That's the word from the Princeton Review's annual college rankings based on an 80-question survey completed by 120,000 students on 366 campuses nationwide. And while all college administrators vie to have their school be considered the one with the best classroom experience--top honors this year go to Reed College--or the happiest students--that would be Whitman College--none of them want the title of No. 1 party school. That designation is made based on the answers to questions about the amount of alcohol and drug consumption, the amount of time students spend studying and the popularity of fraternities and sororities.
Conscientious grown-ups, namely university presidents, medical experts and parents who pay hefty tuition bills to these schools, deride this particular ranking as irresponsible and unscientific. Meanwhile, students cheer when their school is recognized as a party-hearty place to be. Toga! Toga!
WVU has made Princeton Review's list of top 20 best party schools seven times in the past 15 years, but this is the first time since 1997 that the Mountaineers have been named No. 1. Last year, WVU was No. 3, behind the University of Texas at Austin and Penn State University. Meanwhile, the university's incoming president, Mike Garrison, is quick to say that students are also concerned about studying--but no one can really hear him over the din of that fraternity party. Besides, WVU was also named the No. 1 school in the category of Their Students (Almost) Never Study, No. 6 for Lots of Beer and No. 7 for Lots of Hard Liquor. (To be fair, the university was also recognized for its library and college newspaper.)
The top 10 party colleges for 2008, according to the Princeton Review:
- West Virginia University
- University of Mississippi
- University of Texas-Austin
- University of Florida
- University of Georgia
- Penn State--University Park
- University of New Hampshire
- Indiana University at Bloomington
- Ohio University-Athens
- University of California-Santa Barbara
On the opposite end of this scale are the top 10 stone-cold sober schools:
- Brigham Young University
- Wheaton College
- Thomas Aquinas College
- College of the Ozarks
- Grove City College
- United States Coast Guard Academy
- United States Air Force Academy
- United States Naval Academy
- CUNY-Queens College
- Webb Institute
No. 1 schools in other categories you won't find on most lists:
- Best Professors: Wellesley College
- Most Beautiful Campus: Sweetbriar College
- Most Liberal Students: Warren Wilson College
- Most Conservative Students: Thomas Aquinas College
- Toughest College to Get Into: Harvard College
- Fraternity and Sorority Scene Biggest: DePauw University
- Most Religious Students: Brigham Young University
- Race/Class Relations Friendliest: Wesleyan College
- Most Diverse Student Body: Temple University
- Gay Community Most Accepted: Macalester College
- Students Pack the Stadiums: University of Maryland-College Park
- Best College Library: Harvard College
- Best College Newspaper: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
About the book: The 2008 edition of "The Best 366 Colleges" features two-page profiles on each college and ranking lists, as well as a new section with lists of "Great Colleges for 15 of the Most Popular College Majors." The book was first published in 1992. No school has ever paid a fee to be in it.
--From the Editors at Netscape
