College is, as anyone who attended can attest, only about books and academics. Nothing else.
Ahem.
The reality is, of course, that almost everyone picks a college based on more than what is offered course-wise or the quality of the professors. The town itself can often be a make-or-break, especially for rank-and-file students who don’t, say, play football or basketball or the like.
Southern Living, the magazine published since 1966 and published in Birmingham, Alabama, ranked the top 20 college towns in the South recently. Fayetteville, which has been ranked in the Top 10 Places to Live for six straight years, checked in at No. 17 in Southern Living’s rankings.
The slotting would place Fayetteville at No. 11 in the SEC. Speaking of from experience, that just isn’t correct.
It’s arbitrary and fraught with bias, but here’s our counter: these are the real SEC rankings when it comes to college towns. (Note: We shouldn’t have to say this, but these are completely subjective. You know, sort of like preseason polls.)