Best College Towns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clemson and Chapel Hill are awesome college towns.

I don't consider Columbia to be a college town at all.

Isn't Clemson 2 hours or so from any (non regional) airport? Does the U South Carolina campus provide a good town feel that compensates for Columbia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a UM alum - my biased opinion is Ann Arbor. But I think you have to define "college town." Places like Athens, Ann Arbor and University Park are towns that are subsumed by the universities. Not so much with Madison and Columbia and certainly not San Diego.

So....do you mean towns/cities that are best to attend college in OR do you mean towns that are primarily there because of the University?

Looking for places that are not just the University. So not Penn State (is it called University Park? We always called it State College).

For convenience, but if my kid is going 6+ hours away for school, I'd like to have non stop flights available from DC. Maybe I should just search for colleges within 30 miles of a major airport. That seems to be just as good a criteria as any others my high schoolers have come up with. So U South Carolina goes back on the list. . . .

The Penn State Campus has it's own zip code/mailing address/post office which is University Park, PA. The surrounding town is called State College, PA.

I actually really liked State College when I lived there, and I have a few friends who got jobs in the area, stayed there, and love it. Different things appeal to different people I guess. They do have direct flights from State College Airport to Dulles.

Chapel Hill is cute, and Madison is a nice city.

[Anonymous]

CHAPEL HILL!!!! Small feel but not that small. Pretty, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CHAPEL HILL!!!! Small feel but not that small. Pretty, too.

And if we're talking UNC, impossible to get in for our mere mortal children.

[Anonymous]

I went to the University of Illinois in Urbana, IL. I loved it. I also loved Madison and Chapel Hill. Austin is amazing, but it's not really "a college town" the way those others are, nor is Boston, which I also love.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madison or Ann Arbor for Midwest? San Diego or Santa Barbara? Athens or Columbia?? Anywhere in Florida?? Or does it even matter when you go to a college of 20,000+? (Because clearly people don't flock to State College, PA for the town. Do they?)

Last I checked, there weren't any non-stop flights from DC to Ann Arbor or Madison.

Check Frontier Airlines

[Anonymous]

Hanover, NH. Picturesque and devoted to Dartmouth. A little cold sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CHAPEL HILL!!!! Small feel but not that small. Pretty, too.

And if we're talking UNC, impossible to get in for our mere mortal children.

I went to another public in NC and was accepted as a junior transfer. It might not be as hard to get in as you think!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CHAPEL HILL!!!! Small feel but not that small. Pretty, too.

And if we're talking UNC, impossible to get in for our mere mortal children.

I went to another public in NC and was accepted as a junior transfer. It might not be as hard to get in as you think!

The difficulty is for out of state students. We know UNC isn't that difficult to get into for in-state students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CHAPEL HILL!!!! Small feel but not that small. Pretty, too.

And if we're talking UNC, impossible to get in for our mere mortal children.

I went to another public in NC and was accepted as a junior transfer. It might not be as hard to get in as you think!

The difficulty is for out of state students. We know UNC isn't that difficult to get into for in-state students.

12:30 here - I was OOS as well; couldn't get into UNC, but was accepted into the next tier down. Kept my grades up transferred out after two years. FWIW I knew other kids who did this as well. If your DCs are dead set on Carolina, that's one way in

[Anonymous]

Athens, GA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a UM alum - my biased opinion is Ann Arbor. But I think you have to define "college town." Places like Athens, Ann Arbor and University Park are towns that are subsumed by the universities. Not so much with Madison and Columbia and certainly not San Diego.

So....do you mean towns/cities that are best to attend college in OR do you mean towns that are primarily there because of the University?

Looking for places that are not just the University. So not Penn State (is it called University Park? We always called it State College).

For convenience, but if my kid is going 6+ hours away for school, I'd like to have non stop flights available from DC. Maybe I should just search for colleges within 30 miles of a major airport. That seems to be just as good a criteria as any others my high schoolers have come up with. So U South Carolina goes back on the list. . . .

What about Raleigh - Durham?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Madison or Ann Arbor for Midwest? San Diego or Santa Barbara? Athens or Columbia?? Anywhere in Florida?? Or does it even matter when you go to a college of 20,000+? (Because clearly people don't flock to State College, PA for the town. Do they?)

Last I checked, there weren't any non-stop flights from DC to Ann Arbor or Madison.

Actually, the flights to Ann Arbor are into Detroit Metro airport which is within 30 minutes/30 mile radius cited by the OP. And there are plenty of non-stops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to the University of Illinois in Urbana, IL. I loved it. I also loved Madison and Chapel Hill. Austin is amazing, but it's not really "a college town" the way those others are, nor is Boston, which I also love.

Agree that Austin is fabulous if you're looking for a larger town.

[Anonymous]

Tempe,AZ fear the fork