Top American Party Schools for 2010-2011 by Princeton Review

When parents send their 18 year olds off to college, they look for specific qualities in choosing the right university or college: good academics, a safe campus, great learning opportunities, solid financial aid, and the best parties.

No - wait. That's what students look for, nurturing dreams of "Old School" and "Animal House" fun. And that's why the Princeton Review issues its list of the top American party schools each year. So which schools made the Princeton Review Rankings for 2010-2011?

Princeton Review Top American Party Schools

Topping the list is the University of Georgia, a first for the 30,000-student university. Princeton Review interviewed 122,000 college and university students to come up with the rankings, looking at a wide range of factors that include:

Access to alcohol
Access to drugs
Number of parties
Fraternity and sorority activity

In the end, 20 schools make the list, but it's the top 10 that are the most scrutinized.

Top 10 Party Schools

And the runners up are:

2. Ohio University

3. Penn State University

4. West Virginia University

5. University of Mississippi

6. University of Texas, Austin

7. University of Florida

8. University of California-Santa Barbara

9. University of Iowa

10. DePauw University

Notice that only one private school, DePauw University in Indiana, makes the list. The rest are public universities, many of them "flagship" schools in their states, the cornerstone of the public university system.
Top 20 Party Schools in Princeton Review Rankings

Coming in at numbers 11 through 20:

11. Florida State University

12. University of Wisconsin - Madison

13. University of Alabama

14. Sewanee - The University of the South

15, Indiana University - Bloomington

16. University of Colorado - Boulder

17. University of Missouri

18. University of Illinois

19. University of Maryland

20. Michigan State University

Ultimately, do the rankings help or hurt colleges? Parents may be turned off by the prospect of spending five figures a year to send their child to a top-20 party school, but on the other hand, most schools on the list are affordable state university options - hard to replace with a more sedate school.

As for students looking at studying at a top American party school - keep an eye out for next year's list.