<p>Penn
Cornell
Bucknell
Lehigh
Colgate
Dartmouth
Vanderbilt
Virgina
Wake Forest
Tulane
Washington and Lee
Richmond
Duke
Wisconsin
Michigan
Boston College</p>
<p>Georgetown and you should look our Science, Technology and International Affairs major</p>
<p>This is college. With a very few exceptions, all schools are party hard. That means you can really just focus on schools that have the academics you desire. Finding parties is the easy part of college.</p>
<p>Clemson?
10 char.</p>
<p>Uh, hellooooo Columbia!!! it’s an ivy league school in new york city for pete’s sake. that is like, the definition of work hard play hard.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Umm…fail.</p>
<p>Inherent in the college-centric definition of “play hard” is the sense that most of the hard playing will be done on campus with a community of your fellow classmates…not dissolving into the city…</p>
<p>Ilovebagels - That may be your definition, but plenty of people consider “partying hard” going with a “community” of your classmates and hitting the clubs and bars. In fact, quite a bit of partying even at schools with classic campuses takes place in these venues, especially when the school is in a city with lots of these kinds of choices. Vanderbilt, Tulane, Miami (FL), USC, are just a few examples.</p>
<p>In any case, I think you might be confusing Columbia with NYU. Columbia has a campus and places for students to hang out there. NYU is the school with virtually no campus.</p>
<p>Ummm… fail.</p>
<p>Clemson! let me know if you have any questions!</p>
<p>UVA is relatively weak in engineering and the natural sciences.</p>
<p>This thread is pointless. Everyone is just vouching for their school and for the most part has a skewed perception of what a “party school” really is. Vanderbilt is MAYBE the only top 25 school that is truly a “work hard, PARTY HARD” school. </p>
<p>Stanford? You’ve got to be kidding me.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt, any of the Big Ten, USC, UCLA, Texas…</p>
<p>The easiest way to do this is cross reference their athletic program with their academic rankings. :p</p>
<p>In a way, Reed is exactly what your thread title refers to. On the other hand, it’s probably nothing like what you’re looking for.</p>
<p>But anyway. Since the differences between a Vanderbilt party and a Columbia party are probably infinitesimal, I would suggest that you cross “party hard” off your itemized Dream College Characteristics List. The truth is, you can party hard anywhere.</p>
<p>
Right, because Duke is famous for their lack of parties, lol.</p>
<p>
By my definitions, I agree. Most students at top universities, for example, go out Thursday and Friday nights, but Saturday nights are pretty quiet due to library time the next day, and you won’t really find students going out any other time. In contrast, any given night at a true “party hard” school would find at least some students going out. Of course, that’s not to say that people actually DO go out every night (they certainly don’t) - simply that one has the option of doing so. Additionally, even the “party hard” schools among the elites (e.g. Duke or Dartmouth) generally have tamer scenes than their public counterparts.</p>
<p>When I think “work hard, party hard” for chemistry and chem e, I think Penn State and UCSB - not so much Stanford and Cornell. (Both have top 20 programs in those areas and decidedly social reputations.)</p>
<p>Of course, I’m not sure how the OP is defining “party hard.” It depends on where one falls on the party <—> academics spectrum. Some prefer leaning slightly towards the party end and some prefer leaning slightly towards the academic end (e.g. Vandy). </p>
<p>As usual, mom2collegekids brings up important points. Posters need to know your stats, state of residence, and the importance of financial aid before useful suggestions can be made.</p>
<p>Well, anyone that is looking for an academically challenging school and defines “party hard” as going out every night should probably rethink how academically challenging they want their school choice to be. I don’t think that is most people’s definition of “party hard”, but besides that stats they have, perhaps the OP should be clearer as to what they had in mind in this area as well.</p>
<p>While IMO the “work hard, party hard” phrase is overused and means different things to different people, the question is a very good one, ie, what schools give the best balance of great academics and a great social life? </p>
<p>You might find some helpful information in the following:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/822219-social-life-usnwr-top-30-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/822219-social-life-usnwr-top-30-a.html</a></p>
<p>If one incorporates the athletic scene as part of their calculations on which colleges provide the best combinations of academics. social life, and athletic life, then the consensus top picks would be:</p>
<p>Stanford
Duke
Northwestern
Rice
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame</p>
<p>
Says the person whose school doesn’t even offer chemical engineering… :rolleyes:</p>
<p>More pointless is responding without reading the OP’s question.</p>
<p>It really is hard to have a “skewed perception” of what a “party school” is when, to the best of my knowledge, there is no fixed definition. People throw around terms without even thinking about what they are saying.</p>
<p>Here’s another, probably more helpful and exhaustive thread on the social life of the highest ranked national universities:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/348753-ranking-social-life-usnwr-top-20-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/348753-ranking-social-life-usnwr-top-20-a.html</a></p>
<p>PARTY HARD CHARACTERISTICS
-students go out at least 4 nights a week
-lots of hot girls
-strong Greek life
-well-attended tailgates
-every organization on campus hosts a plethora of social events with a lot of alcohol
-administration with lenient drinking/drugs policies
-good nightlife off campus
-close proximity to concerts </p>
<p>Even by the loosest definition of a “party hard” school, only UVA and Vanderbilt would pass the test for the top schools.</p>
<p>Stanford is nowhere close and is actually quite a boring campus. My older brother who went there said that Greek life was pretty weak, tailgates had awful attendance and lots of his peers would rather play video games on Friday rather than hit the bars.</p>
<p>Duke comes close but lacks severely in the hot girl category(trounces Stanford, MIT and the Ivy League but gets trounced by UVA and Vandy) and only 50% of the student body goes out with any regularity. Michigan is on the edge as well.</p>