Clemson and Chapel Hill are awesome college towns.

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

I loved Ann Arbor. The Detroit airport isn't that far away, plus its a pretty large airport so there are many direct flight options. Bloomington is also nice, but more isolated. Cambridge MA is nice but more urban.

Chapel Hill is great! Having Raleigh, Cary and Apex nearby is a plus

I didn't go there, but visited it when I was looking at law schools and I LOVED Bloomington. It's like someone wrote a script for exactly what a college town should look like.

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.

It also depends on if you want the atmosphere for yourself or for your child, LOL.

For example, my dad loved visiting me in Williamsburg, VA. Would I call it a "great college town?" Um, no.

Native Hoosier here. LOVE Bloomington!

Tons and tons of schools in the Boston area, if you are looking for a major airport..

Here's one you can leave off your list if you are looking for good college towns in the Midwest: South Bend, IN. YUCK.

Signed,
ND grad

Bloomington, IN is a great little college town but you'd have to fly into Indianapolis, which is roughly 50 miles.

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. . . .

LOL. Ain't that the truth?

I went to Vanderbilt and loved being in Nashville.

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. . . .

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?

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?)