Cal Poly landed at No. 8 among California’s top 10 party schools, according to Niche, a school discovery platform designed to help students “discover and connect with the best” schools.
Niche determines its party school rankings using a specific methodology which it also applies to its “party scene grades.” The rankings are based on a combination of surveys of willing students and alumni along with data from public sources such as the U.S Department of Education and other national datasets according to their website.
“With 70% of the methodology within this category coming from reviews, that was the main carrier of Cal Poly’s #8 ranking for Top Party Schools in California. Nationally, they were ranked #148 for Top Party Schools in America,” Zach Chatham the Public Relations Manager at Niche wrote to Mustang News in an email.
One review from an unnamed Sophomore read, “Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is an amazing college. From the spectacular campus during the day and the party scenes at night Cal Poly is the best of both worlds for hard working students.”
Rachel Manning, a wine and viticulture sophomore said she doesn’t exactly agree with the ranking. “I just think it ends super early,” Manning said about party hours. “Like you can find it but you have to seek it out.”
For the party scene specifically, Niche considers the same surveys as well as the school’s proximity to bars, the quality of Greek life on campus, access to local restaurants and school-related metrics like athletic success.
“Top party colleges have a vibrant and diverse party scene,” Niche wrote on their website. “They offer fun options both on and off campus and students rate their peers as being fun, friendly, and into partying.”
John Luke, a business sophomore, said that he agrees with the ranking, but there’s still more that could be done to make the party scene at Cal Poly better.
“If organizations gave conditional use permits to actually party, instead of revoking them and taking it away, people wouldn’t have to pay incredibly crazy fines for tickets and stuff,” Luke said.