Party much? Apparently so.
Playboy magazine released its list of the nation’s top party schools last week, and to many students’ surprise, the UA hit the charts at number five.
Playboy ranked the schools on five criteria: campus life, sports, sex, brains and “”bikini,”” which combined weather, guy-to-girl ratio and cheerleaders.
Input was taken from staffers, photographers, campus representatives and thousands of students to determine the “”cream of the crop,”” according to playboyu.com. Compilers accounted for things like grade point average, freshman retention and Princeton Review academic reviews.
Playboy took the “”scientific approach”” by developing algorithms to weigh in all the crucial factors that make up a college experience, according to the Web site.
The University of Miami came in at number one in this year’s rankings. Other schools listed in the top five include the University of Texas at Austin, San Diego State University and the University of Florida.
“”(University of Miami) is probably number one because their campus is located close to the beach, which gives them another place to have fun besides just house parties or fraternities,”” said UA undecided freshman Daniel Slavin.
Arizona State University ranked number 15, a significant drop from their number-one 2002 ranking, and number-three ranking in 2006.
Some UA fraternity members said they thought ASU’s ranking fell due to the university’s recent decision to cut back on alcohol throughout the campus.
“”From what I’ve heard, ASU is becoming a completely dry campus,”” Slavin said. “”The administration is trying to crack down on alcohol within Greek life and around campus.””
UA pre-business sophomore Brett Crevier said the new ranking confirmed the UA’s superiority over its rival to the north.
“”I think it just proves that we are truly better than that junior college up in Tempe,”” Crevier said.
The ranking agreed: “”ASU is nice for a weekend but four years are better spent at the U of A in Tucson.””
Playboy has published this list only three other times in its history, in 1987, 2002 and 2006, but the Web site has already begun accepting submissions for next year’s list, indicating that this may become an annual feature for the magazine.
While some students said they were flattered by the official top-5 title, others said it didn’t really make a difference.
“”I think it’s cool but I’m more here for the education,”” said political science senior Meaghan Gallagher. “”Arizona parties are phenomenal but it’s far from important to me right now. We could be number five or number 500 on Playboy’s list, I don’t really care.””
For any “”unlucky”” school that didn’t make the charts this year, the magazine said it hopes that in years to come, other universities will “”step up their game.””
