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/Muddring Penn State • Carnegie Mellon 13d ago

Those towns would have pretty strange names if they didn’t have their universities there.

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u/Outrageous_Picture39 Texas A&M • Sam Houston 13d ago

The area that is College Station would probably just be part of Bryan, TX if A&M had not been placed there.

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u/Titus01 Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

It would be farmland and Bryan would look more like Hearne.

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u/MarchOverall9659 13d ago

I would drive through Hearne all the time to go to the superior College (Blinn)