I am interested in finding good college towns in the US. I have lived in Indiana for quite a while, and I've found that Bloomington, IN is a great college town. I am interested, though, in doing some traveling to places like Michigan, Ohio, and Georgia, and I've heard great things about college towns in these places. What have been your experiences with the best college towns in the US? Any advice about good places would be appreciated. I think this would be an interesting vacation. Thanks!

geocities.com/j_goyette/t.html

Do a search on this forum for that specific topic - there was a thread i this very topic many months back that has reappeared several times, even within the past month. There were dozens of responses, possibly over 70 if I recall correctly.

I like college towns too. Ann Arbor is terrific -- I spent 7 happy years there and get back anytime I can. Zingerman's Deli is a must, as is the original Cottage Inn downtown for pizza. Walk through the Diag and the law quad. If you can go on a football Saturday in the fall, so much the better. I'm also familiar with East Lansing, and while MSU's campus is prettier than U of M's, the town of East Lansing isn't as nice as Ann Arbor in my opinion.

I've only been to Bloomington once, for a football game, but I liked it a lot too.

Chapel Hill NC is another nice college town.

Athens, Ohio home of Ohio University.
Oxford, Ohio, home of Miami of Ohio
Columbus, Ohio, home of Ohio State
Westerville,Ohio, home of Otterbein
Hillsdale, MI, home of Hillsdale College
Granville, Ohio, home of Dennison U. (where Michael Eisner of Disney Fame went)
Delaware, Ohio, home of Ohio Wesleyan
Kent, home of Kent State.
Hope this helps!

In New England & NY:
Burlington, VT UVM, Champlain, St. Mikes etc.
Ithaca, NY Cornell & Ithaca College
Amherst & Northhampton, MA

Evanston is the home of Northwestern University on Lake Michigan just north of the city of Chicago. Palo Alto, CA, is the home of Stanford and is very much a college town, although sophisticated one. And, then there's Berkeley home of Cal. Another one that we have really like is Iowa City--really pretty and not at all what you would imagine.

Sorry, clicked too soon before I included Madison, Wisconsin, home of University of Wisconsin main campus--a beautiful place on a beautiful lake.

San Luis Obispo is probably my favorite though college towns do not hold much interest for me.

San Luis Obispo is home to Cal Poly SLB.

Oxford, mississippi--the perfect Southern town square and Faulner's home (Rowan oak) is open for tours...

Athens, Ga. (hip music scene) and Tusclaoosa, Alabama (Dreamland ribs and the Bear Bryant Museum) if you do a Southern swing...

You should definitely visit Madison, WI. The best time would be in early May (to avoid the cold and see the campus at its best) or September (maybe you could manage to get tickets to a football game). Chapel Hill, NC is also a must (home of the oldest public university in the U.S. [of course Georgia alums will dispute this], with a truly beautiful campus and protypical college-town environment). While I wouldn't call Charleston, SC a college town, it has two very nice campuses in the College of Charleston and the Citadel, and you would get to spend time in one of the most interesting and most beautiful cities in the U.S. Charlottesville, VA would also be a good place to visit. Beautiful, historic campus and near lots of interesting places (e.g., Monticello).

so does anyone like Bloomington? Have you been there? Just wondering. Thanks for the responses so far. It's helpful.

Almost, but never got there. My grad school decision came down to Wisconsin and Indiana.

Bloomington is great! I went to school there and love going back. Eventually we plan to retire to Indiana from the stressed-out, hectic Northeast.

If anyone visits Bloomington, the Scholars' Inn is a great restaurant. They also do B&B but we haven't stayed there.

Lidna

Chico CA is a great little college town if you are into outdoor sports! Home of Chico State!

Hey, "J" -- are you actually writing an article for some paper or mag? Or maybe this is for a book -- ?"where to go to college"?. No reason you can't get help here, but this sure sounds like research for a very specific purpose. I can't imagine someone making this a vacation, though.

Athens GA has a nice feel. Cure shops, lots of food, diversity, walking town. Bars, students, work, play music, Probably can visit in one or two days.

State College, PA, home of the Nittany Lions, is a great little town with a big university. Not far south of Interstate 80, right in the middle of the state.

Madison, WI is a great town.

San Luis Obispo in Central California is a great college town. But unfortunately the cost of living there is quite high. But what a place!

Newark, Delaware--home of the Blue Hens of the University of Delaware. It's small enough to walk everywhere but not so small that you know everyone, scenic, and has tax-free shopping--what more could you ask for? If I could spend another four years there I would in a second.