<p>According to The Daily Beast, anyway:</p>
<p>The</a> 100 Happiest Colleges - The Daily Beast</p>
<p>It must be the food. I suppose Oberlin is "Hip" but not happy. :)</p>
<p>Maybe the low percentage of sunny days also played a part…</p>
<p>Happiness: way overrated.</p>
<p>I love how they used arbitrary criteria (like the number of bars and clubs in the area) instead of actually asking students how happy they are. Their efforts to accurately portray student happiness = epic fail. Does the Princeton Review guide still have a section that lists the top ten happiest colleges, based on student responses to their survey?</p>
<p>^
I don’t have a copy of the Princeton Review, but I still say it’s the food (and the lack of town “action.”) Believe me, some colleges have exceptional cafeteria food. I don’t know why Oberlin’s is so ordinary (not bad, just ordinary). You would think it would be better given the college’s price tag, but that’s just my opinion.</p>
<p>Late addition:</p>
<p>Okay, I found this on the 'Net: </p>
<p>Top 10 schools with Happiest Students:
- Clemson University
- Brown University
- Princeton University
- Claremont McKenna College
- Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
- Stanford University
- University of Dayton
- Bowdoin College
- The College of New Jersey
10 Tulane University</p>
<p>Source: Princeton Review (2009 edition)</p>
<p>Obviously “happy” to the Princeton Review does not equate with biggest “party” schools, or Penn State and the U of Florida would be on this list. Party does not equal happy. Makes sense to me.</p>
<p>The Princeton Review’s “methodology” is just about as stupid as The Daily Beast’s.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>I don’t disagree.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the Princeton Review’s methodology (just that it involved student surveys in some way)-- I just remember it as my go-to guide back in the day when I was doing my college search. Of course, I was much more interested in the opposite category–I wasn’t impressed by the “happiest” ratings, but I didn’t want to end up at one of the “unhappiest” colleges!</p>
<p>PR’s “methodology” consists of randomly distributed, poorly worded, very small-sampled surveys, which perpetuate myths and stereotypes. Often a handful of responses will determine how a school gets characterized. It’s a pity that anyone pays attention to it.</p>
<p>Of the schools on that list (which seems random - College of New Jersey?), my kid only applied to one, and chose Oberlin over it because, among other reasons, he thought he’d be happier at Oberlin.</p>
<p>Actually, I know several fairly recent grads from TCNJ and they do seem like an inordinately happy bunch.</p>
<p>Seems to me … that the typical Obie is not one to fill out this kind of survey. They would think it was kind of dumb. Now, a political survey which meant something … that would be a different story!</p>