Oh, UT, How You've Let Us Down

UT Austin dropped from its much-heralded top spot in this year's rankings of the country's Best Party Schools, published in The Princeton Review's annual "Best Colleges" survey.

Based on input from over 120,000 students across the nation, the rankings are a decent barometer of general public opinion among the notoriously fickle college set. Students were asked to rate universities based on "use of alcohol and drugs, hours of study each day, and the popularity of the Greek system"—in UT's case, the last metric was probably less than stellar, given the sensational fraternity scandals and questionable alcohol-related deaths of late.

We're still really fond of last year's photo

• Best Career/Job Placement Services: #1
• Reefer Madness: #9
• Best College Library: #17
• Their Students (Almost) Never Study: #15
• Best College Newspaper: #17
• Students Pack the Stadiums: #11
• Lots of Beer: #5
• Lots of Hard Liquor: #8
• Party Schools: #3
• Great College Towns: #12

Meanwhile, Texas A&M's results are, not surprisingly, on the other end of the spectrum. Most college students seem to perceive that this university largely consists of homophobic Republican jocks who have little to share in class—or spend the time dreaming about sports and praying to the Gipper:

• Class Discussions Rare: #19
  
• Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alternative #15
  
• Students Pray on a Regular Basis: #16
  
• Best College Newspaper: #20
  
• Students Pack the Stadiums: #17
  
• Students Most Nostalgic for Ronald Reagan: #16
  
• Future Rotarians and Daughters of the American Revolution: #14
  
• Jock Schools: #20

What do you think, Austin? Are these results totally bogus?

Header photo by austin_tx on flickr. Photo entitled "Jones Soda: Brussels Sprout with Prosciutto" by Travis Kiger on flickr