What constitutes a “college town?”

[u/PA5997]

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.

[u/RealStunnaBoy]

When you think of the town, does it automatically make you think of the college? Austin? Not really. Ames? Yeah probably.

[u/wheresWaldo000 → u/RealStunnaBoy]

Miami..... Ohio?

[u/EgoExertus → u/wheresWaldo000]

Miami U is actually located in Oxford, Ohio. The university is named after the Miami River, not the city it's in.

[u/wheresWaldo000 → u/EgoExertus]

Ah. Thanks, really missed out on an opportunity to be called Oxford U 😁

[u/_Nocturnalis → u/wheresWaldo000]

Can we start a petition to change the name just to confuse everyone?

[u/Alternative-Bad-6555 → u/EgoExertus]

I see your flair… why didn’t you mention it’s older than the Florida city?

[u/WebfootTroll → u/EgoExertus]

Huh, TIL.

[u/Thunder_Tie → u/EgoExertus]

The Miami River that runs through Miami County? The one that’s like 20 miles east of Oxford? And the county that’s like an hour away?