Work Hard, Party Hard: America's Most Intense Colleges

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Location: Ithaca, New York

Founded: 1865

Undergraduate Students: 13,905

“Fantastic Range of Options – Great range of nightlife options, from frat parties, dorm parties (in your first year), collegetown bars (must be over 21 / have an ID). It’s a fantastic mix, and everyone stays on campus, so you get to see a lot of your class (and other years) out at night. Only downside is that the bars close at 1:00am. Otherwise, love it.”

“Great Course Offerings – There are many courses to choose from. I have had pretty good professors. Workload is high, but as expected at an Ivy League school. One thing that could be seen as negative is the highly competitive nature in some pre-med courses.”

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Location: Lexington, Virginia

Founded: 1749

Undergraduate Students: 1,789

“Work Hard, Play Harder – If sleep is of high importance to you, this is not the place for you. Plan to spend 45 hours plus doing school work each week. Plan to be heavily involved in at least one extracurricular activity. AND plan to go out for at AT LEAST 3 nights a week. Everyone here is smart and driven, but EVERYONE here lets loose. Everyone works hard, AND EVERYONE plays hard.”

Visit College Prowler for more on Washington & Lee.

Location: Harrisonburg, Virginia

Founded: 1908

Undergraduate Students: 17,086

“JMU is recognized as a huge party school by many, and people are not wrong about this. A saying at JMU is “work hard, and play hard”. During the week, you work hard and focus on academics but on the weekends there are parties everywhere. The most popular are apartment parties, house parties, and fraternity parties, but if you are a fan of bars and clubs there are a few in the area that I would rate as decent.”

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Location: Bloomington, Ind.

Founded: 1820

Undergraduate Students: 31,061

“The nightlife is amazing! You will constantly find something to do here. As a freshman you may have a difficult time at first but there’s always usually something going on at the stadium.”

“A lot depends on the professor, could end up with someone amazing, some not so much. There is just so much to choose from, you are bound to find something you love.”

Visit College Prowler for more on Indiana University.

Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Founded: 1860

Undergraduate Students: 22,207

“With greeks and many bars in the area there is a pretty active night life around LSU with many cool places. LSU has a bus system that runs late night and early morning for people that cannot drive or get transportation back to their homes.”

“The professors are excellent and very knowledgable. The curriculum is varied, and the registration process is easy and fast.”

Visit College Prowler for more on LSU.

Location: Hanover, New Hampshire

Founded: 1769

Undergraduate Students: 4,146

“Academics at Dartmouth are great! There is a class on anything you can imagine and the professors are always available and willing to talk to you during office hours. Professors are also always willing to offer lab work or internships.”

“Though dominated by frat parties, the nightlife is very lively and people are super welcoming.”

Visit College Prowler for more on Dartmouth.

Location: San Marcos, Texas

Founded: 1899

Undergraduate Students: 21,221

“There are many parties over the weekends, mostly off campus. Most, if not all of the clubs are 21 or older.”

“The workload is a lot. The professors seem to pile it on you. It is all good knowledge though.”

Visit College Prowler for more on Texas State.

Location: Los Angeles, California

Founded: 1919

Undergraduate Students: 25,634

“The classes present offer a variety of things to do. They can be hands on, cause you to think a lot, or a lot or writing is required. Anyone will be able to find their fit for classes at UCLA.”

“Nightlife is alright here, but it could be hard to go out if you aren’t involved in Greek life. Not as good as it is at USC or UCSB, but that’s only because we study more than they do.”

Visit College Prowler for more on UCLA.

Location: Amherst, Mass.

Founded: 1863

Undergraduate Students: 19,315

“Overall there’s a good amount of different academics offered, teachers are great and really interact with their students if you approach them. Biggest advantages at UMass has to be research opportunities for undergraduate students.”

“Over the years, UMass has gained a reputation for being a huge party school. You can always find a party any day of the week, but if you aren’t into that sort of thing, it’s extremely easy to stay away from.”

Visit College Prowler for more on UMass Amherst.

Location: Tucson, Arizona

Founded: 1885

Undergraduate Students: 27,073

“Parties Are Easy to Find. I’m under 21 so I don’t know to much about the bar scene, but there is always a house party. Greek life is huge although pretty exclusive to females and fellow brothers. Other than that most house parties are pretty chill and cheap.”

“I have almost always had great teachers, but many of my friends say they have not had the same luck. From my experience, the professors have been helpful and understanding.”

Visit College Prowler for more on the University of Arizona.

Location: Morgantown, West Virginia

Founded: 1867

Undergraduate Students: 20,809

“We get a bad rep on some websites, but don’t let that fool you. The classes are very competitive and expect to study.”

“WVU definitely has a lot of nightlife, the club scene is always the biggest on week days and house parties and frat parties are usually the party scenes on the weekend. The craziest parties tend to happen on holidays and gamedays. Even if you’re underage theres always something to do every night for all ages since most clubs are 18 and up.”

Visit College Prowler for more on WVU.