Penn State ranks 7th in party school poll

Penn State has publicly fought the student-created drinking holiday State Patty’s Day in recent years, but students still consider the university one of the best in the country for partying.

The Princeton Review released its annual best college rankings this week, and Penn State was listed seventh among the top party schools.

The rankings, which also list the top stone-cold sober schools, best food and most beautiful campuses, among others, were determined this year by a survey of 130,000 students.

Students placed two other Pennsylvania schools among the country’s best partiers — Lehigh and Bucknell universities.

Other Big Ten schools also made the list: Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Penn State took home another dubious honor, ranking first in the “lots of beer” list. But the university was also tops in the best health services list and finished second in the best career services category.

University officials said they don’t take the rankings very seriously — dismissing them, good or bad, as not scientifically conducted.

“They are popularity polls based on student surveys, and we are hopeful that applicants will look at more significant and meaningful indicators of a university’s reputation,” Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers wrote in an email.

“Even though it’s nice to be thought of so highly in certain categories (No. 1 in health services) we would rather have students and their families learn about Penn State from more official sources,” she said.

Still, it’s nothing new to see Penn State on the top party schools list.

Last year, Penn State came in at No. 9. The university had dropped out of the top 10 in 2012 after being No. 1 as recently as 2009.

This story was originally published August 6, 2014 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Penn State ranks 7th in party school poll."