***College Towns to Visit***

[VeloClone]

Dekalb is pretty MEH for me and I really like Ithaca, NY. Did some hiking in the gorges there and found some cool restaurants. Syracuse is more city now and is kind of rough even though the campus is nice.

Laramie, WY - I really like the campus and the immediate area. Pocatello (Idaho State) is pretty boring even though the campus has its charms.

Amherst, MA (U Mass and Amherst College) is an elite-feeling, charming New England town. The college is gorgeous in a swanky downtown; UMass itself is really ugly. The town feels a lot like Princeton which is gorgeou$.

Ruston, LA (Louisiana Tech) is as boring as can be (something like 50 churches and 3 bars). I do like Tech's campus though.

Downtown Grand Forks (UND) is kind of cool. I liked it. Seems to flood a lot.

Funny you say that. Went with daughter on a college visit a couple three years ago. We went through some spots on the drive from Fargo to Grand Forks where you could almost see no dry land other than the road berm you were driving on. The campus was half dark (no power) due to all of the flooding.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

I've been to Clemson a couple of time for work and really enjoyed it. Came through on Hwy 93 going across the part of the lake there and saw a couple of teams rowing on what looked like glass as the lake was so calm.

Great place to watch a football game, small town with a great atmosphere. Love their parking setup, even if you are in a remote spot, they use their buses to pick people up and drop them off at the stadium, and reverse it after the game. ISU should do more of this to encourage people parking further off campus.

 

[DesertClone1]

U of M was very meh to me, so spread out.
Mizzou is VERY underrated, I had a BLAST there.
Colorado is very very cool, Boulder may not be for everyone, but overall, very cool spot.
Colorado State was pretty cool
U of A is amazing, if you get the chance, you need to visit the university area, and just the city as well. Tucson is very cool.
ASU, is not great, like at all. the buildings suck. Campus just kinda sucks in general, Tempe the city is cool.

Smaller Schools:
Mankato, very amazing, i'm biased, but i like that the college is on top of the hill, and the bars are downtown and all close together.
St. Cloud, just don't bother, that place sucks.

 

[Chitownclone2]

I’m partial to Boulder as I went to grad school there. Some others I haven’t seen mentioned would be Oberlin OH, High Point NC, and Williamsburg, VA.

 

[Al_4_State]

La Crosse, WI is a low key killer college town. It's also a river town. Very similar to Dubuque but with a more "collegiate" presence as UWL is closer to UNI in terms of total enrollment, and they have a smaller Catholic college there too (Viterbo).

 

[Al_4_State]

U of M was very meh to me, so spread out.
Mizzou is VERY underrated, I had a BLAST there.
Colorado is very very cool, Boulder may not be for everyone, but overall, very cool spot.
Colorado State was pretty cool
U of A is amazing, if you get the chance, you need to visit the university area, and just the city as well. Tucson is very cool.
ASU, is not great, like at all. the buildings suck. Campus just kinda sucks in general, Tempe the city is cool.

Smaller Schools:
Mankato, very amazing, i'm biased, but i like that the college is on top of the hill, and the bars are downtown and all close together.
St. Cloud, just don't bother, that place sucks.

I spend a lot of time in Tucson (folks have a second home there) and while I adore the outdoor recreation, I've found the city itself to be kinda "meh". Plenty of good places for sure, but it's super spread out with no easy way to get around and I just found the University area to be ok.

 

[farm85]

University of Montana/Missoula: Beautiful campus & Grizzly football stadium's location is amazing.

College Station, Texas/ A & M: definitely worth a visit on Gameday. Corp of Cadets parade to Kyle Field is impressive, Midnight Yell Practice is weirdly unique, Aggie Band, organized tailgating & crazy, but fun atmosphere

 

[AuH2O]

Iowa City's a classic college town. I really enjoy it.

It's just the rivalry thing. Most of my friends who went to Iowa loved coming to Ames as well. Both are objectively awesome college towns, and anyone who's slamming one or the other is doing it from a place of bias that has nothing to do with the community itself, IMO.

Lawrence honestly felt like a combination of Iowa City and Ames to me. It had the slick downtown that was very reminiscent to Iowa City, but then when we went towards the stadium and bar hopped at the little bars that randomly pop up in residential neighborhoods near the stadium, it very much reminded me of West Ames and places like Thumbs and Mothers.

Both ISUs and Iowa's campuses are really nice in my opinion. Iowa doesn't have that central point on campus where you can go and basically see nothing but the classic campus view like ISU has in central campus. But I really like how Iowa's campus blends with the downtown, and it's pretty cool along the river.

Got to check out UW-Madison and tOSU campus on college visits. Both are pretty sweet.

 

[STLISU]

Moscow ID and Pullman WA : U of Idaho and Washington State campuses only 7 miles apart. Beautiful area. The Palouse in the spring is a great time to visit. Moscow has a surprising number of good restaurants for such a small town.

Burlington VT: Very nice pedestrian downtown. Located on Lake Champlain. Hard to beat in the fall.

Seattle: While technically too big to qualify as a college town, U of Washington campus is very impressive. Views across Lake Washington to the snow capped Cascades is breathtaking. University District is lively.

 

[AirWalke]

Lawrence honestly felt like a combination of Iowa City and Ames to me. It had the slick downtown that was very reminiscent to Iowa City, but then when we went towards the stadium and bar hopped at the little bars that randomly pop up in residential neighborhoods near the stadium, it very much reminded me of West Ames and places like Thumbs and Mothers.

Exactly my thought. I remember wishing Downtown Ames was closer to campus, but not smooshed together like Iowa City is with the U of I. KU’s campus was the perfect distance from Mass St.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

Literally anywhere other than Murray, Kentucky.

 

[AlaCyclone]

Anybody else been to Durham?

The town is kind of rough but the Duke campus is really cool. We were walking around and found Cameron Indoor, doors wide open and nobody there so we went in and got some pictures on the court. This was in July.

Yes, and Yes! I went to a football game there, and did the Cameron tour too - as the doors were wide open as you mentioned. Coach K walked through across the court and gave the royal wave to all of the Alabama football fans there. Beauiful Campus, Beautiful Day and cool stadium.

 

[AlaCyclone]

Moscow ID and Pullman WA : U of Idaho and Washington State campuses only 7 miles apart. Beautiful area. The Palouse in the spring is a great time to visit. Moscow has a surprising number of good restaurants for such a small town.

Burlington VT: Very nice pedestrian downtown. Located on Lake Champlain. Hard to beat in the fall.

Seattle: While technically too big to qualify as a college town, U of Washington campus is very impressive. Views across Lake Washington to the snow capped Cascades is breathtaking. University District is lively.

Moscow, ID: Best Mexican food I ever had was there. It was in a Mom and Pop family place from the Pacific Coast of Mexico, and their entire menu was seafood based. Muy delicioso! Also, walked through the Kibbie Dome @ Idaho.

As for Pullman, I visited their Art Museum (with a Michael Collins special exhibit), peeked through the gate of Martin Statdium @ Wash. State and went to a real rodeo out on the Palouse too!

Have not been to Burlington, but I can only imagine how beautiful it is in the Fall. No football team for the Catamounts though, so that takes away a reason to visit at that time. Have to wait for Basketball or Skiing season!

Washington is an incredible place to see a football game, and a fun University district to hang out in after the game. I saw USC play @ Washington when the Huskies were the defending national champions. Found a place after the game with pizza, beer and ESPN (before it was evil).

 

[deadeyededric]

I think Lawrence might be my favorite after Ames.

 

[deadeyededric]

U of M was very meh to me, so spread out.
Mizzou is VERY underrated, I had a BLAST there.
Colorado is very very cool, Boulder may not be for everyone, but overall, very cool spot.
Colorado State was pretty cool
U of A is amazing, if you get the chance, you need to visit the university area, and just the city as well. Tucson is very cool.
ASU, is not great, like at all. the buildings suck. Campus just kinda sucks in general, Tempe the city is cool.

Smaller Schools:
Mankato, very amazing, i'm biased, but i like that the college is on top of the hill, and the bars are downtown and all close together.
St. Cloud, just don't bother, that place sucks.

I also think Columbia is a cool town. I think Lincoln may be the worst college town I've ever been in. Absolutely nothing appealing about it in any way. Sucks as a college town and sucks as a small city. Tuscaloosa is a great place also. Lubbock may suck in general but the campus at TTU is pretty cool.

 

[FDISU]

Not surprised. Temple is in a warzone and there isn't enough police/security to protect the students

Went to a conference at Temple and made the mistake of getting off the train at the North Philly train station to walk to campus. I swear there were weeds growing in the train station, it was so run down and deserted. Walked one or two blocks and then ducked into a subway station -- no way I was going to walk the rest of the way.

Lived in Ann Arbor for 4 years and loved it. Great campus town and nice downtown. Campus itself is not great.