Where would you rather live?

[Del Tachi]

Thinking about grad schools in these cities.

I need Atlas' halp. 

For those of you interested, its for a master's program in urban/regional planning. 

[Torie]

Thinking about grad schools in these cities.

I need Atlas' halp. 

For those of you interested, its for a master's program in urban/regional planning. 

Go to the best school, given it''s grad school. The location is not very relevant, unless perhaps you plan on living in that location, or perhaps the state, thereafter, since a local school might have some advantage if of about the same quality as another school.

[Mr. Smith]

Go for whatever, and if money's an issue, which ever is closest to the old roots.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Illinois has a more preferable climate imo.

[FairBol]

Atlanta.  Peachtree Street rocks. 

[Coolface Sock #42069]

It depends on a few factors. Do you want a college-town feel or a big city? Champaign is not very big, but you are a few hours' drive from Chicago, St. Louis, or Indianapolis. Atlanta is, of course, a huge city.

Is cost of living an issue? The Champaign area will likely cost less.

Does it matter if there are a lot of things to do off campus? Champaign is surrounded by corn, but like I said, it's not too far from the big city.

Do you have family far away that you'll need to visit via airplane? Atlanta has a huge airport. Champaign is at least 90 minutes from the nearest major airport (Indianapolis).

My personal advice is to choose somewhere well-known where you'll get a good education but will not get into a ton of debt. So, if you can get in-state tuition somehow, I suggest you pick the University of Illinois.

[YaBoyNY]

Urbana-Champaign.

[DINGO Joe]

Well, you tricked me with the question, as I'd rather want to live in New Orleans, but the real question is where do you want to be after graduate school and how can these individual programs get you there.  I mean a program in New Orleans may have greater opportunities for areas in historic preservation and could help you land a job in a major city, whereas the others may be better if you wanted to live/work in suburbia. 

I'm sure all three places would have a large pool of people your age and education to socialize with and New Orleans and Atlanta may even have too many distractions, but again the bottom line really isn't the location but can the school you attend prepare and get you to where you want to be afterwards.