LSU Ranks as No. 1 Party School

Aug. 17 -- Louisiana State University has topped this year’s list as the best party school in the country, an honor that annually tends to raise the ire of college administrators and raise the beer mugs of its students.

LSU, as well as the University of Alabama and the University of Texas climbed in the rankings just above last year’s king of the party, Florida State University.

“Between the football, baseball and the tailgating, we're definitely No. 1,” said Todd Duhon, the owner of the Stadium Club, located near LSU.

Classes don't start until next week, but there was hardly a drop off in business during the summer this year, he said. “My business this past summer is up 80 percent over last year,” Duhon said.

The survey is only one of several lists compiled annually by The Princeton Review, which is not affiliated with Princeton University. It is scheduled for release in book form next week.

The Baton Rouge campus, with illustrious alums such as Democratic political strategist James Carville, former ARCO chief executive Lowdrick Cook, and film critic Rex Reed, may not be so proud of its new title.

Colleges are much happier to make the top of other Princeton Review categories.

“Yes, one loves to be in a book called The 331 Best Colleges … but of course they want to cherry-pick, especially when it’s a book about the life on campus,” said Evan Schnittman, the executive vice president of The Princeton Review. “Our book has a very consumer-oriented focus. It’s all the things 18-year-olds care about.”

We’re Not Really No. 1In the past, college administrators have put out press releases touting their high academic ranking. But last year, Florida State actually held a news conference to denounce its inauspicious “Party School” title.

Florida State officials, not surprisingly, opted not to respond today to the loss of its party school ranking.