Great places to live/visit in the Southeast?

[carrie9142]

Hi everyone! My DH and I are trying to brainstorm some places we would like to visit and possibly move to in the SE. DH will be trying to match to a residency next year and we are looking for both a good program and a good location. I won't be able to go with him when he interviews, so we are going to do a big road trip this summer (hopefully!) to visit places he is applying to to see if we would like to live there. Does that make sense? We live in Little Rock, so we are kind of thinking about doing a giant circle. We are tentatively planning on Atlanta, FL-mainly for some beach time, Charlotte, maybe Raleigh-Durham, Charleston, and maybe Nashville. Any thoughts or recommendations? We would like to stay in a larger area and it will probably need to have a university there.

Thanks! :D

[Aimee]

There's always New Orleans. Fun city, 2 med schools, 3 universities, and Charity hospital is *the* place to be for trauma experience. Downsides are that it's a dangerous city if you're not careful, the schools are terrible and private schools are a necessity. If you move about 45 minutes out of the city across the lake to the Northshore, there's a great quality of life, the best public schools in the state and it's a really nice place to live. I'm thinking housing prices are probably comparable to Little Rock - we got a 2br condo for 118K 18 months ago, and you can get a house in a great area for about 250K, or less if you're not super-picky about the area.

[ginastorm]

Since you mention Florida in your plans, I recommend Destin. I've vacationed there a few times & I always had a great time. Gulf Shores, AL is also a beautiful beach area.

[nolagirl]

I've heard excellent things about Charlotte. Personally, I love Charleston and Savannah. And Atlanta is great, but huge, so it depends what size city you are looking for.

I live in New Orleans, and as much as I love it, I probably wouldn't recommend moving here. As Aimee said, there is a ton of crime and the economy is still pretty bad here. (Although I do have to disagree about the schools.....I teach in Orleans Parish public schools, and there are several that would absolutely send my children too. You just have to pick and choose, which is fairly easy to do). There are some nice towns in northern Louisiana though, where I think the economy is better (and the crime rate definitely is!) We considered moving to Shreveport or Bossier City, both of which I like a lot.

Good luck finding someplace great!

[Atlanta_eBride]

Well like nolagirl said, it's really going to depend on the size city you are looking for. I'm familiar with the cities that you listed so here are some thoughts:

Atlanta: a personal favorite (but you can tell why from my name). Already a big city and it's getting larger every day - the metropolitain area now covers 16 counties. It's a fun place with lots to do, plenty of Colleges/Universities, lots of transients, and if you are a shop-a-holic you will be in heaven here. On the downside, traffic is horrible, houses are priced out of sight, and it can get really muggy here. I still love it after all these years.

FL: If you want a growing smaller city (and not too far from the beach) with several good universities, check out Tallahassee. Tampa is another good area but again, not right on the beach. On the east coast of Florida I'd look at Port Saint Lucie, it's growing by leaps and bounds and right at the beach but I'm not familiar with any schools in that area. My only comment about Florida is be prepared to deal with the hurricanes.

Charlotte: a great place to raise a family and be in the South. It is a very conservative and religous area if that's what you are looking for. I believe it's the 3rd largest banking center in the country (behind NY and San Fran) and has lots of job potential. The city is OK when it comes to higher education with a few smaller schools in the metropolitan area and UNCC.

Raleigh-Durham: is a great location with lots of technology opportunities. Very good colleges and universities in the area and has lots of suburbs (like Cary, NC) if you don't want too much of a city feel.

Charleston: has to be my favorite southern city by far when it comes to vacations. Now living there might be a different matter but it sure seems like it would be fun.

Nashville: is a fun place to go as well but I'm not sure I'd want to live there. At a distance it doesn't appear to have the economic development of other cities in the region. It does have Vanderbilt University and you can't get much better than that. It's a plus if you like country music.

Some other areas you might want to look at would be Birmingham, AL and Chattanooga, TN. Your trip sounds like lots of fun - good luck on finding your new home.

[Phen]

Any idea what he might want to focus on during residency? Memphis has a ton of hospitals including St. Jude's.

[Ginger1970]

I would throw my vote in for Raleigh being near the top university hospitals in the country. As far as living there, I would do the suburbs as stated above, but I might go the other way from Cary, like Youngsville or Wake Forest. You will find reasonable housing prices the further out you go since you are still in the 'country'.

Good Luck!

[MrsBrooke]

Much of your decision will be based on what residency he is pursuing... medicine, surgery, peds, EM, other?? I did my interviewing loop (for peds) last year, so I remember how stressful but yet fun it was!

I'll throw one more city in there for ya'll to consider- Birmingham! I love it here... it's got much of the big city feel without the sheer huge-ness of Atlanta, and we're just about equidistant from the beaches and the mountains. The UAB system is top-notch too, so that helps! :)

Anyway, let me know if you have any questions. I found the forums at Student Doctor Network to sometimes be helpful too.

Brooke

[lisainpink]

I would suggest Birmingham as well- lots of great programs.
If he wants to do Family Practice or OB, there is a great residency here in Huntsville, AL (exactly halfway between Nashville and Birmingham.) The Huntsville area is around 250,000 people. There are plenty of things to do- and lots of different types of people (Military Base, Tons of engineering firms, 3 Universities.) The Huntsville residency program is part of the UAB program.
What about Mobile? You'd be on the coast- plus USA is there (University of South Alabama.)

[ManteoChik]

I'm an NC girl all the way, although I live on the Outer Banks, the Raleigh/Durham area is great for jobs. Especially if you are looking for the medical field, the Research Triangle Park, between Duke, UNC, and NC State, you can't go wrong finding anything to do with hospitals/medicine.

Living outside the city is great, a lof of the NC girls here on the boards live in the Cary/Holly Springs/Apex areas. They have good schools, a it's more of a neighborhood setting, but still close to shopping and whatever else you need.

[fastlayne224]

Have you thought about KY? We have really good hospitals either in Lexington at the University of KY Med Center or in Louisville at their medical center. We are pretty close to everything when it comes to going on vacation, plus it is some of the most beautiful land you will ever see.

[ManteoChik]

Any updates on what you picked???