College acceptance letters should be piling up right about now, and the League of American Bicyclists has put out a list of the country's most bike-friendly universities. Here's the top 12 (the ones they rated Platinum, Gold, or Silver):
Platinum:
- Stanford University
Gold:
- University of California, Davis
- University of California, Santa Barbara
Silver:
- California State, Long Beach
- Colorado State University
- Portland State University
- University of Arizona
- University of California, Irvine
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- University of Oregon
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin, Madison
So while the ivy-covered halls of academe on the East Coast tend to dominate academic rankings, the West Coast is spanking them when it comes to bikability. California colleges netted five of the top 12 spots, and Oregon and Washington pulled in two more. Not an East Coast school on the list. What gives, guys?
For those of you still shuffling your fat envelopes, here's something to note: UC-Santa Barbara reliably shows up on lists of top party schools, and Stanford on lists of top academic institutions. If biking isn't your only concern (and WHY NOT??), you can take that into account.