re: The Auburn campus is impressive. The reviews from students…

Nicest campus in the SEC. Auburn is a true college town. It has grown some over the last 20 years but is still what a college town should be like.

Our group went two years ago. The game was awful (missed chip-shot FG by all-American kicker to win it, and then fumble going into the end zone in OT to win it again).

But the campus was beautiful. The town was very nice. The people were super friendly and we had a great time.

The huge bar (I forget the name) was incredible. I literally bought 300 shots and was just passing them around to the kids that were around drinking with us.

Saturday, I thought I;d been drug behind a pickup, but we had a blast.

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My son went to Auburn and loved every minute of it.

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Wow ! Sounds like heaven.

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Not LGBT-unfriendly enough for my blood.

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Not sure what else you want. It outpaces Baylor and a bunch of smaller evangelicals schools.

Somebody hacked your account Herman

That’s it. The place was enormous.

Agreed

As a Bama grad and fan I trade the expected barbs with Auburn fans that you'd expect any rival fan in any intense rivalry to trade but when it comes right down to it I respect Auburn as a school.

My dad is the only person I can think of that I know personally that started as a freshmen at Auburn and hated it and transferred to Alabama after his first semester. In Auburn's defense, that was in the late 60s when Auburn was a far more rural campus focused much more heavily on agricultural studies. He went on to have a great college experience at Alabama and a successful career as a highly successful small business owner. Despite the fact that being an Auburn student wasn't for him he has very close friends with a lot of Auburn grads and respects the school.

I too graduated from Alabama (in the late 90s) and really enjoyed my time in Tuscaloosa but a few of my closest childhood friends graduated from Auburn at the time. I always had a good time when I visited Auburn to hang out with them as well. My only real beef with Auburn folks is that they can be holier than thou and self righteous about their school suggesting that Auburn people somehow love their school in a way that no one truly understands....i.e. the whole "Auburn Spirit" thing. That and the assumption in my Auburn leaning hometown among Auburn parents and older Auburn grads that Alabama was this insanely over the top drug infested campus while Auburn students simply didn't get involved with illicit drugs at all. Granted, illicit drugs were an issue at Alabama but constantly hearing that Auburn's campus was as pure as the driven snow in that regard after also seeing a lot of the illicit drug use I saw during visits to parties at my Auburn friend's fraternities got old.

I also get a little tired of hearing the "us against the world, big mean Bama/Bama refs/the REC cheat and hold us down" inferiority complex of some Auburn fans when it comes to college football and college sports in general in our state but they're not the only rival fans that harp on about that. I also get that that comes with the territory from fans of schools that live in the shadow of more legendary in state rival programs (i.e. Okie State fans in Oklahoma, A&M fans in Texas, Michigan State fans in Michigan, Louisville basketball fans in Kentucky, etc) so that's understandable.

Having said all that, I have no other issues with Auburn or Auburn fans. The campus is nice and above average in just about every way. The Auburn/Opelika area itself is clean with plenty of nice neighborhoods and located in an area only an hour and a half from the country's busiest airport. It's a relatively fast growing area too with a well rounded diverse economy and a very good K-12 school system. The school itself is above average academically and particularly strong in the STEM fields like engineering, agricultural science, veterinary science, pharmacy, architecture, etc. It's also average to above average in the professional fields like business, communications, etc. meaning Auburn doesn't really have any weak programs academically that I can think of. Practically everyone I know that graduated from Auburn is a solid, intelligent, down to earth good person that loved their experience and loves the school and while I wouldn't piss on their football or basketball programs if they were on fire I nonetheless begrudgingly respect those programs in the same way you respect your annoying little brother or sister growing up.

Can't speak for this particular set of rankings, but these type rankings are usually stupid.

For example: how does it figure Auburn is #1 in athletic facilities?

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For example: how does it figure Auburn is #1 in athletic facilities?

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Having recently been to Princeton, it’s possible they’re using the wrong scale.