When you’re a student, no matter how old you are, you are constantly asked the question “where do you go to school?”. Throughout the years, I’ve had my fair share of having to answer this question hundreds of times to a plethora of people. As you get older, you get nailed with another hundred questions about colleges, career plans that you’re thinking about, and you also hear everyone’s standpoint of different colleges. You’ll hear all about how OSU is “the best”, OU is a “party school”, how “dangerous” UC’s campus, how you have to be “preppy” to be at Miami, and the list goes on. People create such strong depictions of colleges these days that it’s almost impossible to tell someone where you go without them commenting on the reputation that the school upholds based on the public opinion. So I’m writing this to clear the air: Hi, I’m a 2nd year undergrad student double majoring in strategic communications and broadcast journalism at one of the biggest party schools in the United States.

Ohio University, where it’s known that beer is cheaper than water, bartenders and bouncers are recognized more than the football players, and we even have a catchphrase. I’ve been told “my parents would never let me go there” after telling upperclassmen in high school that they should check out OU. I have had people who visited campus for a weekend question how I even manage to learn. To many people, my school is a weekend visit and being drunk Friday through Sunday; but to me, my school is my home.

I go to a party school that will never be considered ugly no matter how many beer cans or trash are in the yards after a weekend. Yes, our prime hiking spot is named after an instrument used to smoke weed, but I promise you’ll find the best view in Athens. No matter the weather or which of the 4 seasons it is; the brick roads, long hills, and the leaves on the trees never fail to give you the perfect scenery while walking to class. Being the perfect little college town, you can walk the full campus in under an hour and you have no problem spending time outside taking a hike, hammocking on College green, or playing sand volleyball on South beach.

I go to a school that was ranked #1 for partying by Playboy magazine along with being ranked top colleges of business, journalism and media, fine arts, education, and more. Yes, OU is a place where you you can learn how to sink a trick shot in pong and decrease your beer shotgunning time by seconds but it’s also a place where students go to learn how to run their own business, how to produce a newscast, or even release their own fashion line. There are opportunities to join programs and clubs that can help kick-start your career as early as freshman year. As for academics, you have a variety of classes to choose from with professors and TAs that prepare you to the fullest and teach you everything you need to know. Something that I learned in my first year is to always get to class; if you want to stay at the party all 4 years, you have to do to well in school.

During your time at OU, you develop a bond with this place something that makes you never want to leave and you miss it like crazy when you’re away. There are a lot of students who will never forget (or never remember) their first fest season, hallOUween, hOUmecoming, or Welcome Weekend; while other students may never forget the valuable lessons their favorite professor taught them, their freshman year dorm, or even the first time they ever visited campus. Everyone has their own opinions about colleges, and it’s okay to voice them. So here I am again: Hi, I’m an undergrad student double majoring in strategic communications and broadcast journalism at one of the biggest party schools in the United States, and I couldn’t be happier.