Unusual College Rankings

Notre Dame, home of A+ food and D- weather. - Wiki Commons, Pub. domain

As prospective college students narrow their college search, they often look to The Princeton Review, Peterson's, and other reputable guides for information about college rankings. Everybody wants to know which schools are ranked highest academically and which schools are the best value. But sometimes you can tell quite a bit about a school by looking at more unusual college rankings--- like those that rate the housing, food, parking, and even student "hotness.".

Here's some out-of-the-ordinary college ratings, compiled from student surveys from The Princeton Review (hereby known as PR) and CollegeProwler.com (hereby known as CP):

1. The best college food. Hey, this is important! If you're going to gain the Freshman Fifteen, the food better be worth it. According to PR, the best food is at Virginia Tech, Bowdoin, Wheaton , Bryn Mawr, and James Madison. CP's top food picks are Boston University, Bowdoin, Cornell , Dartmouth College, and the University of Notre Dame.
2. The most inedible college food. College food can be pretty bad, so to earn this distinction is quite a feat. According to PR, the worst college eats in the country are at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Could the dining hall food actually be worse than MREs? CP claims that the yuckiest food can be found at Fordham, Guilford Colege, and the University of Illinois.
3. Best parking. If you're a college student who owns a car, you know this is no laughing matter! At some schools, it's so bad that students have to figure parking ticket expenses into their semester budgets. PR doesn't rank parking, but according to CP, you'll be able to find a spot at Creighton, Davidson College, and Whitman College.
4. Worst parking. CP actually gives 10 different schools the distinction of having the worst parking: Barnard, College of William & Mary, Columbia University, Emory, Fashion Institute of Technology, Hunter College, New York University, Ohio University, UCLA, and the University of Massachusetts. Of course, half of these are in New York City-- so take the subway, kids!
5. Best housing. Surviving freshman year is hard enough, so a cozy place to hang your backpack is appreciated! PR says you can find "dorms like palaces" at Smith, Loyola College in Maryland, George Washington, Scripps, and Bryn Mawr. CP awards this distinction to Bowdoin, Harvard, Loyola MD, Pepperdine, and Scripps.
6. Worst housing. In the "dorms like dungeons" category, CP ranks the United States Coast Guard Academy, the University of Hawaii (hopefully they have a view at least), the United States Merchant Marine Academy, the University of New Orleans, and Tuskegee. According to CP, the worst housing as at Hampton-ironically, perhaps, as people associate the word "Hamptons" with Martha Stewart-like pristine housing (although Hampton is in Virginia).
7. Best weather. PR doesn't rank weather, but CP gives high marks to Pepperdine, San Diego State, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbra, and University of San Diego. All California schools-- imagine that!
8. Worst weather. CP gives the lowest marks to the University of Buffalo and Notre Dame.
9. Party schools. This is PR's most publicized rating. This year, the South stole the list. The top five party schools are West Virginia University, the University of Mississippi, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Florida, and the University of Georgia.
10. Guys and girls. These CP categories that rank the "quality" of the campus men and women, as well as the male/female ratio. Apparently, the places to go for guys are Texas A & M and the University of Arizona, and the worst place to find guys is the Fashion Institute of Technology. There were 14 schools that earned the A+ ranking for girls--Arizona State, Florida State, Hampton, Howard, Loyola College MD, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, San Diego State, UC Santa Barbara, University of Arizona, University of Georgia, University of San Diego, University of Texas at Austin, and Vanderbilt. None of the schools were ranked lower than a C- for girls.

See also: Weird College Scholarships and Bad Ways to Choose a College

Naomi Rockler-Gladen - Instructional designer and freelance writer, Naomi Rockler-Gladen writes some of Suite101's most read work.

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