Playboy names top party school
2009-04-17 20:00
Los Angeles - Playboy magazine
on Friday named the University of Miami as the top party school
in the United States based on five criteria that included a nod
to brainpower.
The adult magazine, which has only occasionally published
the party college list in the past but will now turn it into an
annual feature, ranked the schools on campus life, sports, sex
and academics, or "brains," as Playboy put it.
As a last criteria, Playboy included "bikini" which
combined weather, guy-to-girl ratio and cheerleaders.
But absent from the credentials were college bars and
parties that exist on the fringe of campus life.
"In order to make the list, you had to be a school where
fun happens, so we threw that out and went to other criteria,"
said Playboy assistant editor Rocky Rakovic.
Keg party vs bar crawl
Rakovic also said it was hard to quantify just exactly what
made a good bar scene from campus to campus, because each
location had its specific attributes.
"You can't say keg party at Arizona State is much better
than bar crawl at (University of) Wisconsin," he explained.
On the subject of brainpower, Rakovic said that criteria
was important because, after all, "you are in college for a
reason, to get an education".
Judging the intelligence of US university students turned
into a rather scientific equation, too, using things like grade
point averages, freshman retention and Princeton academic
reviews, then giving them a numerical weight and averaging
results.
The one surprise, Rakovic said, could be the number six school
University of Wisconsin because the "bikini" ranking favoured
schools with warm weather climates.
Playboy began ranking party colleges 20 years ago. The full
list is in the magazine's May issue and on the internet at
www.playboydigital.com.
