I'm looking at physical therapy schools in the Pacific Northwest. Anyone familiar with University of Puget Sound or Tacoma? Thanks much!

What do you want to know? UPS has a great reputation and Tacoma has been on the upswing. It still has its gritty spots and there are growing pains (the traffic all over the Puget Sound area is a nightmare) but my family all still lives there and they love it.

I lived in Tacoma in the 80s about two miles to the southwest of UPS. UPS is located in an older but gentrified residential area directly west of Downtown. Any so-called "gritty" areas tend the other direction, to the southeast, but to be fair, those areas are solid neighborhoods too.

UPS has a solid reputation and is well-respected not only in Tacoma, but nationally. I don't know anything about their PT curriculum, but I have two good friends who have graduate degrees from UPS in other areas.

Tacoma has been undergoing a lot of revitalization in the last few decades, with a near-total makeover of Downtown and many improvements to roads and transit. You get spectacular views of Puget Sound and "The Mountain" (Mt. Rainier) from many areas of town. Expect excellent shopping and services and easy access to Seattle. All things considered, Tacoma is a nice place to live except for the nightmare of traffic, which is anywhere you go in Western Washington these days.

It's a great place if you like coffee, teriyaki, mild weather, trees, water, mountains, and traffic, lots of traffic.

I grew up in the area, went to PLU (UPS' cross-town rival), and lived in Tacoma until a few years ago. UPS is in a nice area, and if you can find a place to live near campus or even in the general area, commuting shouldn't be a problem--the heavy traffic is mainly east of the UPS neighborhood on I-5 and south on SR16. UPS is fairly close to Point Defiance, and you can take the back way into downtown through Ruston, avoiding the heavy traffic areas. There's lots to do in Tacoma, from the glass museum/bridge, to the art museum, Wright Park, a lively arts scene downtown, the LeMay museum; lots of great restaurants; easy access to both Cascade mountains and the Olympic Peninsula. The areas of Tacoma that used to be "gritty" aren't really anymore. Rents, insurance rates, food and gas prices are all pretty high there, unfortunately.