ADVERTISEMENT

Orlando 2nd best college town in America?

how is that ridiculous? from Rollins College to UCF and the Valencia East campus...that is a lot of college students. Cheap drinks, good nightlife, weather...adds up

I might be being picky, but I guess it depends on how "college town" is defined. When I think of college towns I think of smaller places that seem to revolve around the college. Gainesville, Chapel Hill, Athens, Charlottesville, etc etc. A lot of places on that list are just places that happen to have colleges. They might be good places to go to school, don't get me wrong, but no one has ever considered Vegas a college town for instance.
 
I might be being picky, but I guess it depends on how "college town" is defined. When I think of college towns I think of smaller places that seem to revolve around the college. Gainesville, Chapel Hill, Athens, Charlottesville, etc etc. A lot of places on that list are just places that happen to have colleges. They might be good places to go to school, don't get me wrong, but no one has ever considered Vegas a college town for instance.
yeah I get that but I think that is not as appealing as it once was for a lot of students(see UCF's popularity for in state applicants). Gainesville for example has decent options but have you been to Auburn or Clemson? They are really small towns and lack options that UCF students have. I'm not saying Orlando is a 'college town' but similar to Austin it's a 'college city' & young/energetic. Especially the Downtown to East Orlando stretch of the metro area
 
This (and Austin) is the ultimate college town. Lot's of good looking young people, cheap food/drinks, plenty of stuff to do, lots of students, parties every night. Those small towns are really only fun during football season (when the team is winning) and a little bit in the spring when girls start wearing shorts again.
 
yeah I get that but I think that is not as appealing as it once was for a lot of students(see UCF's popularity for in state applicants). Gainesville for example has decent options but have you been to Auburn or Clemson? They are really small towns and lack options that UCF students have. I'm not saying Orlando is a 'college town' but similar to Austin it's a 'college city' & young/energetic. Especially the Downtown to East Orlando stretch of the metro area

Yeah, I get all that. I just think the list is being pretty liberal with what is considered a college town. The term used to at least be pretty specific, as in towns where jobs, sports, entertainment in general, etc almost entirely revolved around the school. Again, I might be being picky, I get the point of the list, it's just one of those things that is mislabeled IMO and it bugs me for some reason.
 
This (and Austin) is the ultimate college town. Lot's of good looking young people, cheap food/drinks, plenty of stuff to do, lots of students, parties every night. Those small towns are really only fun during football season (when the team is winning) and a little bit in the spring when girls start wearing shorts again.

But those small towns are what are considered college towns (or at least used to be). Now, at least based on this list, anywhere with a college can be a college town. So really, doesn't that make the list redundant? Shouldn't it just be best cities for young people, since it a lot of the reasoning doesn't seem to have much to do with actual colleges?
 
Yeah, I get all that. I just think the list is being pretty liberal with what is considered a college town. The term used to at least be pretty specific, as in towns where jobs, sports, entertainment in general, etc almost entirely revolved around the school. Again, I might be being picky, I get the point of the list, it's just one of those things that is mislabeled IMO and it bugs me for some reason.
You could say the list is "Best cities to live in for 18-25 year olds" but either way I'd say Orlando is pretty solid for college aged people.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Poolside Knight
I don't know I would say Orlando is a great "College Town" but it sure as hell was a great place to go to college....if that makes sense.

Campus life, Downtown, the theme park, the beach near by. Young people that weren't in college all over the place too. It was literally perfect in my eyes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bluechip12
But those small towns are what are considered college towns (or at least used to be). Now, at least based on this list, anywhere with a college can be a college town. So really, doesn't that make the list redundant? Shouldn't it just be best cities for young people, since it a lot of the reasoning doesn't seem to have much to do with actual colleges?
Austin has plenty of transplants that don't care about College Football or UT , I doubt most prospective students care about that when you got good food, live music, and much more to entertain. Those 'land grant' towns where everything revolves around the University a lot of times rely on the success of the Football Program like Bizzle posted above, how fun would Tuscaloosa be if they went 2-10 every year?
 
Last edited:
Austin has plenty of transplants that don't care about College Football or UT , I doubt most prospective students care about that when you got good food, live music, and much more to entertain.

That is a good point, but I give Austin the benefit of the doubt because Austin's popularity is fairly new, at least at the scale it is now. It was a legitimate college town for decades before everyone started moving there. And another reason for the growth is students staying their after they graduate.
 
Austin has plenty of transplants that don't care about College Football or UT , I doubt most prospective students care about that when you got good food, live music, and much more to entertain. Those 'land grant' towns where everything revolves around the University a lot of times rely on the success of the Football Program like Bizzle postd above, how fun would Tuscaloosa be if they went 2-10 every year?

I don't think that is true at all. College kids party whether the football team is good or not.
https://www.delawareonline.com/stor...party-school-says-princeton-review/913334002/

Out of the top 20 party schools last year, only a handful are decent at football.
 
They describe their criteria and methods in the article.
"WalletHub compared more than 400 U.S. cities of varying sizes based on 30 key indicators of academic, social and economic opportunities for students. Our data set ranges from cost of living to quality of higher education to crime rate. Below are our findings, additional expert commentary and a full description of our methodology."
Etc...
 
yeah I get that but I think that is not as appealing as it once was for a lot of students(see UCF's popularity for in state applicants). Gainesville for example has decent options but have you been to Auburn or Clemson? They are really small towns and lack options that UCF students have. I'm not saying Orlando is a 'college town' but similar to Austin it's a 'college city' & young/energetic. Especially the Downtown to East Orlando stretch of the metro area


.... yeah college city is more like it , and it's own phenomenon apart from "traditional college towns" ..... I like it ... p.s Austin is also the capital so it is'nt and never has been strictly a "college town" ...
 
Yeah, like many of you said, Orlando is a great place to go to college...but it definitely lacks the intimate small town vibes of a traditional college town.
 
I might be being picky, but I guess it depends on how "college town" is defined. When I think of college towns I think of smaller places that seem to revolve around the college. Gainesville, Chapel Hill, Athens, Charlottesville, etc etc. A lot of places on that list are just places that happen to have colleges. They might be good places to go to school, don't get me wrong, but no one has ever considered Vegas a college town for instance.
Doesn’t Gainesville have like 3 waffle houses? It’s pretty big time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GoKnights2003
The subsets should look something like this ... (traditional) college towns = ex. Clemson, Gainesville , college cities = ex. Orlando, New Orleans , hybrid = ex. Austin , Tallahassee ....
 
UCF is where it is on the list because of the size of the school and its proximity to the beach, downtown/local bars, shopping and Disney. Also, the relatively low cost of living(which is why New York, LA and Boston aren't high on that list). The criteria they used is almost made for UCF.
 
I might be being picky, but I guess it depends on how "college town" is defined. When I think of college towns I think of smaller places that seem to revolve around the college. Gainesville, Chapel Hill, Athens, Charlottesville, etc etc. A lot of places on that list are just places that happen to have colleges. They might be good places to go to school, don't get me wrong, but no one has ever considered Vegas a college town for instance.

With the huge importance put on "internship/work experience" DURING your college education...Universities in large metro areas with diverse economies like Orlando...have a huge advantage of "old" historic small college towns...many which are limited to what work experience they can offer their students.

Students today seem to like options...from work and even "play"...and that's why UCF/Orlando are a great match for so many...even if it isn't a "historical" college town.
 
some of those 'old south traditional' towns are way too 1 dimensional. They don't have the culture to bounce to some Bad Bunny like OTown*
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT