Question?

[astoryandasong]

So say if you were living in Jersey, what would be the nearest college? Would it be a feasible commute to go to college in New York but live in Jersey?

I am at that stage when writing fic where you realise that you have plot holes sixteen yards wide, and nobody is going to psychically guess what you mean.

Comments

[quinn222.livejournal.com]

It all depends on where in New Jersey they live. Southern NJ would not go to school in New York but might in Pennsylvania, Northern New Jersey might go to school in NY. But finances play a part too, if it's a state school then they would likely stay in state because it costs a fortune to attend as an out of state resident.

[astoryandasong.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, the dreaded tuition fees question. Hmmm.

I will have to noodle on that further. Thanks for the info!

[heynderyckx.livejournal.com]

Ewwwww Jersey? If you...must...eeeugh *shudder*

Rutgers and Princeton are the two best colleges in NJ and probably the only recognizable ones. Otherwise you'd have to tell me which city in NJ, as there are hundreds to choose from.

As for commuting from NJ to NY...NY is a huge state so I'd have to know where in NY, but I'd estimate you're looking at a commute time of 2 hours each way by car or 3 hrs each way by public transportation. There are many people who actually do this, I just don't think you'd want to have your poor characters subjecting themselves to it! Unless sex on the bus/train is a major plot point. Ahem.

I could help you whittle down cities/colleges if you give me more info - are you picturing a small liberal arts school in the suburbs? A huge science & tech school in the city? A romantic commute into the city on the train each morning, or a more true-to-life bump and grind (har!) commute on congested highways, complete with gripes about fuel prices? More info please! *is a secret beta-er*

[astoryandasong.livejournal.com]

It's a fic which involves My Chemical Romance, who are from Jersey- I have no opinions on it either way?

We're talking Belleville. I have no idea how big Jersey is- I always picture it as being kind of a suburb of NY, but its probably bigger than my whole country, lol.

BUS SEX OMG SO WRONG...

I need a small-ish liberal arts college. Maybe 20 mins by bus ride sort of communte (I just wrote cummute and its YOUR FAULT MMKAY)

p.s it is Bob Bryar/Brendon Urie, and I am going to HELL

[heynderyckx.livejournal.com]

Train sex = hawt. Do not even attempt to deny it.

NJ is roughly 1/4 the landmass of Scotland, with ~2x the population (thanks, wikipedia!).

I'll search for a school which fits your bill and report back.

[heynderyckx.livejournal.com]

Looking at NYC...how about Cooper Union (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_Union)? Tough to get into but I'm assuming these guys aren't dolts. Cooper Union gives a full tuition scholarship to all students so $ wouldn't be much of a problem (relatively).

Or you could make them particularly ambitious and say they got into Juilliard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juilliard) mwahaha.

[astoryandasong.livejournal.com]

Thaaank you.

How would you feel about picking what I have so far for Brit-isms? I have whole issues, and I know how you guys feel about the letter u.

[heynderyckx.livejournal.com]

Yes yes let my monkey fingers pick over it!

[astoryandasong.livejournal.com]

mmkay- I will add you to the googledoc as a collaborator. It's the final-ish draft thats in the process of being re-written

[(Anonymous)]

WOO NEW JERSEY!

Commuting from Belleville to NYC on public transportation wouldn't be too difficult. You'd have to have your character(s) take a NJ Transit train into New York (Penn Station) by way of Newark, NJ (about 30 minutes) and take the Newark Light Rail to get back to Belleville (about 20 minutes). And then, of course, the subway to get to wherever the school is in New York.

As for New Jersey, Belleville to Rutgers University is about an hour drive (by car, not bus, and not counting the ridiculous traffic). I'd also mention William Paterson University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Paterson_University), which is about a half an hour from Belleville in Wayne, New Jersey. Also, there's Montclair University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montclair_State_University) and that's about a fifteen minute drive (again, not counting traffic). They're all public liberal arts universities.

But you could always use your creative artistic license. You wouldn't be the first person to shorten some distances for a story. Either way, I'm excited for college!fic. :)

[astoryandasong.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

My US geography is woeful- and I have issues with scale as well- Scotland has 5 million people and is about the size of Rhode Island or something ridiculous.

I think I will probably use Montclair- smallest commute possible. I actually considered not mentioning the name at all- just sort of fudging. But my own anal retentiveness defeats me once more!

[(Anonymous)]

Glad to be of help! I'm excited for your story. And Montclair seems like a good choice, especially in terms of authenticity, because Ray went there and he probably commuted. :)

[astoryandasong.livejournal.com]

Whee! I did not know that!

BTW, what's your lj username?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_justwords_/]

Glad I could help!

And hello. [waves] :)

[astoryandasong.livejournal.com]

I wonder if you moved away for a year and came back it would count?

[(Anonymous)]

My friend goes to Rutgers, and she had to prove that she paid taxes in NJ in the previous year in order to get in-state tuition. This is typical, and if you move away for a year, you typically lose your in-state residency unless you lived part-time in the state and paid taxes. However, this all varies from state to state, so you would have to check. Most people pay out-of-state for a year of school, gain residency, and then get in-state for the rest of their time at the school. You just have to stay in-state for the summer. Of course, none of this applies to smallish, private schools, which just charge the same fees no matter what (like the school Diana and I went to). And I'll echo the above-- lots of people from the Philly area and Delaware go to school in south Jersey (ala Rutgers), but you'd have to be from north Jersey to commute into NYC (NJ Transit runs trains into NYC) easily. Jersey is so strange-- South Jersey is half farms and half beach/gambling towns, and North Jersey is all Jersey Turnpike Asshole of the Universe ugliness.

I love how you have a problem thinking about the scale of the US-- I remember how much you and Jane complained about the 6 hour drive to the Lake District, but for me, that's just a drive home to my parent's house for a weekend from Chicago, no big deal.

-Emily