Some Magazine Puts Out Shitty ‘Top 20 College Towns In America’ List
A school itself is only part of the college experience. The town where your school is located has a huge impact on the best four to seven years of your life. The bars, the restaurants, and the overall atmosphere and ambiance of college towns are some of the most enjoyable things that come with the overall bliss of college.
Travel and Leisure ranked the twenty best college towns in the country. Based upon things like events, restaurants, bars, and charm, they were able to compile a list of college towns across the country that are, in their opinion, the best.
Here are the rankings:
1. Burlington, Vermont
2. Charlottesville, Virginia
3. San Luis Obispo, California
4. Williamsburg, Virginia
5. Harrisonburg, Virginia
6. Boulder, Colorado
7. St. Augustine, Florida
8. Asheville, North Carolina
9. Fredericksburg, Virginia
10. Flagstaff, Arizona
11. Morgantown, West Virginia
12. Saratoga Springs, New York
13. Ithaca, New York
14. Lexington, Virginia
15. Annapolis, Maryland
16. Fayetteville, Arkansas
17. Lafayette, Louisiana
18. Bozeman, Montana
19. Chapel Hill, North Carolina
20. Duluth, Minnesota
See your college town up there? If you did, good for you. I did, and I’m pretty proud of it. If you didn’t, don’t worry. I see some pretty huge flaws with these rankings.
First off, I’m glad to see Virginia did so well. The state is packed full of great schools and great college towns. Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Lexington, and Williamsburg are all awesome places with their own unique microcultures. However, I disagree with Fredericksburg being ranked that high. Yeah, University of Mary Washington is there, but I don’t think that simply having a college located within its borders should make a municipality a college town. Don’t get me wrong, Fredericksburg is a really cool place, especially if you’re into history, but I just don’t see the place being a college town, let alone a top ten college town.
Secondly, and I’m going to hurt some feelings with this one, Morgantown does not belong on this list. WVU is a fun school. It’s a party school. It’s a hell of a good time. You’ll get no argument from me regarding that. But the town itself? Let’s face it. It’s essentially a rusting shithole.
There are some other towns here that just don’t belong. Annapolis? Yeah, the Naval Academy is there, but I don’t think that is enough to give the town a college atmosphere. St. John’s is there, too, but I just don’t see it pulling enough weight to make the town a contender. Again, like many of the towns among the ranked, it’s an awesome place. I just don’t see it as a college town. The same goes for Duluth. I don’t really see it as a college town, and honestly, I’m not sure how fun of a town it is at all.
Bozeman? I honestly have no clue. Never been. The only guy I know who went to school there was weird as shit, so I’m going to use that as a gauge on this one.
There are probably some towns that you think should have made the list. You could argue for Austin, Texas, and many would agree with you. However, Austin is in its own category of city. Its culture is so unique that I don’t think classifying it as a college town does it justice.
In all, I think these rankings make some good points, but they’re also lacking. Some of the justifications used just don’t seem that applicable to me, but shit, what do I know? As for Burlington being the top college town, I don’t even know what to think. Is being the home of Ben and Jerry’s and Phish enough to justify being in the top spot? Tough call, guys. Tough call.
Don’t like the rankings you’ve seen here? Defend your school and college town in the comments section below.
[via Travel and Leisure]
Image via New England Magazine
Burlington is great if you like liberals and weed
11 years ago at 5:17 pmI like one of those things.
11 years ago at 5:21 pm^
11 years ago at 7:58 pm^^
11 years ago at 8:48 pmQue the “where the fuck is Oxford, Athens, Lexington, Tuscaloosa, etc… comments.” But seriously WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY
11 years ago at 5:18 pm*Cue
11 years ago at 5:24 pm^ yeah that’s what I meant
11 years ago at 5:28 pmThere’s no way that a huge magazine would put towns where the colleges had been accused of some sort of discrimination on the list. Hence why Tuscaloosa isn’t on the list.
11 years ago at 5:59 pmNot to mention, Tuscaloosa is a total shit hole.
11 years ago at 11:17 pm^You’re not a very clever individual, are you?
11 years ago at 12:30 amAs much fun as Bama is, Tuscaloosa is a bullshit excuse for a college town.
11 years ago at 12:53 pmIf one more person says or writes, “hence why,” I’m going to scream so loudly I break the sound barrier. It’s either “hence” or “which is why” – in using both you’re essentially saying “which is why which is why.” Trying to sound educated by peppering your sentences with unnecessary “smart kid” words: NF.
11 years ago at 8:40 pmHence why….
11 years ago at 8:55 amSaratoga Springs would be a great college town. To bad there aren’t any colleges there…
11 years ago at 5:20 pmSkidmore College; one of the most liberal in the country. Saratoga Springs is great for going to the race track in the summer and overall its a really laid back upstate town especially if you’re used to NYC…but in no way should it be on a best college towns list because of Skidmore.
11 years ago at 11:20 pmMy belief is that Bozeman is on this list because of the ski culture. It has Big Sky minutes away and Big Sky brewery is there as well which might make some nightlife cool but overall, I’m sure Bozeman has more of a northern small town atmosphere and this spot was probably wasted. Bozeman, like most of these towns are tourists destinations. That’s probably what this list should have been. Tourist towns that have a college in them
11 years ago at 5:21 pmDuluth as well, it has a up and coming downtown but for the most part, its a decaying Great Lakes shipping town. A lot of areas are just ghetto as fuck. It’s neighbor, Superior, WI looks like it could be East St. Louis if you didnt know where you were at.
11 years ago at 5:24 pmdidn’t a girl just drunk-freeze her limbs off in Duluth last week?
11 years ago at 5:42 pmWhy can’t I lap you?
11 years ago at 8:06 pmWhat the fuck, tech guy…
11 years ago at 8:07 pmwhy is my original comment awaiting approval? im not yahoo
11 years ago at 9:28 pmSchool pride is telling me to nominate Berkeley, CA, but the fact that I want to off more than half of the population here makes that argument a moot point.
11 years ago at 5:24 pm^I see we got ourselves one of them self-hatin’ jews.
11 years ago at 5:27 pmAnd the fact that it borders Oakland, The least frat place this side of the Mississippi.
11 years ago at 5:40 pmHaha I go to Berkeley too I feel you man, these fucking liberals and hippies drive me insane. And this no smoking rules starting next month is bullshit.
11 years ago at 5:55 pmDuluth… Duluth? DULUTH?!
11 years ago at 5:26 pmHahahahahaha Frederickburg VA
11 years ago at 5:26 pm^Ders gets it. Maybe to piss on the way to Charlottesville Va.
11 years ago at 7:00 pmBozeman montana? I’ve been there and unless you like fat women, flannel, -20 degree weather, and a bunch of other shitty stuff. Then I recommend you don’t go.
11 years ago at 5:31 pmMy ex went there, and she’s a dirty tramp. So maybe it’s a shitty place, but if you go there, odds are she’ll probably play your skin flute.
11 years ago at 5:51 pm^ pure gold
11 years ago at 12:03 am^^ I’m going now.
11 years ago at 2:44 amGood skiing though
11 years ago at 4:23 pmOnly read this to see where Austin was going to land.
11 years ago at 5:37 pmYou have to be fucking kidding me. We go to Flagstaff to trip acid in the woods, not enjoy the town. NAU is where dreams go to die. And why the hell is Virginia so active on this list?
11 years ago at 5:42 pm