20 Top Party Colleges Can You Still Get a Good Education

20 Top Party Colleges Can You Still Get a Good Education SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips In popular culture, college life is often portrayed as a nonstop party full of fun, bacchanalian times. While these portrayals are a bit exaggerated, some colleges have garnered reputations as being particularly festive. This raises the following questions:should you go to a party school? And can you get a good education at a party school? In this article, I'll define what a party school is, provideparty school rankings, and explain how you can still get a quality education from a college known for its epic parties. What Is a Party School? A party school has a very active on-campus party scene. In other words, there are frequent and numerous parties, which are usuallywell attended and act as popular social events for students. Universitiesthat are described as party schools generally have high rates of student drinking and drug use as well as a large number of fraternities and sororities. What Are the Top Party Colleges? Our list below is based onThe Princeton Review's listof the top 20 party schools in the US. Their list was created using students' answers to survey questions. According to The Princeton Review, the biggestparty schoolsare those at which students indicated a combination of low daily personal study hours (outside of class), high usages of alcohol and drugs on-campus, and high popularity of fraternities and sororities. Most top party schools are large public universities. Because large schools have more students, they often have a more vibrant social scene and more fraternities and sororities. Below, I'vecreated a table with the top 20 party schools, their undergraduate enrollments, and the average range of standardized test scores of admitted applicants. All private colleges arein bold. marsmettnn tallahaassee/Flickr Rank School Location Undergraduate Enrollment Middle 50% SAT Middle 50% ACT 1 University of Delaware Newark, DE 18,144 50-1330 25-29 2 West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 22,504 1010-1200 21-27 3 Tulane University New Orleans, LA 6,773 1350-1490 30-33 4 Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 15,252 60-1350 25-30 5 Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA 3,6 1250-1420 28-31 6 Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA 5,075 1270-1430 29-32 7 University of California- Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 22,186 1240-1470 26-32 8 University of Wisconsin- Madison Madison, WI 32,196 1280-1450 27-31 9 Colgate University Hamilton, NY 2,873 1310-1500 31-33 10 University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 14,470 1090-1260 23-27 The University of Alabama- Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa, AL 33,028 1060-1280 23-31 12 University of Vermont Burlington, VT ,339 80-1350 25-30 13 Providence College Providence, RI 4,306 60-1330 26-30 14 Wake Forest University Winston Salem, NC 5,102 1260-1440 28-32 15 Union College (NY) Schenectady, NY 2,267 1270-1430 29-32 16 University of Maine Onoro, ME 9,279 1050-1250 22-27 17 University of Illinois- Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 33,955 1280-1480 26-32 18 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 35,246 1240-1410 28-32 19 Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 33,093 90-1330 26-30 20 Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA 8,551 980-70 19-24 Can You Get a Good Education at a Party School? You can definitely get a good education at a party school. Some of the top party collegesare also some of the best schoolsin the US. For example,the University of Wisconsin- Madison, the #8 ranked party school, was ranked the #15public school in the US by US News. Meanwhile, UCSB, the #7 ranked party school, is ranked both the #5 public school and the #30 national university by US News. It’s part of the University of California system, which includes some of the top research universities in the world. Finally, the University of Illinois- Urbana-Champaign (the #17 party school) hasthe bestgraduate program in library and information science in the nation. It's also important to note that not all students who attend top partycolleges participate in the party culture.Even at party schools, there are many students who don’t party. Students who don’t party often find a community of like-minded students in their dorms or in various on-campus organizations.Especially at large public universities, there are so many students that you're bound to find plenty of people who aren’t party animals. How Do You Get a Good Education at a Party School? At almost every college, there are parties and temptation that can get in the way of your studies.At party schools, there's even more temptation because there are more parties and more students who like to party. Personally, Idon’t think there’s anything wrong with doing some partying in college, but you have to take care that you're not letting your partying get in the way of your academic success. As long as you do the following, you’ll be able to enjoy the occasional party and get an exceptional education. #1: Manage Your Time Regardless of whether you party or not, time management is essential when you’re in college.For many students, college is the first time they don’t have their parents regularly telling them what to do and when to do it. If you've got a test Friday morning, you need to have the discipline to not stay out late partying on Thursday instead of preparing for your test and getting a good night's sleep.If you've got a big paper due Monday, maybe you shouldn’t spend all weekend partying and start your paper Sunday evening. Even though some students can get away with this behavior, I wouldn’t advise it. To manage your time more effectively, I recommend establishing a routine each semester that will enable your academic success.Many of my Stanford peers would dedicate themselves to studying Monday-Thursday nights, relax and have fun Friday nights and Saturdays, and spend most of the day on Sundays on their academics. The amount of time you need to spend studying and doing classwork willvarydepending on your class schedule and academic strengths, but it's imperative you develop habits that will allow you to be successful. If you're working part-time or participating in athletics or other extracurricular activities, you'll have less available study time, so you'll have to manage your time exceptionally well. At Stanford, I was on the gymnastics team and had an on-campus job. Because my free time was limited, I knew that I had to take advantage of the hours I had available to focus on my academics. I did a decent job of managing my time, so I was ultimately able to have ample time for fun, too. #2: Remember Your Priorities Reminding yourself why you're in college can help prevent you from letting parties take precedence.You probably worked hard in high school and chose to attend college to get a quality education and useful opportunities. What's more, college is a costly investment. If you neglect your studies to party, you’re not getting the most out of your educational opportunities. For 2018-19, the total cost of attendance for one year at Tulane- the #3 party school- is more than $72,000. Hopefully, you wouldn’t want to pay that much money just so you can play beer pong with your friends! #3: Choose Your Classes Wisely When you’re choosing your class schedule, try to pick the classes that interest you and will help you graduate with your desired major. Too many students try to avoid Friday classes or early morning classes so that school won’t interfere with their partying.Because of your other responsibilities and time commitments, you might not be able to take every class that interests you, but, ideally, you won't allow your intended partying schedule to influence the classes you take. Admittedly, I didn’t like early morning classes and preferred not to take them because I’m not a morning person. However, I still ended up taking all the classes I needed and wanted to take. #4: Maintain Balance In college, you’re likely going to have to juggle a number of responsibilities, in addition to the parties you might be attending. Many college students go to class, work, and participate in extracurricular activities. They can’t party so much that it takes away from their other responsibilities, but they’re able to find the time to be able to work hard and play hard. On the other hand, there are many students who spend so much time in the library that they forget to have fun and interact socially with their peers. I definitely encountered some of these students during my time at Stanford.I recommend that you make sure to have fun while you’re in college and enjoy yourself. I’m not advocating breaking any laws, but some of my greatest memories are from my social activities with my friends while I was in college. Parties can help form and strengthen friendships,and they can give you some quality stories you’ll cherish when you’re older and all your friends are too busy to party. dennis crowley/Flickr Conclusion: Should You Go to a Party School? Even though you’re not in college to party, parties can be a large part of the college experience, regardless of the school you attend. While party schools have more parties more often, you can still get a quality education from a party school. One of my friends who went to the University of Illinois excelled during his undergraduate years and ended up getting a PhD in Engineering from UC Berkeley. On the other hand, another friend who went there spent too much time partying and lost his athletic scholarship due to drug use. Similarly, even at a college that's not considered a party school, you can party too hard and suffer academic, legal, or health consequences due to irresponsible partying. In large part, the quality of your education and your future success is dependent on the choices you make while you’re in school. If you make wise choices and prioritize your time, you can get an exceptional education- and have fun doing so! What's Next? As you're trying to decide the right school for you, make sure you understandhow to research colleges effectively. If you want to attend a school that embraces diversity, check out my articles on the most diverse colleges and the most LGBTQ-friendly colleges. 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