I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Where? Yeah, I know. (Believe me, if I had a nickel for every time one of my high school classmates from Hawaii asked me that question I would be rich and you wouldn’t be reading this blog.) Yes, the university is known for it’s medical school; at the time I attended (and the reason I attended) it was known for its journalism program; and while I was there the school’s football program rose from the ashes and went on to win the Rose Bowl. However, none of those accolades seemed to mean much to any of the people who asked me where I was attending college. That all changed when Playboy Magazine gave the University the title of “Number One Party School In The Nation.” At last I was cool.
In 2005 the Princeton Review concurred and named the University of Wisconsin-Madison “the country’s best party school.” But, alas, I just found out that this year the Badgers will have to hand the title over to a bunch of Texas Longhorns. On Monday it was announced that the University of Texas at Austin will now not only be known for being home to the nation’s top college football team, but to the top coed revelers as well.
Ah, yes, there are tears in the beers of many former and current Badgers. On the eve of a new school year, Madison students are dealing with the news that the University of Texas at Austin beat Penn State University, West Virginia University and their beloved UW-Madison, in the Princeton Review survey of 115,000 students at campuses around the country.
The Review ranks student’s use of hard liquor, beer drinking and marijuana smoking. Which is probably why for the ninth straight year, Brigham Young University was voted the most “stone cold sober” school.
The party school list is included in the Princeton Review’s “Best 361 Colleges” guide, which goes on sale today. (By the way, the company is not affiliated with Princeton University.) To no surprise (at least to me) the Review’s ranking contrasts U.S. News and World Report’s annual guide to “America’s Best Colleges,” where UT-Austin tied with four other schools in 47th place.
On a serious note, while I may have spent the better portion of this blog making reference to the blow UW-Madison took by falling in the “party” rankings, please know it is made tongue-in-cheek. I realize that some of you may want to comment about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. And, yes I do remember the incident last December involving a UT-Austin freshman who died of acute alcohol poisoning as a result of fraternity hazing. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, according to police reports, “tests showed the student’s blood alcohol level was 0.50 percent, more than six times the legal limit.” University officials canceled Lambda Phi Epsilon’s status as a registered student organization until 2011 after an investigation found new members were expected to drink large amounts of liquor.
Like with every thing in life, moderation is key. So to all you fellow Badgers out there—buck up—there’s always next year.