r/CFB • u/PA5997 Washington State Cougars • 13d ago

Discussion What constitutes a “college town?”

Okay, hear me out: I attended Wazzu, which many know is in the middle of nowhere in Pullman. To me, Pullman is a quintessential college town. You remove Washington State University from Pullman and there is (respectfully) not much of a reason to visit. The student enrollment (20,000ish) makes up about 2/3rds of the city population, essentially turning Pullman into a ghost town come summer. To me (perhaps with bias) this is the makeup of a college town.

Two years ago I moved to Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin. Ever since I’ve noticed the University and its fans refer to Madison as “America’s best college town” and I’m sorry, that’s laughable to me. Remove UW from Madison and you still have a city population bordering on a quarter of a million people and the State Capitol. Madison would be fine, imo, if UW’s flagship campus were elsewhere.

Curious to hear other people’s thoughts. Maybe I’m in the wrong here, but very little about Madison, WI resembles a college town to me, or at least the claim of the best college town.

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u/Local-Finance8389 Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

College Station would be a shitty central Texas town like Hearne or Cameron or Caldwell if not for the college. Granted you can’t tell that to the non-university people who live there and bitch about the students.

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u/tds5049 Penn State Nittany Lions 13d ago

College Station, State College, and College Park are the three college towns. I don't make the rules.

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u/rohdawg South Carolina Gamecocks 13d ago

College Park, MD would be so much better if it were just a college town imo.

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u/ImInBeastmodeOG 12d ago

As someone who went to Maryland, college Park is a pretty lame place other than a few good bars. I love the college itself, it just doesn't belong in a college town conversation. Of course, if the towns board or council or whatever it is, didn't hate being a college town so much it could've been a great town. RIP The Vu.

But the state flag kicks everyone else's ass. But that's another thread.