<p>Evanston, IL (yes, I'm biased, but it's sooo cute).</p>
<p>Iowa City, Iowa! Best college town there is</p>
<p>college park is a cool town. if you like getting mugged whenever you step 3 feet off campus. the students also tend to riot and tear up route 1 after big sports events, and those are always fun.</p>
<p>Normally I don't pump Claremont as a "college town", but it actually fits your personal description perfectly. The campuses are in very easy walking distance (0-20min, depending on which campus) from The Village, which is just a quaint (best word for it, really) little downtown. It's got numerous bakeries and coffee shops, all kinds of restaurants, a great ice cream/candy/fudge shop, some cute boutiques, a record store, a number of great gift shops, post office, park, train station, and so forth. Lots of people head down to study at tables outside of Starbucks in particular, but at a number of other places, as well. I've been there three times for meals with professors. It's a great place just to walk around, and they really try to make it appealing to students (the ice cream shop had college-themed flavors for awhile, i.e. Mint Chocolate Scripps; there's an annual night where students, faculty, and community members all head in to The Village for sort of an "open house" social). It's definitely small, it's not the #1 place to go for a nightlife, and the REST of Claremont is not as accessible, but this area is great. A lot of people tend to find Claremont boring because they come in expecting to be in LA, not in a small, established suburb.</p>
<p>here here!</p>
<p>naperville? are you kidding me? haha... i wont even respond to that nonsense.</p>
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here here!
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<p>Not to be pedantic, but I believe the proper expression is "hear! hear!"</p>
<p>Pittsburgh, PA and Columbus, OH are two that come to mind.</p>
<p>Okay, I might be a bit biased since I am from Pittsburgh and plan to live there for my entire life. But it's got sports year-round (Pirates baseball, Steelers football, Penguins hockey). There are a lot of good malls, good places to eat, a pretty decent public transportation system. Parking garage rates could be a bit lower, but if you go downtown it's better to take a bus anyway since it's small enough you can walk just about anywhere. Oakland is a good place for college kids, from what I've heard...Pitt and CMU surround it, it's got a few good libraries for when you want to study (Carnegie has a ton of stuff), and there are some pretty unique shops/eating places down there too. There are two theaters for those who like to see plays, a decent amipthetere for concerts, and for the science/history types there's an excellent museum, a science center, one of the best zoos in the country, and a regional history center which has a ton of great sports stuff in it. You'll also want to check out the strip district if you like unique food...no it's not a district of strip clubs, but it's a strip of shops. Ross Park Mall is the best of the malls; it has almost everything you could want. And there's a good outlet mall in Grove City not far from the city itself. Pittsburgh is sort of a small town disguised as a big city. And you haven't lived until you've had a Primanti Brothers sandwich...cheesesteak with cole slaw and fries right on the sandwich! Pittsburgh is home of these delights, and I think there's only a few of them outside of the city.</p>
<p>Columbus...all I can say is Easton Town Center. That place alone makes Columbus awesome, and it's got some other great stuff like hockey and a pretty good interstate system (easy to get around).</p>
<p>chi787ord, feel free to respond, it's only helping out. I like downtown naperville and everything on route 59.</p>
<p>I LOVE Chapel Hill. The set up is basically perfect</p>
<p>Athens, GA (U of Georgia) and Ann Arbor, MI (U of Michigan) have both really impressed me. I only spent the day in them but they were really nice and towns and the people seemed very friendly.</p>
<p>Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridge!!
Georgetown is really beautiful too. They both are sophisticated, unique "college towns" within important, historic cities with lots to do, so you can have a fabulous college experience but go be annonymous in the city when you want to. Love them both.</p>
<p>Having to live in Boston was a big CON for a few schools on my list. Then again, that's partially because I didn't want to be surrounded by tons of Red Sox fans.</p>
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Having to live in Boston was a big CON for a few schools on my list.
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<p>Boston is one thing... Cambridge is another. People who go to school in Boston wish Cambridge was their college town:) I cannot recall how many times I see Tufts or BU sweatshirts at the Peets off of Harvard Square.</p>
<p>The Claremont Colleges area is lovely if quiet. Austin rocks, and we're looking forward to the mix that is Berkeley.</p>
<p>I suppose berkeley could be a good college town...theres a coffee shop or two...theres also a zillion bums and a lot of really creepy people (who my dad jokes are the grad students, ha!)....theres definitely a whole lot better</p>
<p>re: Sarah Lawrence & Bronxville and Yonkers.</p>
<p>Bronxville is a really expensive suburb of Manhattan, and Yonkers is hardly small and artsy. Yonkers is a "city" in Westchester County and is much larger than just the areas surrounding SLC. Bronxville has cute areas to walk around -- some stores, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, movie theater, etc. It's not necessarily geared to the college student, but it's fun to hang out there. Yonkers is DEFINITELY not geared for the college student.</p>
<p>Um, Tufts isn't in Boston...so, yeah, and Davis Square/Medford are quite nice.</p>
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Berkeley's a TERRIBLE college town. Too hilly for my taste.
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<p>And you're TERRIBLY biased. "Too hilly"? Do you have weak legs or something?</p>
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...theres also a zillion bums and a lot of really creepy people
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<p>You're greatly overstating the Berkeley homeless factor; most are seen in People's Park, and then there is only about a handful of them out on the street at night. Creepy people? Yeah they are, if you're an insecure and easily frightened individual. Most of the people on the streets of Berkeley at night are kinda wacky, but also hilarious (if a guy comes up to you and says he will tell you a joke for fifty cents, give him a dollar because the laughs are worth it).</p>
<p>Anyway my personal choice for best college town is Madison, Wisconsin.</p>