Here's to you, Bucky Badger

The University of Wisconsin – Madison has finally done it. No longer will the University of Colorado – Boulder stand in our way. That’s right – we’re #1.

At least when it comes to partying.

The Princeton Review has spoken and UW, a perennial contender on the party school list that never quite made the top slot before, has finally reached the social peak of the collegiate world. With Miller’s brewery a short drive down I-94, a downtown district littered with bars, and one of the few remaining wet campuses in America, Madison is the place to be if you’re looking for some weekend fun. Or weekday fun, for that matter.

What’s truly astonishing about this ranking, though, is that UW isn’t the classic party school in form. The Greek system is miniscule – barely claiming allegiance to 10% of the student body in a good year. Drugs are fleeting – the hippies have their pot and the preppies their cocaine, but few are showing up to class stoned. And, yes, we do show up to class. In fact, Wisconsin is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 public schools – and top 35 overall schools – in the country.

So while the administration may feign outrage over the newly-released rankings, students are basking in the limelight – and with just cause. The entire world has just been exposed to one of the worst-kept secrets in Madison – UW is perhaps the last great university where students excel at both studying hard and partying hard.