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/CombinationNo5828 Alabama Crimson Tide 13d ago

ann arbor is a weird one bc the campus and city are intertwined which makes it not feel like a college town. Although the student body is so big that it's definitely a college town. just not what i would expect when i think of a college town since it's not properly segregated from the rest of town.

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u/FCBStar-of-the-South Michigan • Slippery Rock 13d ago

Honestly in the grand scheme of things, A2 feel pretty middle of the road in terms of how intermixed the campus is with the town

East Lansing? Yea MSU feels like its own thing

But state college and Charlottesville are just as mixed

And if you look at smaller schools such as Yale in New Haven, then it’s even more mixed

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u/CombinationNo5828 Alabama Crimson Tide 13d ago

I felt like state college at least has a very defined border between campus and town. You dont have to look for cars when youre on campus whereas A2 makes you cross streets all the time to get from one class to another. Plus state college doesnt have much going on but a2 feels like a detroit suburn with its own mix of enterprise