<p>Ok so I thought this might be a cool way to show off the pros of the town your college or dream school is in.
Name the more attractive things u can do in the area etc..</p>
<p>Ill begin:</p>
<ul>
<li>The University of Miami: Coral Gables/Miami, Fl.
Right by the ocean. school has scuba diving, sailing clubs etc... they have a campus right on the beach aside from their main campus is Coral Gables and Medical campus in Downtown. Also the restraunt scene in the Gables is awesome.. :) Lots of sports as well. If you get tired of watching the Hurricanes Football/Basketball, You always got the Heat and the Dolphins.
Not a college town though but still a ton to do..</li>
</ul>
<p>I loved Portland, OR when I went out to visit Reed (there are something like 40 other colleges there as well - Lewis & Clark, University of Portland, etc.). Great arts scene, great food scene, seemed like a generally friendly place, and not overwhelmingly large. Lots of alternative culture and liberal politics, if that's what floats your boat. Plus, they've got Powell's City of Books.</p>
<p>(And I'm giving this up to apply ED to a school located in a town of 8,000 in Ohio. Sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy ... )</p>
<p>Boston is my ideal college town. However, I had to give props to my own college city, Chicago.</p>
<p>Chicago is the third biggest city in the country, and because of this, there's life every where you turn. The city is beautiful, clean, and fun, and even though nightlife is lacking (Chicago clubs are really for the 21+ crowd), the city is rife with great ethnic restaurants that are easy on the wallet, great shopping neighborhoods, and pro sports. Public transportation is also good-- as a college student without a car, I'm able to access any neighborhood I want.</p>
<p>Northwestern University: Evanston/Chicago IL.
Right on Lake Michigan, has sailing clubs, etc. Beach on campus. Medical/Law campuses downtown, right off Michigan Avenue, in the most expensive place in the Loop and right on Lake Michigan. </p>
<p>Evanston is the "dining capital of the North Shore" and, needless to say, Chicago is 20 minutes away and has some of the the best dining in... the world. </p>
<p>The Chicago Cubs stadium is 10-15 minutes from campus.</p>
<p>Chicago... I don't even know what else I can say, it's ranked as an "Alpha world city" along with London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Milan, and Singapore</p>
<p>I would say Boston is also one of the best college cities in the world, and that Cambridge (Harvard, MIT) might be the best location to go to college (besides the fact that I'm partial to Evanston ;), which i consider the Cambridge of the Midwest)</p>
<p>Much to most peoples surprise, New Haven is a fantastic college town. Sure there are parts that you shouldnt go to, but the area surrounding Yale's campus is perfect for students.</p>
<p>It's considered a small city (~100k people), and it lives up to the title of "city" without having all the hustle and bustle. If you want larger, Oakland is right next door (400k+ people), and if you want even larger, San Francisco is just a BART hop away (~800k people). On that note, the BART runs all over the Bay Area, which is easily one of the most interesting places ever, because it's full of culture and life. Berkeley is the perfect example: it's full of cultural diversity, from Ethiopian restaurants to Curry & Naan to tons of fun little bookshops and museums and botanical gardens and Greek theaters and awesome pizza shops -- all of that without the horrible city-ness of, say, New York. And the weather is awesome -- who wouldn't love moderate weather year round? Plus it's right on the Bay (sailing anyone?). Bike paths are really common in the city, so you can get pretty much anywhere on just a bike.</p>
<p>So, yeah. That's my two [obsessive] cents. =D</p>
<p>For the cold weather and rural types, Hanover NH is a terrific little college town with an excellent Main Street for shopping and restaurants and bars. Dartmouth dominates the local scene and provides an undergraduate playground that is highly appealing to Dartmouth students and alumni and townies. If you like winter sports and an incredibly close undergraduate environment that is fostered through the long winters (and the superb summers), then you have to get to Hanover to check it out. </p>
<p>For the more adventurous and warm-blooded, consider New Orleans, home of Tulane University. A city of major contrasts, New Orleans has a flavor unlike anywhere else in the country. The Tulane campus is 4 miles (and a world away) from most of the Katrina horror show, but the students are dedicated to the revival of the school... and the city. If you've never been to New Orleans,(and even if you don't want to go to Tulane), go. It is a FUN city. </p>
<p>For true college towns, few are as good as Charlottesville (U Virginia) and Chapel Hill (U North Carolina). Four seasons with mostly mild winters and generally good town/gown relationship. Smallish for pubic schools, these universities are the raison d'etre of these towns and each town sports a great and engaging personality. Truly unique, special places for students. </p>
<p>For more (but not too) urban tastes, Georgetown and Vanderbilt are great, great fun. The Georgetown social scene is truly one of the best in the country and Washington is a very sexy and beautiful backdrop. Nashville is a very underknown, but terrific mid-sized city with a greater assortment of music venues and musical variety than virtually anywhere else in the country.</p>
<p>Cambridge/Boston is perfect for students because the most interesting areas are all within a couple miles of each other. That makes walking, taking the subway or riding the bus very easy. </p>
<p>Since most students don't have cars, having big city amenities with college town convenience is a huge bonus. It's much easier on the budget than a comparable environment like Manhattan.</p>
<p>Having lived in both Boston and Austin, I would actually much prefer Austin. A suprisingly good amount of people who have been to both would agree.</p>