for two years after college, and after getting used to Atlanta prices again, I'm always shocked when I visit friends back in NYC.
And I wouldn't worry too much about the Bible belt. Athens is pretty liberal as small Southern towns go, and Atlanta is populated with a bunch of transplanted Northerners and other non-Bible-belt types. You still get somewhat of a fratty scene in Athens, but I've also heard you can easily find alternative options.
As for GT, my baby brother goes there (and is doing phenomenally well in his mechanical engineering degree). He has a very attractive girlfriend there, but they were together before they started college, so it doesn't really count. However, he'll very likely graduate from college with a high-paying job and very little debt, which is much more than I can say of my New England liberal arts college experience...