Party rating overrated

Funny. During the course of my senior year at Indiana University Bloomington, I didn't have time to respond to the Princeton Review's survey, which named IU-B its top party school. I asked around, and discovered that none of my friends had a chance to participate, either. Some of them were too busy completing their undergraduate honors theses, in English, Political Science, or History. Others were applying to Medical and Law Schools. Some were locked up in practice rooms, just glad to have a spot in IU's famed school of music. Everyone who worked at the award winning Indiana Daily Student had to meet endless deadlines, so no participants there. Likewise for the passionately dedicated theater students I knew. The freshmen and sophomores in the honors Great Books seminar for which I was the assistant teacher were too busy devouring Freud and Dickens. Other friends were waiting tables so that they could afford to attend such a great Party School. And the graduate students I knew? Those crazy bookworms were always locked up in the library. What a boring crowd I ran with. But thank heavens, around 300 IU partyers (out of a student body of more than 30,000) found time to take part in the Princeton Review's survey, which I'm sure relied on exacting scientific standards. How else could such a survey earn a place in the media spotlight, where it has the potential to affect alumni contributions and future enrollment? I mean, if the survey wasn't scientific, it would be an insult to the hard working students and phenomenal faculty at IU. It would be an affront to the staff that maintains IU's artistic and academic treasures. And it would be a blow to IU's administration. But surely, we can trust the Princeton Review. Boy, that group of 300 kids must do a lot of partying in order to make up for the rest of us too busy getting an education. For the rest of us, partying was only one part of the unmatchable IU experience. Duncan Teater
Alum