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!
PM me.
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.
Didn't think of the cape and skiing, that's a nice upside. That being said, I imagine I'll be pretty busy with work and probably won't have time for many weekends away. Are there fun things to do around town that don't require a whole weekend? Ie say you work a half day Saturday and a few hours Sunday so you can't go away, what kinds of things can you do the rest of the weekend
Yea there’s quite a lot to do for half a day around Boston. All your typical big city food options are present, including some incredible Italian food. A lot of shopping over near newbury street. A good amount of art, I like the Gardner museum. Take a trip up there, so much to offer.
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.
Moved here a year ago immediately after undergrad and really enjoy it. I interned in NYC and completely understand your concerns...Night life is good but its no NYC, but still a lot of places and a very young crowd. I didn't know anyone and have no family here either, so it was a really big change for me. Boston is a great place and a fun sports city. If you have any questions feel free to message me!
Do you ever regret being in Boston over NYC? Is the night life good enough? I know it won't be NYC but is there always stuff to do when you're looking for a night out?
Plenty of nightlife, only drawback is that bars close earlier but still lots of fun places. I am glad I chose Boston, its much more manageable than NYC and has a lot of great stuff to do depending on your interests.
I don't have Boston experience as an adult, but made a similar decision to go to a smaller area for a better firm. Based on your concerns about smaller office, not knowing anyone in Boston, I think you may be underestimating the social impact of this. From my experience, if you are not super extroverted/life of the party making this decision may totally suck, socially.
If this was choosing b/w EB Boston and one of the lesser BB in NYC/ something similar where you will still have great options after 2 years, I wouldn't throw away the idea of taking the NYC offer.
I would kill to land a slot in Boston. Its where i would ultimately like to end up. You can probably also spin off an offer into AM or PE out there as well. Amazing city, Amazing beer, Amazing food.
Boston is an incredible city with tons of options. It isn't as big as New York and there are certainly less "bottle service" type clubs; however, the night life is great. Lots of stuff to do on the weekends in the city and Fenway and TD Garden are both fairly close. PM me if you want to discuss more, but I've lived in 4 different cities in my professional life and Boston is by far my favorite.
Which other cities have you lived? I am curious because I am considering moving. Always like narrowing down the list.
Also curious for future reference
Especially now since Whiskey Saigon just closed :(
It was called gypsy priest previously. i'm sure they'll re-open it as something else. i was more sad to learn that the emerald lounge shut down.
I would prefer you to stay in NY because it's the best place for young individuals!
boston has a lot of colleges and universities....and wherever you have lots of college students....you will have lots of bars and clubs and food options to satisfy them
Usually cold and miserable.
I like Boston a lot. I'm originally from LA as well, but have lived in New England for a large portion of my life, about 45 minutes away from Boston. Lots of my friends went to college and/or work there, and I train commute into the city on a weekly basis.
Great food, moderately clean, beautiful architecture and history, access to fun water activities in the summer (close-ish to beaches, water front/boat bars, etc), decent night life (closes at 1:30-2am though...), and great restaurants. As mentioned before, there is also the upside of close proximity to mountains to the north, and world-class beaches/vacation spots (vineyard, block island) to the south.
Also as previously mentioned, Boston is a major AM hub, which, if this is your fancy for exit ops, wouldn't hurt to be located near.
NY analyst social life isn't exactly awesome.
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The Departed makes me wanna live on L Street in Southie
It's (un)fortunately not quite the same scene anymore
Meh, Southie probably has more yuppies per sq mile than anywhere in the world.
I’ve lived in Boston, and I’d say it’s a nice city. Public transit sucks, the red line/green line are constantly fucked up so keep that in mind. Tons of bars, but most aren’t even close to the same scale as NYC. Huge sports city, you can catch a game year round between the bruins/sox/Celtics. TONS of college girls, if you’re straight out of college this will be great for you. Cost of living is actually way higher than you’d expect...think like $2500/month for a basic studio in a new place, and food is near NYC prices. The weather can be bipolar, but that’s no different than NYC. Oh, and New Englanders are some cold mother fuckers. It takes a long time to get used to them. They don’t have a Nobu either...which sucks. All in I’d say it’s a top 10 city, but I’d take NYC/Chi/LA over Boston any day.
Have you tried O Ya for sushi? On par with Nobu, and it’s way less of a scene.
Dude o ya is absolute fire but pretty expensive. Cafe Sushi in cambridge is def my fav spot. Pretty lowkey and inexpensive but very good quality sushi nonetheless.
I have been...nothing beats lobster sashimi tacos and cold shots of sake, not even close to Nobu imo.
Uni in Back Bay. Not as expensive as O Ya but really good.
True... on your comment about Nobu, Try Uni in Boston... that's all I'm going to say
Tried Uni - it’s definitely good...still not Nobu status though.
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.
Asian food is literally so bad in Boston (Korean is actually the worst, all Korean places are open & run by Chinese people). Vietnamese food is probably the only one that can compare. Food in Boston is not very good for the price you are paying. Seafood is the only cuisine that is good. North End is actually very overrated Italian food, but there are a few good ones, ngl.
It honestly amazed me, there are no cheap flights out of Logan. Unless you want to fly to a tristate city you’re fucked. And the flights are ALWAYS delayed.
Pretty sure you're wrong about this. Logan is a hub for delta and jetblue, and pretty sure all my domestic flights out of JFK were more expensive to my flights to the same locations out of Logan. Not a massive sample size, but also just checked online and flights boston to SF this weekend are cheaper than those out of JFK. The airport does suck and gets delayed a lot, tho. Maybe we've just had different experiences.
I have also lived in Boston (for almost a decade) along with NYC, DC, and Chicago.
Agree with all of these points. The lack of diversity is striking. Last time I went to the Harpoon brewery there were 3 non-white people in a room of a few hundred.
People are not "politically correct" either. It might be a liberal state but expect to hear a lot of slurs/slang that you wouldn't elsewhere. That doesn't bother everyone but its normal there. Outside of just racist comments, people will just get in your face more or be more open with sharing a completely uninformed opinion that could offend people. Not that NYC is much different.
Only point I'd disagree with is the lack of development. Boston is a brick and mortar town - a lot of brownstones/townhouses and neighborhoods. It's just different than what you see in other cities. I think the lack of a live-work-play on every corner is actually a pro.
I'll also add that sports culture is, obviously, top notch.
agreed one of the biggest things that caught me off guard with Boston is the non existent diversity and the intolerance for it and other cultures.
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
Lol this.
I also moved from NYC to Boston (banking to PE).
And guess what. I didn't like it. At least not the first 6 months.
But looking back, it didn't matter. I ended up in NYC anyways.
And honestly I made new friends and had a great time my 2nd year in Boston.
Hell yeah brother, city snobs are the WORST.
Looking back on this post, now being in Manhattan it just makes me miss Boston. Honestly NY is cool but like Boston nightlife is a lot closer to NY than people think, and in certain cases its better. Food here is better tho.
If you can't have fun in Boston, the problem isn't the city.
Take the better job or whichever team you liked more.
Love Boston. Skip the Cape and go straight to Martha's Vineyard. Then hit up Vermont in the Fall. I am in California now, I miss Boston.
Too many commis in California. When 99% of the apartments are rent-controlled, your budget is gonna be screwed if yours isn't.
What part of Cali are you in and why not a fan of it compared to Boston?
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