'What a college experience should be:' UD students, parents react to No. 1 party school ranking

For the No. 1 party school in the country, there didn’t seem to be much partying going on at the University of Delaware's football game last weekend. 

Maybe UD's party animals were defanged by Parents and Family Weekend — traditionally the first visit from most parents since dropping their teens off in Newark at the start of the semester two months ago.

But the sedate, well-behaved atmosphere wasn't what you'd expect after the university was crowned No. 1 two months ago by The Princeton Review.

Instead of scenes right out of the films "Animal House" and "Old School" outside Delaware Stadium, only a handful of students, none of whom were actually drinking the $4 cans of beer, were standing around the new student-only drinking area dubbed The Barn.

The wildest part of the scene was the DJ blasting a hot, new track — "I Love It" by Kanye West and Lil Pump — and causing a few to dance.

Many of the students outside of The Barn were tailgating with their families. But even then, it was a pretty tame affair.

Sure, there were beers in hands and a rare chugging contest, but this day seemed to be more about finger foods and football than beer pong and flip cup.

When Mark Grunza Sr., 44, first read in August that the University of Delaware had been named No. 1 for partying, he chuckled to himself.

He has his own memories of wild times at UD and now his son Mark Jr. is a freshman, arriving on campus weeks after the title was bestowed on The First State's largest school.

"I think it was a lot worse 25 years ago. In terms of a party atmosphere, I think it's mellowed out a little bit," Grunza said last weekend while tailgating at Delaware Stadium, just like he's done for years.

"I wouldn't call it the No. 1 party school, but there's certainly a vibe here that's always about fun at the University of Delaware."

The Princeton Review's ranking sparked a wave of texts and calls between students and parents, but it's simmered down since fall semester started.

Well into the football season, plenty of students continue to revel in the distinction with some feeling they have a keg-sized reputation to uphold. And now that the dust has settled, plenty of UD parents look at the designation with good humor, saying it didn't cause them to re-think allowing their children to attend the university.

Mark Grunza Jr.'s mother Elizabeth is one of them.

With her son enrolled as a freshman and her daughter Laura, 17, expected to attend next year after graduating Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Elizabeth Grunza says UD's social life is one of the reasons her son is living on campus instead of back home.

"It's part of the college culture that we want him to take part in. It's what a college experience should be. This is the time to go out there and do those kinds of things," she said. 

"And we're just as much part of the party," she added with a laugh. The Grunzas have had season tickets for years.

But make no mistake. Even parents who are part of the party don't get to see UD's real party scene up close and personal.

Once the parents go home and the sun goes down, the nighttime parties light up and these fresh-faced Blue Hens defend their title. Even non-drinking underage students feel the youthful party energy that pulsates through Newark on weekends.

It's not uncommon for an inebriated student to use the ranking as a rallying cry: "We're No. 1!"

Mike Rutecki, 21, a junior economics major, and Nick Molinaro, 20, an engineering major, both from Broomall, Pennsylvania, believe that if Delaware isn't the biggest party school in the country, it certainly is in the Mid-Atlantic.

They see classmates let loose every weekend, including at outdoor, daytime parties or ragers nicknamed "daygers" that can draw several hundred students to homes on Chapel Street or Cleveland Avenue.

"It's pretty cool to have that label, though. I wasn't surprised, to be honest," Rutecki said in between sips of beer while tailgating with his family and friends.

Rutecki's mother Cathy was shocked when she first read about the ranking. Her experiences visiting campus and attending football games don't jibe with The Princeton Review's findings.

"It doesn't change a thing. They love it here and it's been a wonderful experience," she said. "It's all what you make of it and what you have taught your kids growing up." 

The Princeton Review, a college admission services company, surveyed 138,000 students attending 384 different colleges and universities, asking students 84 questions about their school's academics, administration, student body and themselves.

For the top party school list, they used five metrics: beer consumption, liquor consumption, drug consumption, hours students spent outside of the classroom daily
and the popularity of the campus' fraternity and sorority scene.

When the rankings were announced, UD officials countered by pointing to the university's Binge Drinking and Other Risk Behaviors Among College Students study, complied annually by the university's Center for Drug & Health Studies.

At 54 percent, UD's 2017 binge drinking rate was the lowest it's been in more than a decade, according to the report.

Additionally, University of Delaware Police reported that the department saw a 44 percent reduction in alcohol violations over a seven-year period, going from 511 in 2010 to 285 in 2017.

But what effect does being named the No. 1 party school have on a university?

The short answer is: Probably not much.

A 2014 study by the national research society American Educational Research Association found that placement in the Top 20 party schools did not have statistically significant effects on the total number of applications the following year.

But researchers cite one area where it did have an effect.

"Interestingly, placing in the Top 20 party schools predicts a decline in the out-of-state student share of about 8 or 9 percent," wrote study co-author Randall Reback, professor of economics at New York's Bernard College, Columbia University. "This suggests that local high school students might be attracted to a partying reputation or more distant high school students and their parents might be dissuaded by a partying reputation."

Reback told The News Journal that universities are usually more concerned about the notoriety generated by being named the No. 1 party school than the actual results, partly because it's based on a non-scientific study.

"I don't think they take it very serious based on scientific merit or that it means that there is actually something very different at Delaware than there was two years ago," Reback said. "But the publicity aspect of it is taken very seriously just based on the amount of attention it draws to an issue that might have already been ongoing."

Chris Lucier, UD's vice president for enrollment management, said The Princeton Review ranking has not had an immediate impact on applications to UD, which are consistent with the recent years.

Earlier this week, UD announced this year’s record enrollment of 18,221 undergraduates, including 6,550 Delawareans.

Freshmen Jenna Costantino, 19, of Middlesex, New Jersey, and Sydney Alloy, 18, of Tysons Corner, Virginia, had different reactions to UD's No. 1 party ranking.

Costantino has older friends who attend the university and had filled her in about UD's hard-partying reputation, but it was news to Alloy.

"When I found out, I was happy," Alloy says. "The town is just alive. Everybody is ready to have fun no matter what's going on."

Adds UD freshman Mark Grunza Jr., an actuarial science major: "Even if you're not going to a real party, there's a real party vibe around whatever you're doing. Let's just say everyone likes to have fun where they can safely have fun."

For the first two weeks of class, the drinking title was a common topic, he said: "We'd say, 'Hey, we go to a party school, let's go to a party!''

While the ranking got the attention of students and parents alike, some professors even mentioned it during their lessons with one jokingly warning students to not let the ranking get in the way of their homework.

Late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon, even cracked a joke about it in his monologue: "The University of Delaware was just named America's No. 1 party school while America's worst party school is once again homeschool." 

For his part, Mike Slattery, owner of The Delaware Growler liquor store in Newark, said he's heard students talk about being excited about being The Party School.

As one of the few Main Street spots where you can buy alcohol outside of a bar, the world he sees from inside his shop looking out at the Main Street Galleria doesn't quite resemble the beer-soaked scene one would imagine.

"While my sales have seen a steady growth rate, I don't see it as the No. 1 party school," said Slattery, whose store celebrated its four-year anniversary last week. 

"But there are also a lot of people who are embarrassed about it and don't want to be tagged with that. It labels them as not being intelligent, so a lot are discouraged by it and say, 'No, we're not.'"

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).