UAlbany misses party, make purgatory

    Every summer the Princeton Review publishes its annual, nationwide list of "party schools" and "purgatory schools." This past year, we didn't make the party school list, but we landed on the purgatory one.

   Now, you may have your own opinion as to whether or not this was a good bad thing for the school. Regardless of your opinion, it's tough to deny that we go hard, and to me, concrete and gray skies start to feel like home after a few weeks.

   I have been to parties, clubs and bars at and around other schools, and needless to say I have been underwhelmed. "WHOOAA MAN WE GOT ONE KEG…IT'S GOING TO BE A SHIT SHOW!!!" That is not an exaggeration, that's what I overheard while visiting a friend at his school (which shall remain nameless for the sake of institutional integrity). Now, whether these kids had the tolerance of kindergarteners, or they were just weak partiers, I for one choose to believe the latter.

   One keg in Albany is usually the warm-up for the other four, plus whatever hard alcohol manages to make its way into whatever house is being ravaged on any given night.

   The Princeton Review ranks its party schools by using surveys given to students, surveys that measure drug and alcohol use amongst a given sample of the student body. Now, to me it seems a bit misguided to use an academic system to rank partying.

   If they wanted to get a real sense of what a party school is, have students submit photos and stories, which consequentially is how Playboy constructs its list, .a list which we also missed, and I hold us responsible as students for that one. Or, Princeton Review can send representatives to these schools in order to observe their parties.     

   You cannot honestly measure a party by statistics, if you could then every house party would have a house statistician at the door and consist of kids playing algebra pong and flip the abacus.

   The rankings given by the Princeton Review in general, are about as useful as a solar powered flashlight; the only real way to get a feel for a school, especially a college party school, is to be there.   

   Walk around the campus if you want to know the students, and in the case of a party, go to one. See someone get tossed through a wall or pee in a bathtub. Witness a pool table fall from a second story window. These things cannot be expressed in a survey.

   As students here at UAlbany, we know what kind of culture we have. We know that on any given night it is possible to end up not remembering what happened from 10 pm to 7 am, wake up with Cheetos all over yourself in a room you have never been in before, and not ask any questions as to how and why you found yourself in such circumstances.

   But we also know that we have a respectable university that affords us a great number of opportunities along with a unique culture.

   Just because some "college review company" decided that our school is a "purgatory" (grayness and concrete build character) and not a "party school" doesn't mean a damn thing.  

   I would be more than happy to sit down with any representative from the Princeton Review and discuss their rankings.