I know a girl who went to Clark. She was out running with a friend and they both got robbed. Which sounds about right for what ive been told about the surrounding area of Clark University.

Fun fact about main south: directly across Clark, houses Crystal pond which is home to the serial killer named The Woodmans who hasn't been caught yet.

Agree with /u/Climboy, I've had plenty of friends who have lived exactly on that street, it's fine and close to campus!

You'll hear a lot of stuff about Main South not being safe, but it's the same as any city. The neighborhood outside Clark is filled with PoC and immigrants, and there is a normal amount of poverty. Most "crime" is drug-related or won't affect you as a college student. You'll see a homeless person every now and then. Most people over-react to these optics because they've never lived in a city before. Worcester statistically has lower crime rates than other nearby cities. Take the same precautions you would in any city, and you will be fine. There's a lot of great food and activities in the area if you're willing to leave the campus bubble!

Search pickup soccer on Facebook there’s some groups active. Once it gets warmer you could head to clark or wpi at 6pm and find plenty of ppl playigg by pickup

Meetmainsouth.org neighborhood has incredible diversity, great food and small mom pop retail shops. Some areas (not too close to Clark) are a bit tougher for foot traffic because there’s a lot of dealing still but mind your business and you’ll be fine.

Cap

You’ll be mostly around families and other clark students.. you’ll be fine Op

It's not like that anymore

Boxdrop for sure

I lived on the corner of Oberlin and Clifton for years and never had a single issue or the slightest whiff of an issue. Feel free to DM me a more exact address and I can give you details but I have no idea what these folks are on about. I lived two houses from that corner for years and never once had a problem.

I have lived on Florence St. for years the Clark police is across the street, The neighborhood is safe, not a good idea to walk by yourself at night.

Don't cheap out on the mattress. Try some internet-delivery , they have decent prices. Or you can try your luck on craigslist. I snatched a ~2.5k mattress for a few hundreds once :)

… what Major & cats names please?

used to live stream on twitch here picking up trash main st south.

I attended Clark as an undergrad about 11 years ago and lived off-campus on Florence, in the direction you’re speaking of. At that time I also worked off campus in the other direction, at a restaurant about a mile away. I didn’t have a car and would walk to and from work, often late at night. Was it the smartest thing I ever did? No. Did anything ever happen to me? No. Honestly, as a female walking late at night, I kept my wits about me and never really had any safety concerns. I didn’t really see people out at that hour (I would usually walk home between 9-11pm), but I’m not sure if things have changed for the worse. I do know people who got mugged near/on campus late at night. With all that being said, Clark used to offer “escorts,” which included either people walking with you at night or a van driving you. I just did a quick Google and it looks like they still offer on-call transportation within a one-mile radius of campus: https://www.clarku.edu/transportation/clarkride/

I think you’ll be fine during the day. If you’re worried about at night, use the car service.

Edit: My apartment also felt safe. I lived in one of the triple deckers on the third floor. The only time our first-floor neighbors had an issue was when they left the door open and went next door to see friends; in that time they got robbed.

I lived in Worcester for about 12 years, and lived in both a nice secluded area, and a pretty rough area. Neither were at the top of their category, but I spent a lot of time in the areas on foot.

I left about two years ago, and while I was there the areas I went through were quite safe. The city itself was MUCH safer than when I first moved there. As a man, I understand I've got a bit of a different perspective, but I have walked alone, very late at night (2AM), down some rough streets. I only had an issue one time, and it was near the nice place I lived.

Since you won't have a vehicle, that will help you stay under the radar as far as being a target for theft. The area around Clark is not great, by any means, but its also not the worst. As you said, you're not going out at night alone. Avoid the park if you're by yourself, buy yourself some pepper spray and an alarm, and you'll probably be fine.

Keep to yourself and no one is going to bother you.

oh noooo. That's unfortunate.

I use to live in Main South on Stoneland Rd and walk to Clark all the time when I was a teenager, even at midnight. We use to use one of their buildings for dance practices and sometimes collaborate with the dance team they had at Clark. Nothing ever happened to me. I think people tend to overreact about main south. As long as you mind your own business, no one should bother you. That being said, you should still have caution wherever you go whether your in Main South or in the middle of Tokyo.

Warzone might be a bit of hyperbole, but its definitely an open air drug market and a lot of people who simply don't give a fuck about society.

What a strange comment.

Oof no... Oberlin is shit. One of the worse streets in the immediate area that isn't Main South itself.

Oberlin ain’t great. Clifton ain’t great. Be aware.

Yeah, I'm not here to defend them as being the best thing since sliced pizza, but I work close by but live on the other side of the city and have never had a problem like this.

I found a bullet hole in my car when I lived on Clifton St. This was 20 years ago. I’m pretty sure that area has improved based on how Clark seems to be buying up the surrounding area.

Yeah. Even in safe places I've lived, I don't go out unless I'm in a group in like a downtown area cause of some freaky occurrences. And I'm not known to stay out late anyways (unless like class? but they have a shuttle from what I hear past 4pm).