State College, PA ranked third best college town in U.S. (Northampton: 2014, chapel)

[E-Z-B]

Ran into this today: State College ranked third best college town.
https://www.aier.org/article/8231-ai...ties-2013-2014

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by E-Z-B

Ran into this today: State College ranked third best college town.
https://www.aier.org/article/8231-ai...ties-2013-2014

That's a bit misleading of a headline. Really what it did was rank State College the third best college town which is not part of a larger metropolitan area. This even discounts "small metros" like Boulder and Ann Arbor, which are anchored by a large college town - not to mention college towns clearly within a large metropolitan area (Chapel Hill, Cambridge, Berkeley, etc).

Also, it only ranked the top 75 areas for college enrollment. I know some classic college towns were thus disqualified, for example Athens, Georgia and Northampton, Massachusetts.

[JJ Johnson]

Exactly. It means #3 small college town. I'm not sure it says much about the college, either, when you look at the schools in many of the other highly rated towns. A lot of run-of-the-mill state diploma mills.

[HeyHowdy]

Originally Posted by E-Z-B

Ran into this today: State College ranked third best college town.
https://www.aier.org/article/8231-ai...ties-2013-2014

Emphasis on Greek life and drinking leads me to disagree :/
Middle of Nowhere too. Pretty, but not for me at any rate.

[Davros]

I wonder what they think is so appealing about Crestview Florida and Ames Iowa? Strange list.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by HeyHowdy

Emphasis on Greek life and drinking leads me to disagree :/
Middle of Nowhere too. Pretty, but not for me at any rate.

Huge state schools like PSU have proportionally small (though numerically large) Greek communities, so the "emphasis on Greek life" remark is a misnomer. However, there definitely is a strong emphasis on drinking that cuts across most of the on-campus cliques.

State College was fun for the occasional visit, but I definitely would have been stir-crazy if I had gone to school there.

[Lion11]

State College IS a great place, not to mention a great college town. However, to each their own, of course.
http://onwardstate.com/wp-content/up...titled-1-3.jpg
And Penn State has a huge, extremely active Greek community. One of the largest in the country, I'm pretty sure. Contrary to popular belief, Penn State is so much more than just a "party school". Ever heard of THON? Last year they raised $12 Million for the Four Diamonds fund:
THON 2014 Promo - YouTube. Trust me, they didn't raise that money by drinking every weekend.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Lion11

State College IS a great place, not to mention a great college town. However, to each their own, of course.
http://onwardstate.com/wp-content/up...titled-1-3.jpg
And Penn State has a huge, extremely active Greek community. One of the largest in the country, I'm pretty sure. Contrary to popular belief, Penn State is so much more than just a "party school". Ever heard of THON? Last year they raised $12 Million for the Four Diamonds fund:
THON 2014 Promo - YouTube. Trust me, they didn't raise that money by drinking every weekend.

Most state schools are party schools. Being a "party school" is in no way mutually exclusive with being a solid, academic institution, which Penn State definitely is. And I said in my above post that Penn State's Greek community is numerically large. But last I checked, its proportion of students involved in Greek life is a little over 10%, which is fairly small. In my view, that's the best of both worlds. People who want to pledge can enjoy an active Greek scene, while those who prefer remaining independent don't have to suffer an impaired social life as a result.

It's also possible to go drinking one or two nights a week and still be academically successful, much less functional. I have no problems with Penn State as a school. I was only saying that it wouldn't have been the right place for me because it is located in a a relatively small college town that's surrounded by a whole bunch of nothing. That's great for some people. I preferred going to undergrad in a city where there were lots of things to do and places to see that had absolutely nothing to do with my alma mater. I'm not the type of person who can live and breathe an institution 24/7.

[HeyHowdy]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

Huge state schools like PSU have proportionally small (though numerically large) Greek communities, so the "emphasis on Greek life" remark is a misnomer. However, there definitely is a strong emphasis on drinking that cuts across most of the on-campus cliques.

State College was fun for the occasional visit, but I definitely would have been stir-crazy if I had gone to school there.

My mom went to school there. Greek life takes over the school...and there is sooo much drinking. Where did you go to college? I went to CU Boulder and Greek life is huge there too. Its not a misnomer. Its a true statement reflecting a certain vibe. You dont have to be proportionately large to make a huge impact.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by HeyHowdy

My mom went to school there. Greek life takes over the school...and there is sooo much drinking. Where did you go to college? I went to CU Boulder and Greek life is huge there too. Its not a misnomer. Its a true statement reflecting a certain vibe. You dont have to be proportionately large to make a huge impact.

Pitt. About 10% Greek--big enough for people who wanted the scene, small enough that it was nowhere near all-encompassing. I had a number of HS friends who went to Penn State, none Greek, who had a fine time there. When almost 85-90% of a campus of nearly 40,000 doesn't engage in a given activity, it doesn't really matter how loud the remaining 10-15% is. Drinking is huge at just about every school, big and small, public and private, though I agree PSU probably has a bigger drinking culture than most.