UT has a lot going for it – but being a party school is apparently no longer one of its character traits.
Not only did UT fall in The Princeton Review’s rating but also in Playboy’s party school ranking. For the first time since 1987, Playboy polled 1,500 students nationwide and listed the top 25 party schools, with the prestigious first place going to Arizona State University.
In this poll, UT received only an honorable mention, giving the rival schools something else to cheer about. Both the University of Georgia and the University of Florida made it into the top 20, and even Vanderbilt University stumped UT with its No. 24 rating.
Some students admit they were shocked to hear that The Princeton Review named UT No. 1 Party School in 2001, but were even more surprised with the No. 16 ranking in 2002.
“I was kind of surprised when we were No. 1 last year,” said Sonali Shukla, a senior in physics. “I don’t recall there being that many parties. I guess it was the football weekends that gave us the top spot.”
Although James Lepage, a senior in math, said last year’s rank was a total surprise, he wonders what caused such a dramatic drop in the ratings.
“Even though I was shocked to see us ranked No. 1, I am a bit curious to know why we dropped so much,” he said. “I mean, what changed in a year?”
Other students believe that No.16 is more appropriate for UT.
“I think it fits us better,” said Stephanie Hillis, a pre-law freshman. “I don’t think there’s that many parties here. I know that there is always stuff to do on weekends, but there’s not really that much to do during the week.”
While some students aren’t major players in the party scenes, they do hear about them from friends around campus.
“I hear about them all the time in my classes,” said Kayla Taylor, an undecided freshman. “There’s tons of people in clubs on the Strip during the weekends.
“I’m from here; so, it’s not that big of a deal to me. I know people from other cities, however, where I guess there isn’t that much to do,” Taylor continued. “They say they’ve never seen so many clubs and parties that are happening all the time.”
Although the ratings are interesting to read, students don’t really care about the party rankings.
“It doesn’t really bother me,” said Jessica Pipkin, a freshman sports management major. “In my opinion, rankings only matter in football.”
