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Any city that feels the need to install gunshot detectors can hardly be ranked one of the best college towns.
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<p>Gunshot detectors are only located within a 1 km radius of the #1 safest campus in the US & one of the top 10 neighborhoods in America -- Johns Hopkins/Charles Village were Hopkins is located... Safety remains an issue elsewhere in Baltimore tho.</p>
<p>I lived all my life in possible the greatest college town out there.... Cambridge, MA. :D Harvard + MIT = crazy amount of students... students dominate the population in Cambridge... they are the ones who attract major corporations and biotech firms to Cambridge....they drive the economy :D</p>
<p>I think Cambridge is a best place to go for college. Tons of amenities and tons of activities to do in Harvard sq... great restaurants.... Kinda the same can be said of Boston too tho.</p>
<p>I seriously do not think Boston is by any means a "college town". Nobody in Boston cares about the BC or BU student population and especially in Brighton (where we rent out to BC and BU students), the neighbors and especially Mayor Tom Menino wants BC to stop expanding into Brighton neighborhoods because students are loud and obnoxious... There is very little interaction between the community and the university you know... Campus are like little tiny pockets of trapped air isolated in this gargantuan city known as Boston As a student, you will have a great time doing fun stuff there like visiting the pubs and restaurants and watching movies etc... Boston provides access to fun stuff, but by no means is there a "college town" atmosphere you feel in Cambridge, or in Baltimore.</p>
<p>My definition of a college town, especially a "best" college town, doesn't fit either of 2-iron's definitions.</p>
<p>For me, a college town is somewhat dominated by the college, and reflects the really cool things about a college community - diversity, youthful energy, intellectualism, creativity, the arts, and lots of cheap ethnic restaurants. ;-)</p>
<p>Hence, my list, which I will quote here because it is so awesome:</p>
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Cambridge/Berkeley (tied)
Ann Arbor
Evanston
Hyde Park in Chicago (no, really.)
Ithaca, I've heard</p>
<p>all the other cool places I don't really know about
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<p>As you can see, bonus points are awarded for being near a large, interesting city.</p>
<p>While Cambridge is a college town, Boston is not. Allston/Brighton, however, might be considered to be a 'college ghetto' due to the poor quality of housing and preponderance of annoying college students.</p>
<p>Traditional college towns include:</p>
<p>Charlottesville
Berkeley
Burlington
Madison
Cambridge
Bloomington
Ann Arbor
Boulder
Ithaca</p>
<p>And I think Baltimore is a stretch. How many bars are there around Hopkins's campus? Three? Four? An entire municipality really needs to be dominated by the institution(s) to be considered a college town.</p>
<p>In a way, you could say Evanston is a hybrid: commuter suburb/college town. Northwestern campus takes up a good chunk of the city's boundaries. For example, Rotary International has its headquarters in Evanston. It is seen as one of the best communities for young families. It's quite expensive too in the more wealthier/downtown areas.</p>
<p>Evanston definitely ranks up there with Ann Arbor, Cambridge, Ithaca, Berkeley and Charlottesville.</p>
<p>and Lawrence, KS is a college town not too far from Kansas City. But then that's just Kansas City..</p>
<p>From what I saw, Iowa City seemed like it must be a good college town. Columbia, MO, can be considered one as well, sort of.</p>
<p>Evanston felt more like suburb than college town whenever I've passed through. It may be a great place to be a student, but it did not much emit the same overall level of "college town" vibe, a la Ithaca or Lawrence, to this oustside observer. But I haven't spent much time there, just the occasional visit while living in Chicago.</p>