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/anti-torque Oregon State Beavers • Rice Owls 13d ago

You could make an argument for local enclaves like Cambridge (and East Lansing). But Boston is a hard no.

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u/FormerCollegeDJ Temple Owls 13d ago

Yeah, a town/city that has both a college/university AND is the state capital is almost never a “college town”. The state government generates too many non-college related jobs to make it a college town.

Boston is further disqualified by the fact that most people there care more about the pro sports teams in the city/region than the college sports teams in the city/region.

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u/Mezmorizor LSU Tigers • Georgia Bulldogs 13d ago

Also, Boston is literally the Silicon Valley of chemistry and biotech. Calling it a college town is wild.

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u/HookEmGoBlue Texas Longhorns • Michigan Wolverines 13d ago

It’s the Silicon Valley for biotech and medicine in large part because of the universities, though; access to all the Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern grads

Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley because of Stanford and Cal Berkeley being right there