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Best College Towns!!


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As far as people being surprised about some of the areas listed. I was surprised about Durango Colorado. It's a very nice place but I never even knew they had a college there till I saw the name on the list. I think of it more of a tourist town more than anything. Of course being from Fayetteville Arkansas I could argue about my city. Although I guess although it's not a huge city I do think of it being more than just a college town.

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How bout East Lansing, MI? Home of Michigan State University. Its not the biggest town but its a great place. MSU I believe now has the largest student body in the country and MSU has been named best party school in the country several times. That kind of adds to the college town atmosphere.

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I thought it was University of Texas for Universities.

http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/servle...To=9&viewpage=1

The results for undergraduate students. I don't know what years these were compiled but the only official list I could find.

Community College of the Air Force - 379,262 (doesn't really count)

Miami Dade College - 50,665 (community college offering some 4 year degrees)

Arizona State University - 38,117

University of Texas at Austin - 36478

Ohio State - 36097

Texas A&M - 35605

Michigan State - 35107

University of Central Florida - 34940

Penn State - 33958

North Harris Montgomery Community College District - 33490 (Houston)

University of Florida - 33129

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I thought it was University of Texas for Universities.

http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/servle...To=9&viewpage=1

The results for undergraduate students.  I don't know what years these were compiled but the only official list I could find.

Community College of the Air Force - 379,262 (doesn't really count)

Miami Dade College - 50,665 (community college offering some 4 year degrees)

Arizona State University - 38,117

University of Texas at Austin - 36478

Ohio State - 36097

Texas A&M - 35605

Michigan State - 35107

University of Central Florida - 34940

Penn State - 33958

North Harris Montgomery Community College District - 33490 (Houston)

University of Florida - 33129

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What makes the Air force not Count?

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ironchapman your thinking of the University of Michigan. They have the largest stadium. I was under the impression that MSU just accepted last year its largest class ever and that it put it at the top in terms of enrollment. Air Force shouldnt really count either.

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Because there are so many (good) college towns for a lot of good reasons, it's hard to easily rank them.

Anyways, I'm surprised haven't mentioned the handful of wonderful university towns across the Midwest (I know the "big ones" like Madison, WI and Ann Arbor, MI have been mentioned already). Don't know how they would "rank", again, but Bloomington, IN, Iowa City, IA, Lawrence, KS, and Columbia, MO are very nice college towns - they are all nice little cosmpolitan islands within their respective states. I just about fell in love with Columbia, MO.

Blacksburg, VA is a nice college town, especially for an engineering university town (Virginia Tech) (my experience with some engineering-oriented university towns is that they often don't have very pretty campuses - West Lafayette, IN (Purdue) and Urbana-Champaign (U of IL) come to mind). Blacksburg is located in the middle of the gorgeous Blue Ridge mountains.

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When it comes to towns that truly "revolve" around the University...Bryan-College Station, Texas...the home of Texas A&M University wins In my opinion. The towns are home to about 160,000 people who all have something or other to do with the university. Maroon is everywhere in that town.

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Baton Rouge,LA

It seems everyone in that city is involved with LSU in some way.

And LSU has some of the best fans in the country, the support is amazing.

The city bleeds Purple and Gold...

Tuscaloosa,AL really seems to reveolve around the University of Alabama, and their fans are exremely supportive as well. I would put that up there as a great college town.

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I am really suprised that Amherst/Nothampton MA did not make this list.  These towns are at the center of 5 diffrent schools including the sprawling UMass Amherst campus, and the extremely exclusive Amherst College (ivy league) and Smith College.  I have visited this area many times, and the student atmosphere is awesome.  I got alot of play at Amherst College  :D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree that Northampton (area) should rank somewhere. Umass Amherst itself has 20k sudents and this bizarre rural skyline. There are two very exciting downtowns, and music venues always with a hot lineup of nationally touring acts, some of which play there while skipping Boston. The area is politically and culturally charged. There is a great local music scene. Every dorm basement and every student occupied house is a venue. It is a total college town because you would be hard pressed to find anyone whose life is not related the the area schools. In many of these other places discussed here, education might be a major element of a city, but not necessarily the overall focus of the city. Even in Boston, there is a lot mroe going on than education.

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Most of us are talking about the best college towns without discussing why they are the best. It seems that many places that are considered "good" college towns (or cities) are ones that are dominated by a single school and would be nothing without it. I can't say that I am familiar with many of these, but I have visited Rolla and Columbia, MO a few times. Both of these places have been named in this discussion as good college towns. I disagree because the schools in these cases have come to dominate the cities that they are in. I have never been to Knoxville, but I assume that it has a similar problem.

A good college town is one where the city has its own identity and the college helps to support it. A great college town is one where the college some void within the city and both rely upon each other symbiotically. In Chattanooga; UT-Chattanooga, a school of around 10,000, is virtually ignored. I lived in Milwaukee and felt that UW-Milwaukee and Marquette were ignored to a similar extent. Only 1.5 hours away, UW-Madison seems to really enhance the character of Madison itself, but is on the verge of growing too large for the city. In Madison, the school has helped to preserve much of the downtown area between the lakes, but is also probably enhancing the sprawling growth outside of the city because of its size.

Smaller schools in Wisconsin like Stout, in Menomonee or UW-River Falls (sp?) are a mixed bag. They preserve the built environments of their core districts, but allow their downtown areas to turn into long stretches of college bars.

My vote for best college town is Northfield, MN. St. Olaf and Carleton colleges surround and preserve a beautiful downtown district and are located within established residential neighborhoods. Northfield has its own identity, which is enhanced by the schools within its borders. Unfortunately, it is already becoming a southern suburb of the Twin Cities. It will be interesting to see what action those two schools take to preserve the character of Northfield.

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In the Northwest, Pullman, WA (Washington State University) & Moscow, ID (University of Idaho) are the most pure college towns. Pure as in if you took away the college, you would only have a tiny village. These two college towns are 8 miles apart. Corvallis, OR (Oregon State University) & Bellingham, WA (Western Washington University) are great college towns too but less dependant on the college than other places.

Bellingham is my favorite because of the mountains, water, scenary, & two "downtowns". Here is an urbanplanet thread with Bellingham pics if anyone cares:

Bellingham pics, scroll down in thread

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come to dominate the cities that they are in. I disagree because the schools in these cases have come to dominate the cities that they are in. I have never been to Knoxville, but I assume that it has a similar problem.

ChattyPlanner, The University of Tennessee does not dominate Knoxville. I wouldn't consider Knoxville to be a college town. First off, the city of Knoxville is 175K and it sits in the center of metro area of around 700K. The school is a combination of commuters from the metro area and students living on campus from around Tennessee and elsewhere. It is a major resource for the city and a major employer, but it is not by any means the only major player in town.

A good college town is one where the city has its own identity and the college helps to support it. A great college town is one where the college some void within the city and both rely upon each other symbiotically. In Chattanooga; UT-Chattanooga, a school of around 10,000, is virtually ignored.

I don't think that you have ever been to East Tennessee. I wouldn't say that UTC is virtually ignored. It is a commuter school in a medium sized city and as such has its part to play. No, it doesn't have the notice that UTK has, but it has one of the best Chemistry programs in the US. It has a fine tradition of athletics and a long history as a institution of higher learning that proceeds its joining the UT system. Again Chattanooga is not a college town, it is a medium sized city with other major employers.

If I were to name a college town in East Tennessee, it would be Sewanee. It is the home of "The University of the South". The town is very small and so is the school. It views itself as "Oxford in the Hills". The school has high academic standards. Examples of this are that it has had 24 Rhodes Scholars, 34 Watson Fellows, and three of the last four Bishops of the Episopal Church. The school owns the rights to Tennessee Williams works and is just a beautiful location.

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Boston without its colleges and universities would still be Boston. Boston would still be rich in history, a global center of business and the hub of New England.

Major universities in Boston have helped to improve the areas outside of the downtown area where they are located. Boston University has come to domiante Commonwealth Avenue. BU has built many state of the art buildings in the area and managed to bring a reputable competitive unversity to Boston. Besides BU there are still thousands of people living in this area, and hundreds of shops and restaurants and so BU and that part of the city simotainioulsly live together. The same goes for Northeastern University.

There are also hundreds of other colleges in Boston which are filled with students who use Boston as a resource which should be part of a college town. From Boston College to UMASS Boston to Newbury College all students use Boston for internships. If one wants to major in business or get a degree in theater why go and study in Vermont when you can study in Boston at BU, Northeastern, etc or in New York City at Fordham, NYU, etc. or any other major city where there hundreds of opportunities for you just down the street from your dorm.

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Boston without its colleges and universities would still be Boston. Boston would still be rich in history, a global center of business and the hub of New England.

Major universities in Boston have helped to improve the areas outside of the downtown area where they are located. Boston University has come to domiante Commonwealth Avenue. BU has built many state of the art buildings in the area and managed to bring a reputable competitive unversity to Boston. Besides BU there are still thousands of people living in this area, and hundreds of shops and restaurants and so BU and that part of the city simotainioulsly live together. The same goes for Northeastern University.

There are also hundreds of other colleges in Boston which are filled with students who use Boston as a resource which should be part of a college town. From Boston College to UMASS Boston to Newbury College all students use Boston for internships. If one wants to major in business or get a degree in theater why go and study in Vermont when you can study in Boston at BU, Northeastern, etc or in New York City at Fordham, NYU, etc. or any other major city where there hundreds of opportunities for you just down the street from your dorm.

Schools are great for a city because they remain while an economy has ups and downs and corporations come and go. They all bring vitality to the city in one way or another. Emerson has been restoring two or three downtown theaters, which is just awesome. MIT seems to fuel the high-tech economy here.

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TennBear, thank you for your reply. You're right, I have never been to Knoxville. I look forward to visiting someday. I hope that I can see the same Knoxville that you have described. I also enjoyed your endorsement of Sewanee.

I have spent some time in Chattanooga, though. To me, the acknowledgement that UTC is a commuter school illustrates that is ignored within the city. Yes, it has taken some strong steps toward improving its academic programs. Yes, it is a strong employer within the city. But, the campus itself stands virtually isolated just blocks from downtown Chattanooga. There is surprisingly little response to the campus in its surroundings. Few students live in the historic residential neigborhood that borders the campus. There are only a handful of small apartment buildings located off-campus within walking distance of the campus. There is also no strong commercial area to take advantage of the spending habits of college students. One coffee shop and one music store are located adjacent to the campus. Much opportunity exists for the growth of a commercial area along nearby McCallie St. to the south of campus. The campus also has no strong connection to the Tennessee River, which is only a few blocks to the north of campus. UTC is located adjacent to an area of the city that is in decline, but probably only hinders its ability to improve because it is a commuter school and does not provide permanent residents.

UT-Chattanooga reminds me of Washington University in St. Lous, a school of similar size and isolation. The difference is that Wash U. is located within an established residential neighborhood and does not have the ability to encourage growth in nearby housing or retail development. Wash U. could be called too "insular" because students living on campus tend to stay there and generally avoid venturing off-campus. UTC has the opposite problem. Students do not seem to stay on campus and instead retreat to their homes in other parts of the region when not in school.

As for sports, aside from men's basketball, college fans seem more apt to follow and attend UT-Knoxville sports. UTC football games only draw a fraction of what should be expected from a division 1-AA program.

Aside from providing jobs and occasional events on-campus that are open to the public, UTC is an under-populated island within the city with little physical connection to the city. It reminds me of other Chattanooga employers like UnumProvident in the way that it swells in its size during the day and then just leaves fields of empty parking lots at night.

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Louisville, Ky was ranked the #1 college town inamerica. I live in Louisville and I can truly say that it is huge for college sports and some of the nation's top universites; The University of Louisville, Bellermine University, Spalding University, and Sullivan University are the major schools in Louisville. But based on my own opinion, I would say that Lexington (KY) is a much bigger college city because of the legendary University of Kentucky, and the historic Transylvania University.

I guess you really have to distingish between a college "town" and "city". Last I checked, DC, Boston and Pittsburgh were cities, not towns. USA Today recently did this survey and grouped the towns/cities by population:

Tier I (populations of 2.6 million or more)

Boston-Cambridge

Washington, D.C.

San Francisco Bay Area

Minneapolis/St. Paul

New York/Long Island/Northern New Jersey

Philadelphia

St. Louis

San Diego

Chicago

Atlanta

Tier II (Population between 1 and 2.6 million)

Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, N.C.

Pittsburgh

Austin

Seattle

Nashville

New Orleans

Providence

Milwaukee

Columbus

Denver

Tier III (Populations of less than 1 million)

Boulder, Colo.

Bloomington, Ind.

Madison, Wis.

State College, Pa.

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Charlottesville, Va.

Burlington, Vt.

Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Gainesville, Fla.

Syracuse, N.Y.

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Louisville, Ky was ranked the #1 college town inamerica. I live in Louisville and I can truly say that it is huge for college sports and some of the nation's top universites; The University of Louisville, Bellermine University, Spalding University, and Sullivan University are the major schools in Louisville. But based on my own opinion, I would say that Lexington (KY) is a much bigger college city because of the legendary University of Kentucky, and the historic Transylvania University.

KYwildcat502, Who ranked Louisville the #1 college town in America? I have never heard that and would be interested in their criteria. As for how huge it is in sports. Yes, basketball and more recently football have been big at UL, but they do not play on campus and anyone that has been to an on campus facility versus facilities off campus will tell you that there is a big difference. Of course, UK doesn't play basketball on campus either. Being that all of Lexington is tied to UK, it isn't as much of a difference though. As far as the other schools in Louisville, that would be like saying that Memphis should be counted as a major college town with UM, Christian Brothers Uuniversity, Lemoyne-Owen, Rhodes, etc. In fact, if you counted all of the institutions that grant certificate programs and 2 or 4 year degrees in Memphis there would be 35 that I could name. I would only personally count 10-11. I'm sure that Louisville would have an equal or greater number. I certainly don't consider Memphis to be a college town. Just want to know what the Louisville ranking was based on. I can't see it as a college town.

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KYwildcat502, Who ranked Louisville the #1 college town in America? I have never heard that and would be interested in their criteria. As for how huge it is in sports. Yes, basketball and more recently football have been big at UL, but they do not play on campus and anyone that has been to an on campus facility versus facilities off campus will tell you that there is a big difference. Of course, UK doesn't play basketball on campus either. Being that all of Lexington is tied to UK, it isn't as much of a difference though. As far as the other schools in Louisville, that would be like saying that Memphis should be counted as a major college town with UM, Christian Brothers Uuniversity, Lemoyne-Owen, Rhodes, etc. In fact, if you counted all of the institutions that grant certificate programs and 2 or 4 year degrees in Memphis there would be 35 that I could name. I would only personally count 10-11. I'm sure that Louisville would have an equal or greater number. I certainly don't consider Memphis to be a college town. Just want to know what the Louisville ranking was based on. I can't see it as a college town.

To tell you the truth, im not sure who ranked it. And UofL's fairly new Papa John's Cardinal Stadium is located on campus as well as cardinal arena (used mostly for volleyball) and UofL's new baseball feild. UK's Commonwealth stadium is on campus. Your right about UK's Rupp Arena not being on campus, it is located in downtown Lexington. But UK is talking about turning Commonwealth Stadium into a basketball arena because of frequent sell-out crowds in Rupp Arena. But anyway, I would call Lexington a college town because of the University, not the sports. The University of Kentucky currently has more Students than any other school on america. Not only that, Lexington is a HUGE party city and an dominate college enviornment. The University of Kentucky has a very historic past and a unique present. I really am not trying to be bias, though it may seem like I am, im really being honest. Even though Lexington is a huge rival city to Louisville, I still think Lexington is much more of a college city despite the ranking. Anyway rankings are based on opinion, not fact, so obviously everybody has there own #1 ranking. And again about Louisville's ranking, It says on billboards and posters all over downtown Louisville. And I agree with you.. Louisville doesn't seem like the #1 college town. Louisville is much to big of a city to be a big college town, though it may seem like it at times, overall, its not nearly a big college town like Lexington. Once again, I am not trying to be bias, or make anyone mad, its just based my opinion and what I have seen, and experianced.

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Louisville, Ky was ranked the #1 college town inamerica. I live in Louisville and I can truly say that it is huge for college sports and some of the nation's top universites; The University of Louisville, Bellermine University, Spalding University, and Sullivan University are the major schools in Louisville. But based on my own opinion, I would say that Lexington (KY) is a much bigger college city because of the legendary University of Kentucky, and the historic Transylvania University.

I think if Louisville's ever going to be taken seriously by the rest of the country than it needs to get rid of the small town image and mentallity of all it's citizens (most think Louisville doesn't even have over a million people), And the fact that they have the Best college town in America plastured up on the Silos for all the natives and out of towner to see really doesn't help rid us of this mentallity.

Louisville is dictated by UofL in alot of decisions that shouldn't concern them. Like the Arena, Now I think that UofL needs an arena, But they just had to much input in something that would effect the inpact the city for the next 50 years and they weren't even puting a cent towards. Then when it comes down to the arena UofL was trying their very best to put the arena at their Campus instead of downtown. Now if it were to be built anywhere other than downtown then the state would be thrwoing $300,000,000 dollars down the drain. The only area in Louisville that would have had sigifigant developement is downtown Louisville (over 1 billion dollars). But the University only thought about their needs instead of the community.

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Dude, as I said in an earlier post, I am just telling you what I heard locally. I don't know about you, but I live in Kentucky and I read stuff like this everyday. Unless you live in Kentucky as well, I don't see how you are going to tell me about UK. You probably havn't experianced a UK basketball game in-person, nor have you seen what chaos a UK vs UofL game brings. You also probably don't know the History behind the University of Kentucky. The point im trying to make is I read stuff like this locally all the time and I can tell, first-hand, that the University of Kentucky is one of, if not the largest and most popular/well-known university in the US.

Calm Down. Yes, I have seen UK play in-person. The college coach at Tennessee, Ray Mears, when I was in school had a 0.500 record against UK. Something that just about no coaches can do or say. I happen to like Lexington quite a lot. As for what you read all the time in KY, maybe there is small print and maybe you should question whether it is true or not. Of course UK is well known. Being one of the 50 largest schools in the US, makes it one of the largest schools. You made the statement that IT was the LARGEST school. Not at all. That is a simple fact. Nothing more or less. I obviously can tell you some things about UK that you don't know.

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