Best "College Town"

wakephan09 said:

LOL, bigger noob.

It's a joke from This is Spinal Tap. Come on! It is funny because Boston has a greater percentage of college kids than probably any other major city in the country.

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TownieDeac said:

noob

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HeavyPetter said:

Jeez. What is with you people not getting the Fran Drescher line from Spinal Tap?

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HeavyPetter said:

I think Madison, Austin, Columbus, and Boulder are kind of big to be considered college towns. They may hve great college scenes or neighborhoods, but the school is not really the overarching economic driver in these cities. Three of them are state capitals.

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Can't speak for the other two, but OSU is certainly the overarching economic driver in Columbus.

Santa Barbara, CA should make any top 10 list.

Of all the cities listed I've only been to Yapel Hill, Athens and Austin.
My vote goes to Athens because that town simply does not exist w/o the university and it totally reliant on UGA from all I can tell.
Yapel Hill isn't much w/o UNC but it's close enough to Raleigh/Durham to be a functioning suburb w/o UNC. Austin is the capital of Texas....but Athens is far enough away from Atlanta to have to stand alone and there doesn't seem to be much there that isn't there because of the University. If UGA did a Wake Forest and moved Athens would become a ghost town....
Athens is like Clemson, but bigger, better and less "Pickens County-ish"
For some reason I feel a good measure of a "college town" is how reliant the town is on the college....having maybe it's just because towns that are 100% aligned with the interest of the schools are pretty awesome

Athens gets my vote as well because it rocks regardless of whether there's a game going on or not. When there is and even if its over at Foley Field (baseball park), its a rocking time with the best looking babes in the SEC.*

*I have never been to Baton Rouge so I can't comment on that. Man would I like to though.

TownieDeac said:

Can't speak for the other two, but OSU is certainly the overarching economic driver in Columbus.

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Columbus is the state capital and the 15th largest city in the US, largest in Ohio. The university without a doubt is an enormous part of the economic base and I don't doubt that everyone is an Ohio State fan, but there's a whole lot more going on there than Ohio State University.

*THE Ohio State University

My bad.

HP you have a point and could argue the same about Austin, but its not THAT simple. The State of Texas is the largest employer in Austin, but both Dell and UT are the second and third. Without UT Dell isn't in Austin. The same is true of a lot of the other largest employers. Economic impact goes way beyond the number of students and their direct employees.

I do think your point stands though that if UT and OSU disappeared, their cities would remain. More debatable about whether they would be where they are today without them.

Here's how I'd rank the five I've been to, based on how much I'd like to live there (of which college sports/plays/museums/lectures is a part), excluding factors like proximity to family, Wake games, etc. I do want to end up living in a college town, not only because of my career goal/handle.

1. Berkeley--great nature close by, all kinds of cultural restaurants/events, i could probably dig the weather. downside would be too many weird people and too big of a metropolitan area for my tastes.
2. Austin--great nature, huge, top university, but it is Texas, no matter how liberal, and freaking hot in the summer.
3. Chapel Hill--I like (miss) NC weather and pace of life, but it is snobby and the blue would bother me, I think.
4. Charlottesville--ditto what I said about Chapel Hill, minus the weather as a plus.
5. Ann Arbor--I lived there for three years. The university is great, the rest sucks. The restaurants are unbelievably bad, IMO. And the winters suck. Locals are nice, though.

Some others I have experience with:
State College--Ann Arbor lite. Remarkably similar, IMO, with the difference being that the students are dumber.
Morgantown--Although I'm among the few who like West Virginia (*high five* Kanhoji!), Morgantown is pretty depressing.
Annapolis--great restaurants/shops and right by the water, but it's snobby and uber-preppy and there's nothing else worth seeing in the vicinity w/o going to DC/Baltimore.

HeavyPetter said:

Columbus is the state capital and the 15th largest city in the US, largest in Ohio. The university without a doubt is an enormous part of the economic base and I don't doubt that everyone is an Ohio State fan, but there's a whole lot more going on there than Ohio State University.

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You're right. It is, however, the largest college campus in America, and OSU is the largest employer. Of the ~750k population, an estimated 2/3 are affiliated with the school. Since only about 1/10 are students, though, you make a very good point. I'm guessing wakephan09 included it because he's been there, and the campus is pretty much the whole city.

TownieDeac said:

You're right. It is, however, the largest college campus in America, and OSU is the largest employer. Of the ~750k population, an estimated 2/3 are affiliated with the school. Since only about 1/10 are students, though, you make a very good point. I'm guessing wakephan09 included it because he's been there, and the campus is pretty much the whole city.

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Not sure if you actually put me on ignore or not, but it looks like Columbus is similar to UT in that regard.

Company/Organization Sector Local Full-time Employment
The State of Ohio Government 26,037
The Ohio State University Public Education 17,361

Baconwfu said:

For some reason I feel a good measure of a "college town" is how reliant the town is on the college....having maybe it's just because towns that are 100% aligned with the interest of the schools are pretty awesome

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I feel sort of the same way, that the measure of a college town is how much the town itself is connected with the college. By that measure, I haven't been to a place on the list where the town was more devoted to its local college than Eugene. Almost everything that happens in that town is filtered through the prism of Oregon athletics, and the University is also the second-largest employer in the city behind the hospital. Pretty much the whole town revolves around U of O. I have never seen more green in my life (interpret that however you want).

Between Rice University and the University of Houston system, Houston is a bona fide college town. We even have Texas Southern for the black kids. Y'all should come check it out some time. You're sure to have a blast!

Chapel Hill is a pretty cool town, except for all the UNC students there

Athens ( It’s Chapel Hill x2 and it’s minus the Blue like some here wanted)
Austin
Baton Rouge

Where's New Brunswick, nj?

Gainesville, FL is a huge omission from this list.

deacondamo said:

Gainesville, FL is a huge omission from this list.

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Fair enough; which town would you replace?

Just the ones I've been to
Austin
Boston
Athens
Eugene
Chapel Hill
Charlottesville