Two words that when separate, can mean anything, but when combined, completely changes the game.

What do you think of when you hear the words party school? Keg stands, thumping music, gyrating bodies and wasted students? I bet most people wouldn’t think of the “37.2% acceptance rate” or the “nationally ranked university”. That my friends, is the exact problem that people have in today’s world: people make assumptions about a college based on opinions and what they've heard, not factual evidence.

First off, I’d like to establish a definition as to what a “party school” is; I’ll give you a hint: it doesn’t exist because there is no solid definition of a party school. So that leaves me with this question: what does a school have to do in order to earn that reputation? To be quite honest with you, I have no idea what constitutes a university being a party school. Some universities may have thrown a few ragers back in the day that gave people the wrong idea, and some may have parties going on every weekend, however, my point is that there isn’t a sole determining factor as to what a party school is.

What bothers me the most about people who claim that certain colleges are party schools, is that most of the time, the people making the assumptions and accusations haven’t done any research of their own. For example, I was talking to an older man about how I attended school at San Diego State. Of course, he replied with “oh, a party school…” (like I hadn’t heard that a million times before). Ignoring his rude and unnecessary jab, I then proceeded to explain that I am a pre-nursing major and that SDSU’s nursing program is extremely competitive and nationally ranked. This information seemed to surprise him, although I’m sure his opinion was not swayed. Close-minded people like this man are those who irk me the most, because they make judgments based off of what they hear, not what they know.

The term party school has such a negative connotation to it and, unfortunately, I hear that a lot when I tell people I attend school at San Diego State. People don’t even try to ask what my major is or what I’m involved in on campus when I tell them where I go, they just dismiss it as if the topic never came up. That is the biggest slap in the face ever, because the person was whole-heartedly interested in what I had to say, until two seconds ago when I told them I go to a “party school.” Well, I have some news for you buddy: EVERY SCHOOL PARTIES. Not every student parties, but I have never heard of a college that does not throw parties.

Don’t let someone take away your sense of pride for your university because they scoff at the fact that you go to a “party school”; in my opinion, there’s no such thing because like I said, every school throws down and goes hard every once and awhile, and that’s perfectly and totally NORMAL. Hell, that's college.