
No information given as to how the towns were selected, or on what criteria, so it seems dreadfully arbitrary, but since two towns in my home state are up there, and I attended one of them myself, I thought the list was worth a look.
I guess the list was based on some information compiled by this economic research group. Notably, Waterloo, Iowa is in the top 20.
Two towns in Virginia made the top nine. I thought the photos depicting each campus were kind of lame. For Ames, they shot a swim meet. Even though I had two cousins swim at Iowa State, I believe there must be a more interesting subject to take a photo of in Ames.
I've always found Madison, Wisconsin to be an excellent college town, so I was surprised it isn't there. Then I saw that Madison is considered a "small metro," rather than a "college town." I'm sure if I took the time to read the article, I'd learn what the difference is, but I don't feel like it.
And lastly, why NINE? Why not five, 10, or 15? The research group listed 75, and divided them up into major metro areas, mid-sized, college towns, etc. Is this just an attempt by Huffpost to make OCD people nuts?
Now I'll be up all night, wondering which college town was tenth and just missed the list.
I know -- if I'd read the whole damn article, I would know already.
THE TOP NINE:
- Ithica, New York
- Ames, Iowa
- State College Pennsylvania
- Crestview, Florida
- Iowa City, Iowa
- Corvallis, Oregon
- Champaign, Illinois
- Blacksburg, Virginia
- Charlottesville, Virginia