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I think all of the following would provide what the OP is looking for:
Ames, IA
Iowa City, IA
Columbia, MO
Lawrence, KS
Manhattan, KS
Fayetteville, AR
Stillwater, OK
Places like Madison, WI or Lincoln, NE may not be nearly as college focused, due to sharing with the state capitol, but they're great communities as well.
Perhaps the best fit of those mentioned with be fellow Big Ten town, Iowa City, which I think shares a lot with Bloomington from the get go. Both UI and IU abut their respective downtowns, both universities have a lot of overlap in the students who attend them (think of the size of the Chicago area contingent at each).
Iowa City and Bloomington, IMHO, are far more like each other than either of them are to any other Big Ten college town.
Perhaps the best fit of those mentioned with be fellow Big Ten town, Iowa City, which I think shares a lot with Bloomington from the get go. Both UI and IU abut their respective downtowns, both universities have a lot of overlap in the students who attend them (think of the size of the Chicago area contingent at each).
Iowa City and Bloomington, IMHO, are far more like each other than either of them are to any other Big Ten college town.
I agree. I haven't been to all of the Big 10 towns, but a lot of the Big 10 schools are located in or adjacent to cities that are too big to be "college towns". Columbus, OH is a big city that has a major college. Ann Arbor is a suburb of Detroit. West Lafayette is one of the most underdeveloped college towns I've been through.
I do think Columbia is a lot like Bloomington, and maybe even more so than Iowa City when you compare the outlying areas. Iowa City doesn't have the adjacent outdoor recreation that Bloomington and Columbia (close to the Ozarks) do. Fayetteville ranks highly in this category too.
I got to know Bloomington through a friend who got his doctorate there. He did his first 6 years at Iowa, and part of why he chose Indiana was due to how similar Bloomington felt to Iowa City.
IMO it all depends on what you want. If you want one of the more charming college towns in the country.....Pick Bloomington.
If you want a place that has all the charm of an Army base. Pick College Station. Because until right until around 1970 A&M was an all male military school.
College Station was tiny until after WWII and it just doesn't really have anything about it that is appealing like so many college towns. Bryan next door was actually a real town but none of the old, nice neighborhoods evolved around the University. Bryan is really improving and getting some of that charm to it, but it's downtown is several miles from A&M and Bryan's newly evolved "charm" doesn't really resonate around campus. Contrast that to Bloomington who's really cool downtown is adjacent to campus. And the nice grand old neighborhoods are close by.
However, as a non student, I think BCS would be fine. Plenty of nice newer places to live. Warmer winter weather. The university has plenty of activities going on to enjoy.
I've been to games at over 15 schools in the Big 12, Big 10, and SEC. Many of these schools take football very seriously and are among the blue bloods of the sport (Nebraska and Texas in particular).
A&M is something different altogether - It's not really about football. There's no other place like it, and there are reasons for it's specific culture that just aren't replicated at any other college. It isn't inherently bad, but it's 100% unique to that community, and may very well be a turn off to someone. If you're thinking about living there, you should be aware, IMO.
Im aware of their reputation. My point is whether their fanaticism and ramped up school pride would really affect your life all that much if you live in the area but aren’t involved with the university or attending the football games.
Im aware of their reputation. My point is whether their fanaticism and ramped up school pride would really affect your life all that much if you live in the area but aren’t involved with the university or attending the football games.
In a college town, yes, I think it would. You would have to be pretty detached from the community to avoid it, and if you're specifically seeking this kind of community, I'm not sure why you would want that level of detachment.
I think all of the following would provide what the OP is looking for:
Ames, IA
Iowa City, IA
Columbia, MO
Lawrence, KS
Manhattan, KS
Fayetteville, AR
Stillwater, OK
Places like Madison, WI or Lincoln, NE may not be nearly as college focused, due to sharing with the state capitol, but they're great communities as well.
Madison might be less college focused, but Lincoln is literally only known for Huskers football. It's like a religion there.
There's Huskers football season, then there's the rest of the year.
But I agree, the downtown has more to offer and doesn't only feel like a college town.
Im aware of their reputation. My point is whether their fanaticism and ramped up school pride would really affect your life all that much if you live in the area but aren’t involved with the university or attending the football games.
Again, it depends on whether you want the traditional rah-rah-sis-boom-bah of a flagship type school (Indiana) or whether you want a cross between Ag school tradition/Military school tradition. I certainly don't think there is anything about A&M tradition that is necessarily bad. Some of it is just shall we say, 'stranger' than most. I, for one, would rather admire Aggie "tradition" from afar.
I'd rather go to Indiana where it's safe to walk on the grass. At Indiana you won't have to here "howdy" every 5 seconds. Indiana where you don't feel like you are on the set of Gomer Pyle every day. But others may feel differently.
College Station has a stretch of University Street across from the campus that has the look and vibe of a college town with the bars and restaurants that are unique to the town. However outside of that, the town looks and feels like a suburb. Nothing necessarily wrong with that but if one is looking for a "quintessential" college town-like vibe, Bloomington is going to be more what you're looking for.
The Aggie atmosphere I didn't think was as bad as Longhorn fans describe it (I was there in the summer when most of the student population was away) but I saw some of it (yeah I was greeted with 'Howdy' quite often). I'll just say this, it's not for everyone, hence another reason why Bloomington would probably be a better choice.
I agree. I haven't been to all of the Big 10 towns, but a lot of the Big 10 schools are located in or adjacent to cities that are too big to be "college towns". Columbus, OH is a big city that has a major college. Ann Arbor is a suburb of Detroit. West Lafayette is one of the most underdeveloped college towns I've been through.
I do think Columbia is a lot like Bloomington, and maybe even more so than Iowa City when you compare the outlying areas. Iowa City doesn't have the adjacent outdoor recreation that Bloomington and Columbia (close to the Ozarks) do. Fayetteville ranks highly in this category too.
I got to know Bloomington through a friend who got his doctorate there. He did his first 6 years at Iowa, and part of why he chose Indiana was due to how similar Bloomington felt to Iowa City.
I actually think Iowa city is very outdoors and recreationally oriented. There is fine scenery and great recreational opportunities like around the Coralville dam.
I would consider Iowa City, Bloomington and Columbia to be hilly (but never having been to Columbia, I don’t know that much about it.Bloomington, of course, is very well known for its beauty and recreational opportunities. The Bloomington area is far more roughed than the Iowa City area
But UI does hills far better than IU. The Iowa River runs through the Iowa River and hills rise on both banks. I don’t think there is any campus anywhere that comes across as an amphitheatre where many locations offer up a view of most of the campus
Iowa City has outdoor opportunities, I just don't think they're on the same level as Bloomington.
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