Best college towns

[Thomas Merton]

I've lived in many college towns in an effort to avoid a real job by going to school. The best college towns I've lived in or visited would be Athens, Ga; Santa Cruz, Ca; Charlottsville, Va; Ithaca, NY and Austin, TX.

I'm talking the town itself, not really the campus. Bars, music scene, activities, weather, availability of drugs; you know, all the things necessary for a great college experience. What cool college towns have you been to?

BTW, my undergrad school was located in Olean, NY possibly the worst college town ever.

[torker]

http://www.oneonta.edu/development/admissions/images/miscellaneous/citymap.jpg

[Chip196]

Torker beat me to it ... Oneonta is an AWESOME college town. Plenty of bars, the college provides free transportation to the downtown area so students don't drive (they did 12 years ago anyway). The only downside is the weather.

[A.J.]

The Catholic University of America
600 Michigan Ave, NE
Washington, DC 20017

http://www.dhs.edu/SiteContent/Image/map.gif

[LOAF]

Blacksburg, VA

[BoondockSaint]

http://www.oneonta.edu/development/admissions/images/miscellaneous/citymap.jpg


I can see my street.

[sailor]

http://www.oneonta.edu/development/admissions/images/miscellaneous/citymap.jpg

my cousin went to hartwick. that's a fun little town.

[MrPink]

Frostburg MD. We have a ton of bars right next to each other, plenty of liquor stores, a shitload of drugs, and a lot of churches if you feel bad about everything you did during the week. Pawn shop with enough guns to take on the National Guard. The only shitty thing is the weather.

[jetdog]

NOT Davis, CA, that's for damn sure!

Auburn, AL is pretty fun.

[Marc with a c]

new york city

[Fezticle98]

Tallahassee, FL was pretty cool. Lots of bars, lots of parties, great weather, and better looking chicks than all the other towns that have been mentioned.

[sailor]

new york city

yeah, i was holding that one back for fear of getting slammed.

[Freakshow]

well, he did say austin, tx--the 16th largest city in the country with a million and a half people, so I don't think size has anything to do with 'college towns.' So NYC, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Diego...

[burrben]

athens, ohio

home to the #6 party school in the nation (formerly #2)

OU = #4 in most alcohol consumed (i think)

19 bars in a two-block range

i've gotten a lot of drugs, but half of my friends are drug dealers

back in the back, athens hosted such acts as the grateful dead, led zepplin and the who.
in recent years we've had the white stripes, the black keys margo and the nuclear so & sos, young joc, miranda lambert, art garfunkel, norh jones, vanilla ice.

a lot of great local bands and columbus is only about 45 minutes away, so you can go to really big acts.

the only down side is shopping. there are not really any places to shop. the nearest mall is either in Columbus or Parkersburg (W. VA)

overall, pretty surroundings and great bar/club scene.


and...

the university has the lowest diversity rate among any college or university in ohio.

(we're all white)

[Marc with a c]

yeah, i was holding that one back for fear of getting slammed.

i guess you learned your lesson.

[Fat_Sunny]

Yeah, Leaving Aside The Big Fun Cities (NY/Boston/Etc) Fat Would Say: Madison, WI !

[weekapaugjz]

BTW, my undergrad school was located in Olean, NY possibly the worst college town ever.

a bonnie, huh? olean does suck balls. i grew up in jamestown so i know all about olean.

[johnniewalker]

It begins and ends in one place. In wisconsin. Madison is an amazing college town. It's about 50k students and it's a smaller city is basically built around the school. The games are amazing and the tailgating and support are also great. It's hard to describe, but it just is a city that lives and dies with the school not to mention all the support from around the state.

Edit: Nice I agree with you FAT! I am a little impartial too b/c i went there.

[burrben]

It begins and ends in one place. In wisconsin. Madison is an amazing college town. It's about 50k students and it's a smaller city is basically built around the school. The games are amazing and the tailgating and support are also great. It's hard to describe, but it just is a city that lives and dies with the school not to mention all the support from around the state.

Edit: Nice I agree with you FAT! I am a little impartial too b/c i went there.

fuckin' hippies

[johnniewalker]

fuckin' hippies

I'll take that, it's true.

[kevcala]

http://home.hvc.rr.com/kevcala/citymap.jpg
Fixed it for ya.

[Fat_Sunny]

Edit: Nice I agree with you FAT! I am a little impartial too b/c i went there.

It Is Also A Beautiful City. Fat Grew Up ABout 50 Miles From There, But Went To College ANd Then Stayed In The East.

And F_S Is Also A Retired, Borderline Hippie, Although You'd Never Suspect That If You Met Him. Time Changes Everything!

[johnniewalker]

It Is Also A Beautiful City. Fat Grew Up ABout 50 Miles From There, But Went To College ANd Then Stayed In The East.

And F_S Is Also A Retired, Borderline Hippie, Although You'd Never Suspect That If You Met Him. Time Changes Everything!

That whole area is beautiful. I always went trout fishing in the streams by Black Earth and Cross Plains. Also the Blue Mounds streams were amazing. That's what i love about the location too, 15 miles out and your out in a cool rural area. Where did you grow up fat?

[patsopinion]

Berkeley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley,_California), ca


pretty good college town
santa cruz is more laid back/stoner but does lack a lot of stuff to do/culture

the best for parties in ca are
chico (http://www.csuchico.edu/)
and


Santa Barbara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Barbara%2C_California)
Santa Barbara (http://www.ucsb.edu/) may be the coolest place in America

[Ritalin]

Yeah, Leaving Aside The Big Fun Cities (NY/Boston/Etc) Fat Would Say: Madison, WI !

Uh, Fat?

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

[Fat_Sunny]

Uh, Fat?

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Oh Yeah, Fat Was Thinking About Summer School. He Forgot About Those Wisconsin Winters!!

[lleeder]

I say Albany. I had the best semester ever there.

[Don Stugots]

I say Albany. I had the best semester ever there.

i always had a great time visiting friends there.

[torker]

The Boston gig has been cancelled.

What?

Yeah. I wouldn't worry about it though, it's not a big college town. ...

http://www.supertrevligt.com/grfx/blog/ifaith.jpg

[sailor]

i guess you learned your lesson.

yep, let the gay guy test the waters first.

[weekapaugjz]

lehigh isn't really in a "college town", cause most of south bethlehem is the fucking ghetto, but a big time party school. anytime people had friends come to visit, they were always the first ones passed out. good times.

[Thebazile78]

Totally agree with the Charlottesville comment in the 1st post here. It's fun to hang out there even if you're NOT in college!!!

(There's a branch office of my company based in Charlottesville. I visited a few times about 5 years ago and had a great time.)

New Brunswick (NJ) is fun - lots of bars (dives like The Golden Rail, Old Queens Tavern and Knight Club all the way up to classier joints like Harvest Moon Brewery. Old Bay and Old Man Rafferty's) within walking distance of campus, tolerable Greek life (I had friends at the coed fraternity who always let me drink for free), great Homecoming tailgating and the one-and-only AgField Day (which is coming up in 2 weeks!) where you can play games as varied as "Cowpie Bingo" and race cockroaches from the entomology department's supply of champions.

I will also give some ups to Princeton, although it's a bit more upscale than NB. (You simply MUST try the Triumph Brewery on Nassau Street; great fries and ambience.)

I've heard great things about Madison (aka "Mad City" as a friend of mine who worked at Univ. of Wisc. for years used to call it) but the thought of snow gives me the willies.

And I've been to Albany (business trip). I guess I didn't see the part of town that's fun.

[cougarjake13]

tallahassee, fla

san diego , ca

[ToLEEdo]

Toledo, ohio sucks as a college town and sucks as a city... not much going on acouple of bars but mostly just people getting robbed.

[ChimneyFish]

You people are crazy.

Collegeville,PA.

Heeeellll yeeeeaaaahhhh!!!!

[Bossanova]

Yeah, Leaving Aside The Big Fun Cities (NY/Boston/Etc) Fat Would Say: Madison, WI !

I have to agree with Fat. Wisco is so goddamn ridiculous

[Thomas Merton]

a bonnie, huh? olean does suck balls. i grew up in jamestown so i know all about olean.

Yep, a bonnie and Olean is the town that time forgot.

Despite all the awesome schools in Boston, I don't consider the schools the primary focus of the city. But no good thread is complete without a Spinal Tap quote.

And I forgot about Malibu, home to Pepperdine, where my lucky ass nephew goes. I've never felt like a bigger perv than when he brought home to my brother's house over Spring Break 3 Orange County hotties...I felt like Lester in American Beauty

[weekapaugjz]

Yep, a bonnie and Olean is the town that time forgot.

you can write that on a rock.

[Jennitalia]

I can see my street.

I lived on Cedar :) And walking up the cowpath back to the dorms in the snow was always fun.

I had an absolute ball when I went to Oneonta. Pub jugs and .25 cent pitchers rocked.

[El Mudo]

College Park, MD could be once they finish with their planned development on the other side of 1...but it depends on what ulitmately goes there.


It certainly has the location to be a hotspot (minutes from the District and B-Mo, easy train/bus access from both of those places, good sports teams and clueless police that make it highly accessible for rioting, plus a really big fraternity row, and lots of rich kids)

But the problem is that all the bars now have basically created a consortium that keeps any other bar from opening up in the town at all. Its nuts.

[empulse]

Ithaca NY. The water falls. Cornell, Ithaca college. And tons of sweet sweet hippy puss..err girls.

[PapaBear]

My favorite was really more of a section of town. The Fan District in Richmond, VA were the campus of VCU is. It's a very cool place. Charlottesville sucked, because the UVA students were mostly assholes.

[JohnWC]

Boston, Austin, Burlington, Santa Barbara.

[MrPink]

lehigh isn't really in a "college town", cause most of south bethlehem is the fucking ghetto, but a big time party school. anytime people had friends come to visit, they were always the first ones passed out. good times.

That's definitely what happens here.

[landarch]

Best college town I can think of is Oxford, Mississippi.

Wouldn't be shit without the school, but there's a lot of partying and the beauty of the Ole Miss girls can't be beat anywhere.

[BrentfromTN1]

You are close with Athens, Ohio, but Oxford, Ohio is much better. It has a ton of bars, plenty of hot drunk girls, you can walk to just about anywhere, and a shit load of parties all the time. I am suprised though that Athens can be more white then Miami (college in Oxford, Ohio). They do not allow many schwoogies in Miami, sorry Black Earl.

Brent



athens, ohio

home to the #6 party school in the nation (formerly #2)

OU = #4 in most alcohol consumed (i think)

19 bars in a two-block range

i've gotten a lot of drugs, but half of my friends are drug dealers

back in the back, athens hosted such acts as the grateful dead, led zepplin and the who.
in recent years we've had the white stripes, the black keys margo and the nuclear so & sos, young joc, miranda lambert, art garfunkel, norh jones, vanilla ice.

a lot of great local bands and columbus is only about 45 minutes away, so you can go to really big acts.

the only down side is shopping. there are not really any places to shop. the nearest mall is either in Columbus or Parkersburg (W. VA)

overall, pretty surroundings and great bar/club scene.


and...

the university has the lowest diversity rate among any college or university in ohio.

(we're all white)

[aceofspades7]

I thought the problem was everything around college park...

College Park, MD could be once they finish with their planned development on the other side of 1...but it depends on what ulitmately goes there.


It certainly has the location to be a hotspot (minutes from the District and B-Mo, easy train/bus access from both of those places, good sports teams and clueless police that make it highly accessible for rioting, plus a really big fraternity row, and lots of rich kids)

But the problem is that all the bars now have basically created a consortium that keeps any other bar from opening up in the town at all. Its nuts.

[Basedow]

The Catholic University of America
600 Michigan Ave, NE
Washington, DC 20017

http://www.dhs.edu/SiteContent/Image/map.gif



DID YOU GO TO CUA? JOHNNY K'S HAS BEEN BOUGHT BY THE FORMER MANAGER OF KELLY'S ELLIS ISLAND AND TURNED INTO THE "CARDINAL CLUB". ITS ACTUALLY PRETTY NICE NOW..MAYBE NICE ISNT THE WORD BUT ITS VASTLY IMPROVED.

[crb1]

My favorite was really more of a section of town. The Fan District in Richmond, VA were the campus of VCU is. It's a very cool place. Charlottesville sucked, because the UVA students were mostly assholes.

You drove right past the party town that is Harrisonburg to go hang out with those douchebags???

[cupcakelove]

You drove right past the party town that is Harrisonburg to go hang out with those douchebags???

Thanks, I haven't laughed like that in a while.

[led37zep]

Eugene, Oregon my friends. Eugene Oregon. The school pretty much is the town.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b354/led37zep/DowntownEugene.jpg

[A.J.]

DID YOU GO TO CUA? JOHNNY K'S HAS BEEN BOUGHT BY THE FORMER MANAGER OF KELLY'S ELLIS ISLAND AND TURNED INTO THE "CARDINAL CLUB". ITS ACTUALLY PRETTY NICE NOW..MAYBE NICE ISNT THE WORD BUT ITS VASTLY IMPROVED.

Yep, Class of 1992. Johnny K's was Kitty O'Shea's when I was there. I'll have to check out the latest incarnation this October during my 15-year reunion.

[PapaBear]

You drove right past the party town that is Harrisonburg to go hang out with those douchebags???
I lived in both of those place. I've been to Harrisonburg a bit, and it's a total pit. It does have one thing going for it, though (at least in the late 80's it did). There are more girls than there are guys.

[crb1]

Thanks, I haven't laughed like that in a while.

Come on, they just opened an IHOP before I graduated. I can only imagine what it's like now.

[Basedow]

Yep, Class of 1992. Johnny K's was Kitty O'Shea's when I was there. I'll have to check out the latest incarnation this October during my 15-year reunion.

just a few years before I got there, they changed over from Kitty's to JK's.....I actually had a buddy who worked at Kitty's and he had this sweet ass Kelly Green Jacket with the Kitty O Shea's logo on the back of it which I think he lost one drunken St Patrick's Day. It's too bad because I had planned to steal it from him.

class of '04 btw

[Crippler]

I don't know about the best...but I have a pretty good lock on a couple of the worst:

Seton Hall - when I was there you could find 5 bars within walking distance, but who the fuck wants to walk down South Orange Ave towards Newark? The party scene on campus was always a blast, but every evening spent at the local bars had a high possibility of going horribly wrong. Walking out of Newark towards South Orange at 2am is not a lot of fun.

Rutgers, Newark - self-explanatory, just on the other side of the city...perhaps the more dangerous side. Shit, MLK Blvd runs through campus. But at least you're only a block from a hospital if you have a rough night. I was a commuter when I went there, so I don't really know what the night life was like, but it wasn't a great place to be in broad daylight so I can't imagine the night time bar scene was hoppin'.

[El Mudo]

I thought the problem was everything around college park...



Yeah the neighborhoods around there (ie West Hyattsville) are pretty bad...but when they build up the area that theyre planning to build up (the area directly across campus where there's nothing but acres and acres of warehouses and the Bus Depot) it has the potential to really blow up...

It also depends on what they decide to put over there...right now, I can't reccommend any place in CP other than Cluck U, cause of the guy there that looks like TuPac...and markets himself as such

[K.C.]

Lancaster, PA

http://www.amishabuse.com/images/amish.jpg

[AJ_from_VA]

http://www.cobleskill.edu/images/cobystone.jpg

[Thomas Merton]

Eugene, Oregon my friends. Eugene Oregon. The school pretty much is the town.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b354/led37zep/DowntownEugene.jpg

Nice call Zep. Forgot about Eugene, home to Ken Kesey and Kool Aid Acid Test bus Further.

[Thebazile78]

Rutgers, Newark - self-explanatory, just on the other side of the city...perhaps the more dangerous side. Shit, MLK Blvd runs through campus. But at least you're only a block from a hospital if you have a rough night. I was a commuter when I went there, so I don't really know what the night life was like, but it wasn't a great place to be in broad daylight so I can't imagine the night time bar scene was hoppin'.

The entire City of Newark shuts down at around 3pm most days; on Fridays, however, it closes at 2.

(I work 2 blocks away from Rutgers-Newark. It's a nice campus and all, but I really, really hate Newark.)

[RogerPodacter]

Nobody mentioned State College, PA? Penn State certainly is up there...

[ralphbxny]

I don't know about the best...but I have a pretty good lock on a couple of the worst:

Seton Hall - when I was there you could find 5 bars within walking distance, but who the fuck wants to walk down South Orange Ave towards Newark? The party scene on campus was always a blast, but every evening spent at the local bars had a high possibility of going horribly wrong. Walking out of Newark towards South Orange at 2am is not a lot of fun.

Rutgers, Newark - self-explanatory, just on the other side of the city...perhaps the more dangerous side. Shit, MLK Blvd runs through campus. But at least you're only a block from a hospital if you have a rough night. I was a commuter when I went there, so I don't really know what the night life was like, but it wasn't a great place to be in broad daylight so I can't imagine the night time bar scene was hoppin'.

I have to agree on both. I went to SHU and the bar scene was non existant...as for Rutgers newark...its why one of my good friends transfered to Uconn!

[ralphbxny]

I lived in Knoxville, TN for a couple years and that was an OK college town!!

[Swannee]

Chapel Hill, NC
Franklin Street on Halloween is always a crazy time, and it will be even better once Butch Davis improves the football team

[Tenbatsuzen]

Eugene, Oregon my friends. Eugene Oregon. The school pretty much is the town.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b354/led37zep/DowntownEugene.jpg

Doesn't Eugene have a major meth problem?

[Tenbatsuzen]

Country rooooooads... take me hoooooome... to the place... I belooooooong... West Virginia... mountain mama... take me home... country roads...

http://www.lrp.usace.army.mil/nav/images/hilde_aerial.jpg

[Thomas Merton]

Blacksburg, VA



I know literally hundreds of people who have attended VT and they all loved it and the beauty of Blacksburg.

Thoughts and prayers to everyone involved in the senseless killings there.

[Dudeman]

Eugene, Oregon my friends. Eugene Oregon. The school pretty much is the town.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b354/led37zep/DowntownEugene.jpg

you gave the reason why it isnt a good college town. i want a city that has the university and then some...