According to the Princeton Review’s 2009 survey, Penn State, a school recognized for its football tailgate parties on the weekends and highly popular Green system, took the title of top party school, stealing the title away from last year’s winner, the University of Florida, who placed second this year. The University of Mississippi was voted third.
The Princeton Review, who polls 122,000 students at the 371 best colleges, is an education service company with a plethora of different ranking under various categories ranging from best classroom experience, Pomona College (CA), to gay community most accepted, (New York University).
Although this was the first time Penn State came in first under for the party category, its status was no huge surprise seeing that its name has been on the list for the past seven years, finishing third in 2008.
Penn State also ranked No. 1 in two other categories: most packed stadium (popular intercollegiate sports) and beer consumption (high reported usage).
According to the Princeton Review, the university also made the top 20 rankings in a number of other areas.
Those include: students dissatisfied with financial aid (No. 2), jock schools (No. 3), major frat and sorority scene (No. 3), best athletic facilities (No. 3), best career services (No. 6), everyone plays intramural sports (No. 6), best college newspaper (No. 6), lots of hard liquor (No. 9), students study the least (No. 11), and least politically active students (No. 17).
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a Penn State spokeswoman Anne Marie Mountz announced that the results of the survey were not representative to the student body as a whole.
Mountz: “There are about 10 sites I found on Facebook urging students to vote and make Penn State the No. 1 party school, which shows that these rankings are nothing more than a popularity contest.
Mountz then stated that the Princeton Review ranking has “become a badge of honor among students to get their school as No. 1 in these categories” and that the results were not “connected to reality,” before further adding that those students who voted “are not the ones spending their time in the library studying and getting the high grades that pump up our graduation rates.”
Other rankings listed as number one in the Princeton Review book are:
· Best career schools- University of Florida
· Most conservative students- Texas A&M University
· Most politically active students- George Washington University
· Least religious students- Bennington College
Our Take
Most importantly, I think it best to mention University of Virginia as this year’s best value college as most schools’ tuition are on the rise as a result of the economic recession.
To find out more about your school’s rankings for this year log onto the Princeton Review Web site.
