The Princeton Review recently published their annual rankings of U.S. Colleges and University. You are most likely familiar with this from the annual Top Party Schools list.
In case you are curious, this year\’s top party school was West Virginia University. This information is gathered through surveys that Princeton Review conducts across the country. To be a party school they used questions that were \”a combination of survey questions concerning the use of alcohol and drugs, hours of study each day, and the popularity of the Greek system\”. While it is an imperfect science, I don\’t think there is a better way to gather the information. The real question is: what use are these results?
Does a \”party school\” mean you won\’t get a quality education and that your dorm will be loud and racous from morning until the next morning? Quite possibly yes, but there is no certainty.
As with any big decision, the majority of college bound students are not using one single source for making the choice on their matriculation. One would hope that they will use the Princeton Review as only part of their investigation.
For example, let\’s take a look at a perennial party school like the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Those of us at SP know first hand that one is never far from a party in Madtown. Although they did not make the top 20 as a Party School this year, they are 9th on the list of Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges. As a consolation prize they are number 1 on the \”Lots of Beer\” list.
Let\’s take a look at another school that is close to the hearts of SP: St. Olaf College. On the flip-side of the Party School list is the Stone-Cold Sober Schools. These are the schools that scored on the opposite end of the spectrum as the Party Schools. Not surprising, BYU is listed as number one. All 5 branches of the military appear in the list, but at number 17 you\’ll find St. Olaf College. While all of us partook in our share of partying during out time at St. Olaf, I really can\’t fault this ranking. There is only one greek frat on campus, and it is a service fraternity. Alcohol in all forms is banned leading to a lot of closet drinking and small, closed, parties. This isn\’t to say that no one is drinking. In fact if you were to wander the halls of the dorms on any given Sunday morning you\’d find plenty of evidence that drinking has occured, and in large quantities. At least the students have the decency to recycle. But all in all, these rankings can help give a prospective student a picture of an institution. You can\’t make a decision based on these rankings alone, but they are a useful guide in the process.
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