University of Illinois Loses Title of Top Party School in America for 2017

The University of Illinois' flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign was ranked No. 1 last year in the Princeton Review’s annual edition of edition of “The Best 381 Colleges”

The University of Illinois no longer holds the title as the top party school in America, according to an annual ranking.

In the Princeton Review’s 2017 edition of “The Best 381 Colleges” released Monday, the University of Wisconsin-Madison was crowned to throw the best parties in the country.

West Virginia University in Morgantown came in second, with the University of Illinois' flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign, which was ranked No. 1 last year, bumped to the third spot. Two Pennsylvania schools — Lehigh University and Bucknell University — filled out the nation's top five party schools.

Each year the tutoring, test prep and college admission services company ranks colleges across the United States in 62 categories. This year's edition was based on an online survey of 143,000 students at colleges selected by an editorial board.

The survey asked students about alcohol and drug use on campus, the popularity of Greek life and the number of hours they study each day outside of class.

UW-Madison is famous for its parties, especially tailgates, Halloween and an end-of-year block party, but it hadn't won the No. 1 spot since 2005. It has, though, been ranked among the top 20 party schools in 22 surveys out of the last 25 years.

"You won't find a more friendly place to be as attendees share brats, offer up beers, and join in singing some of our most memorable chants — all before the game even begins," one student said in the survey said.

UW officials issued a statement in response to the ranking that called heavy alcohol use on campus a "pressing public health concern" that hurts academic achievement and makes schools less safe. They said incoming students go through mandatory programs to be educated on alcohol use, and that many students drink moderately or not at all.

The Badgers also earned highest accolades in the study for having the “Best Health Services” and “Lots of Beer.” It was also fourth in friendliness toward transgender, gay and bisexual people.

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