UF/s year-long reign as the top party school in the nation ended abruptly at noon Monday, when it was announced that Penn State University had taken the infamous title.
UF slipped to No. 2 on the list, published each year by the Princeton Review in its college guide, "The Best 371 Colleges," which hit shelves today.
The ranking means UF has high levels of drug and alcohol use, a popular Greek system and students who don/t spend much time studying, according to survey results from 122,000 students at 371 colleges.
If UF had retained its No. 1 position, it would have been the first school to do so since 1995, when the University of Rhode Island completed a three-year run in the top spot, according to Robert Franek, the author of the college guide.
Steve Orlando, UF/s spokesman, said he was relieved UF had been dethroned.
"People who do what I do at universities dread this announcement coming out," he said.
One reason UF may have slipped to the second spot this year, he said, is that students weren't treated to as many national championships.
When the last set of rankings came out, UF had just won three national championships - two in men's basketball and one in football.
"We figure people had a lot to celebrate," Orlando said.
It/s also possible UF President Bernie Machen/s attempts to curb alcohol consumption have had an effect on UF/s reputation, but it/s hard to tell, Orlando said.
"This is anything but a scientific survey," he said.
Machen, who is in Indonesia meeting with university leaders, could not be reached for comment Monday.
In addition to three other No. 2 finishes, UF placed first in one of the survey/s 62 categories: Best Career Services. The ranking means students rated UF/s job placement services highly.
UF was ranked No. 13 in Best Career Services last year, the first year the ranking was used.
Wayne Wallace, director of UF/s Career Resource Center, said he thinks his hard-working staff and the center/s use of student surveys have a lot to do with the level of satisfaction.
"I think that being responsive to student interests and needs has really been the key," he said.
And, he said, 99 of the 100 companies Fortune Magazine listed as the best ones to work for this year conduct recruitment at UF.
UF/s other No. 2 finishes were in the categories Best Athletic Facilities, Students Pack the Stands and Jock Schools, which measured popularity of sports and fraternities.
Last year, UF finished first in Students Pack the Stadiums and Students Study the Least. This year, UF dropped to eighth among schools that study the least.
In the category of Lots of Beer, UF ranked No. 4.
Students had mixed feelings about UF/s drop in the party school ranking.
Nicole Frankel, a music and pre-health sophomore, said she was glad UF was no longer No. 1.
"I think [being No. 1] has kind of a negative connotation," Frankel said. "The university is taken a little less seriously,"
But freshman Alex Patel said she didn/t believe that Penn State was actually a bigger party school than UF.
"I don/t think it/s true. I get texts about parties every night," Patel said. "They must be partying a lot, like severely," she said.
Jake Marika, a sociology sophomore, said he doesn/t think the ranking means much.
"Whoever says they party the most parties the most," he said. "It/s bound to change every year."
However, he said, the ranking might make Machen focus less on student drinking.
"Maybe it/s a good thing," he said, "because Bernie will be less likely to get his panties in a bunch."
