One of the latest such rankings to come down the pipeline is Outside magazine's 40 Best College Towns--"the coolest places to work, play, study, party, and live," according to the cover.
Tucson made the list at No. 33, right between La Jolla, Calif. (UC San Diego), and Laramie, Wyo. (University of Wyoming). The folks at Outside wrote: "The 356-acre campus is flush with palm trees and students showing lots of skin. Water conservation is a hot topic for enviro studies majors; astronomy students conduct fieldwork at the Mount Graham International Observatory; and the creative-writing program is ranked one of the top five in the country. A favorite study break: hiking the 2.5-mile Sabino Canyon trail under a full moon."
Fantastic. But would someone explain why in the hell Tucson finished behind such college meccas as Moscow, Idaho (No. 29), Brevard, N.C. (No. 27), Prescott (No. 21), Iowa City, Iowa (No. 10) and Flagstaff (No. 9)? Flagstaff and Prescott are better college towns than Tucson?!?
How do you rank things like this, anyway? The University of Hawaii was ranked No. 19. You're telling me that Iowa City is a "cooler place to work, play, study, party, and live" than Hilo?
This is stupid. Outside should be embarrassed.
