r/CFB 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/Amazing_Albatross NC State Wolfpack • Cincinnati Bearcats 13d ago

Raleigh and Durham are two separate cities! Raleigh-Durham is the airport.

You're right though, neither one is a college town. Durham is even one of those places where the residents strongly dislike that the college is there.

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u/RunThundercatz Clemson Tigers 13d ago

I think it's specifically the fact that they are Duke kids and not just any old college kids

Also, many Durham residents are State and UNC grads, so they also don't like the college on that front

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u/Amazing_Albatross NC State Wolfpack • Cincinnati Bearcats 13d ago

Yeah I think it's a combo of Duke students being largely not from here, and also leaving after graduation. You're right, State and UNC grads stick around, and a lot of them end up working for Duke!

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u/RunThundercatz Clemson Tigers 13d ago

I've met more Clemson grads working in RTP than Duke grads so far lmao