Meredith is located in the heart of Raleigh, North Carolina’s capital city and one of the fastest-growing urban centers in the country. Numerous top companies are located here and Raleigh-Durham International Airport and the Research Triangle Park are just minutes from campus.
Read on to see out why Raleigh is a great place to be a college student.
#3 Best City for Young Professionals – (Forbes)
#1 Best Big City in the Southeast (Money Magazine)
#2 Easiest City to Find a Job (Forbes)
#3 Sportiest City in the U.S. by Men’s Health Magazine
#7 Best Place to Live (U.S. News and World Report)
#4 Happiest City (University of British Columbia)
Entertainment
Raleigh is home to renowned museums of art, history, and science as well as the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup-winning pro hockey team, more than 80 live music venues, and world-class restaurants.
The NC Museum of Art (NCMA) is close to Meredith and accessible by the greenway trail that borders campus. The museum park is also free for the public to visit from dawn to dusk and offers a great place to walk, enjoy the outdoor art, have a picnic, and even enjoy events that are sometimes hosted in the park.
Sports/Active Lifestyle
With competitive college and university athletics (including Meredith’s own Avenging Angels), a professional hockey team, soccer teams (NC Courage and the NC Football Club), and minor league baseball (the Carolina Mudcats and the Durham Bulls up the road), Raleigh and the surrounding area is a sports-lover’s paradise. And if you enjoy the great outdoors, Raleigh offers 9,000+ acres of parkland and 152 miles of a nationally-acclaimed greenway system with walking, jogging, and hiking trails.
Downtown
Meredith’s campus is located near Raleigh’s thriving downtown, which boasts a lively arts, nightlife, retail, and culinary scene in distinct urban neighborhoods, each with a unique flavor of its own.
Some of students’ favorite recommendations for activities downtown include visiting the food halls like Morgan Street Food Hall and Transfer Co. Food Hall, attending events in Moore Square like First Friday Market and Movie, attending Thursday night Science Cafes and Science Trivia Nights at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS), and visiting the State Farmers Market. With so many events and opportunities to keep track of, using an events calendar like the one from VisitRaleigh or the one from Downtown Raleigh Alliance can be helpful.
The Village District
The Village District (sometimes seen as Cameron Village) is an area of Raleigh close to NC State University. This area has lots of restaurants and shopping, including clothing stores, antiques, beauty, book stores, and jewelry. Restaurants in the Village District range from American breakfast food to ramen and Asian fusion to Italian to seafood to ice cream and coffee shops. To get to the Village District from Meredith, you can use a combination of buses and walking.
Hillsborough Street
Hillsborough Street borders the front of Meredith’s campus and is filled with great dining and leisure experiences. With so many options to choose from, the Meredith Herald compiled a list of suggestions for some of their favorites on Hillsborough. For your convenience, there is also a link for all the food options available on Hillsborough Street.
Hillsborough Street is wonderful to explore and great for making use of NC State University’s resources as well. Meredith students have access to the NC State library and can even take classes at NC State as part of the sister school collaboration. Having an NC State ID means that you can attend sports and other events hosted by NC State as well.
