How is living in Boston?
Currently weighing two FT offers- one is an EB but in their boston office, the other is a less prestigious firm in NY. The boston firm is definitely a better firm and I'd rather work there, I'm just nervous about living in Boston because I grew up in LA and have worked in NY my past two summers so I'm kind of a city snob.
My favorite parts of NY were the night life and being able to get off work at midnight and still go out for a few hours, followed by pizza at some god forsaken hour. I know that isn't possible in Boston, but is the night life decent? Are there good clubs/bars? In my experience, Boston kind of seems like a great place for when you're married with kids at age 35, but is there a good scene for young people too?
Also, 99% of my college friends will be in NY, whereas I don't know anyone in Boston. On top of that, the offer I would be taking in Boston is for a regional office that's pretty small, so it's not like I would have a 50 person analyst class to go party with. Is my social life going to suck in Boston?
There's a lot of posts on here about how Chicago/Atlanta/other random midwestern city is better than NY, but I can't seem to find much on Boston. Any opinions would be great!
Not personally in Boston, but have several friends based there in their 20s and they really like it. Very cosmopolitan. Huge sports city (obviously). In winter they’re close to the best of the East coast skiing so that’s very popular on weekends. Cape is accessible in the summer and a lot of fun. Overall great place in its own way.
I drove from FiDi to Ipswich yesterday at 11am, had 8 hours on the beach, and was home by 10pm, you can absolutely do a ton of day trips. I don't personally need all of the pomp and circumstance that NYC provides, and recognize that it is slower, but it's still a ridiculously fun city. I will say that bar close at 2 is not great, but honestly people just hit it a little harder and earlier here.
Source: UG in Boston and 3 years post-grad working in and also outside of the city.
Have lived in Boston, along with NYC, DC, Chicago. This is going to sound brutal, though I think it significantly trails the other three cities (at least with regards to what interests my wife and me).
Caught well off guard by the lack of diversity, and frankly racial intolerance. The close-minded disposition of the general population has been a huge turn-off.
Restaurant scene is average to poor. Shellfish/Seafood is strong, while all other cuisines lag.
The city is pretty small. Boston proper is small, the metro area is larger. (Understand that this isn't a negative for everyone)
Cost of living is high and on a tier of its own after SF and NYC.
Public transit is poor. Uber/Lyft within the city is frustrating due to all of the one-ways, narrow streets, and general road layout. (Although the city is very walkable)
Being this far northeast has made it tough to travel to other places in the states. Thought traveling out of Logan would have been easier than what it's been given the size of the metro area.
Very limited new development outside of Seaport and the South End.
Just wanted to push back on a few things you mentioned here.
First of all I would not say the restaurant scene is poor. I would say it is well above average for a city of a similar size. Of course it's not gonna be NYC. Seafood and shellfish is good, as you said. The north end has good italian food. We have several pretty high tier chefs opening multiple restaurants that make a lot of best new restaurants lists. For asian food, chinese, japanese (sushi especially), and korean are all good. Meat and steak scene is solid too.
Second, you're off about "limited development" outside of seaport/south end. Major developments in the West End, Back Bay. Somerville, Cambridge, just to name a few. I literally walk past multiple big high rise apartments under construction just on the way to work.
Lastly, and this is up to opinion, but I do think they city has gotten less close-minded and intolerant. I grew up here and remember how it used to be in the 90s and early 2000s. My high school had a racially motivated fight that sent like a dozen kids to either the ER or the police station--what a day that was. Having seen it over the years, I really do think it is getting a lot better, especially in boston proper. Just my opinions.
Dude just fuckin do new york. Like I posted on your last thread about this and you clearly are just hoping to hear something that like makes Boston seem so much better than NYC when it just isnt. Like yes you can have plenty of fun there, and asking if there is fun stuff and a social scene for young people is honestly a pretty dumb question, but like no smoke when I saw this, I can already tell you'll hate it. I have friends who got "stuck" here instead of taking a new york gig and they're fuckin unbearable to be around once they get going on comparing the two cities. If youre a city snob, seriously don't bother. You won't find what you're looking for here. Just from like your posts and responses to people on here, NYC seems to be like the spot that you really wanna be at and you need to judge if you are willing to settle or not.
to take a less aggressive approach to this, I am also a city snob who ended up making the "boston" choice (but not in Boston) and I really wish I had found a way out of it. If you aren't super social and don't know people, a place like this is gonna be hard
If you can't have fun in Boston, the problem isn't the city.
Take the better job or whichever team you liked more.