There have been many times that I have told someone where I chose to attend college, and their automatic response is, "Oh, you go to the party school?" Even on Urban Dictionary, Radford University is defined as, "the university that will out drink and out party any school that wants the challenge." The issue is that people seem to believe that this is all that Radford is, and that could not be further from the truth.

Here are the main reasons that Radford University is not "just a party school".

1. Our academic programs

Some of our academic programs such as the nursing program are super competitive to get into and are one of the best in the state. There is a good portion of students who decided to attend Radford for just the academics alone - myself included. I decided I wanted to go to my college because it was a smaller university, and I was going to be able to become more involved in student media here than if I went to a larger school like James Madison University, which was originally my first choice.

2. Every college has parties

What university doesn't have parties? Seriously. If you go to any university on a Friday or Saturday night (even Thursday for some) you wouldn't have to look very hard to figure out where the parties are. So, for people to coin Radford as the party school when literally every other college has parties is kind of unfair to the reputation of my school. Also, not to mention Virginia Tech has more parties than we do.

3. Not all college students are the same.

Not the entire student body's idea of a good time is going out to a fraternity party or an apartment party and drinking. There are a lot more activities to do besides party. We are surrounded by beautiful nature and small-town theaters and stores, and people definitely take advantage of it. The university also hosts programs that students can get involved in on the weekends such as showing a free movie on campus. It is not fair for the reputation of the school to be determined based on a small portion of the student body.

There are many other reasons that I can list, but these are my main points. I love my university, and when someone automatically thinks that Radford is just a party school, it annoys me because I know, just like all of the other students who go here know, Radford is a great school.