Waco the 9th best college town in Texas?

4,221 Views | 52 Replies | Last: 6 days ago by PaperBear89
boognish_bear
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11:23p, 2/6/25
I've got no problem with San Marcos at the top...great place in Texas. But how the hell is College Station #2?

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chorne68
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7:03a, 2/7/25
This is totally ignorant. Who was the idiot who put this together and the idiot who published it?
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boognish_bear
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7:39a, 2/7/25
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OsoCoreyell
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8:01a, 2/7/25
Hahahahaha! Denton in anyone's top anything!
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BellCountyBear
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8:05a, 2/7/25
Georgetown?! Maybe if you're 85 and living in Sun City.
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chorne68
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In reply to BellCountyBear • 8:24a, 2/7/25
BellCountyBear said:
Georgetown?! Maybe if you're 85 and living in Sun City.
Georgetown is Austin and it is great.
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Big12Bear
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In reply to OsoCoreyell • 8:54a, 2/7/25
OsoCoreyell said:
Hahahahaha! Denton in anyone's top anything!

Still coasting off its fame as a music hub. The notorious Fry Street stretch was mostly torn down. Traffic and crime are terrible. Denton sucks.

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johnnychimpo
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9:01a, 2/7/25
Nacogdoches is a cool isolated town with plenty of the essentials but Huntsville, Stephenville and Georgetown should be on no list whatsoever.

Denton is far more of a suburb feel than stand alone town feel like San Marcos. They'd be better off adding Kerrville home of Shriner- at least then you're sandwiched in between the appeal of Garner State Park and Fredericksburg.

College station will be a far-flung extension of Houston (even now it only takes 30 min from densely populated Houston burbs to get there) in 20 years.

I guess city proper Corpus Christi registers just barely over the 300K mark. As far as random schools go... TAMU-CC would be a pretty cool location to soak in undergrad.
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Camo08
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In reply to BellCountyBear • 9:29a, 2/7/25
BellCountyBear said:
Georgetown?! Maybe if you're 85 and living in Sun City.
Georgetown is fantastic. Wife and I are in downtown Georgetown on and around the square 2-3 times a week.
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boognish_bear
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9:35a, 2/7/25
Waco had a moment in the sun in 2018 when Tripadvisor somehow named them the number 2 travel destination at the height of Magnolia fixer-upper fame.



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Johnny Bear
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In reply to johnnychimpo • 10:02a, 2/7/25
johnnychimpo said:

College station will be a far-flung extension of Houston (even now it only takes 30 min from densely populated Houston burbs to get there) in 20 years.

The way things are going who knows - in 20 years you might be right, but I live in Katy which is a far west heavily populated burb of Houston and it still takes a good hour or slightly more to get to College Station and that's with not driving slow and with nothing special going on at A&M.

As far as that silly list goes, how does Lubbock, a town you can smell a half hour before you get there if driving and the wind is out of the right direction, come in at number 3??
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BellCountyBear
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In reply to chorne68 • 10:28a, 2/7/25
chorne68 said:
BellCountyBear said:
Georgetown?! Maybe if you're 85 and living in Sun City.
Georgetown is Austin and it is great.
Which is exactly why Gtown sucks now.
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Youre a clown
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10:57a, 2/7/25
Classic example of pandering to the largest fanbases. I had several friends and family members that went to A&M, as well as an ex-girlfriend. Been to their campus several times. Like a lot of things about that university, the town is average but has been weirdly built up as this epitome of what colleges and cities should. And for Aggies, there's simply no arguing with them about this. They have been completely taken over by the power of suggestion. I did an internship my junior year at Baylor, and I had the opportunity to meet a few other interns in the program. One was from A&M. We kind of got into it about Waco versus College Station, and her opening argument was that college station had a cheap movie theater…. I asked her if they had Applebee's, and she excitedly told me that yes they do…..
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EatMoreSalmon
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11:18a, 2/7/25
Nacogdoches!

Also known as Naconowhere and Sacaroaches.

It is quaint and historic, but seriously?
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BigGameBaylorBear
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12:06p, 2/7/25
The people who made this lists haven't stepped foot in Waco since 2008. Our downtown is popping and only growing.

I love Nacogdoches but it's nowhere near Waco
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Jack Bauer
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1:19p, 2/7/25
Georgetown is great for 50+ couples who like to golf....but NOT a college town.
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Killing Floor
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2:45p, 2/7/25
Curious why they omitted all the cities?

No Dallas, Ft Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio?
Let’s Go!
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BigGameBaylorBear
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In reply to Killing Floor • 2:54p, 2/7/25
Killing Floor said:
Curious why they omitted all the cities?

No Dallas, Ft Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio?


They aren't college towns. You could take TCU out of Fort Worth and nothing changes

You take Baylor out of Waco and suddenly the town is empty
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boognish_bear
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In reply to Killing Floor • 3:01p, 2/7/25
Killing Floor said:
Curious why they omitted all the cities?

No Dallas, Ft Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio?
There is a screenshot above where it said they were only considering cities of 300,000 or less.
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jsstewar
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6:53p, 2/7/25
Names were pulled out of a hat.
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EatMoreSalmon
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In reply to jsstewar • 7:09p, 2/7/25
jsstewar said:
Names were pulled out of a hat.
in a bar on the border
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RD2WINAGNBEAR86
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7:33p, 2/7/25
The state prison capitol of Texas beats out Waco by two spots. LOL!!!
Bitcoin, $Trumpcoin, or $Fartcoin? That is the question.
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Youre a clown
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In reply to RD2WINAGNBEAR86 • 10:55p, 2/7/25
RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:
The state prison capitol of Texas beats out Waco by two spots. LOL!!!


I did a semester of graduate school at Sam Houston several years back. Probably half the student body goes home on the weekend, including on football gamedays. There's nothing wrong with the city of Huntsville, but there's nothing to do there. I thought the restaurant and bar scene were weak as well relative to what you would expect from a college town
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Volunteer
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11:02p, 2/7/25
Lubbock?!?!?? Really?? LOL
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RightRevBear
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2:43a, 2/8/25
Too many people still have a picture of Waco from 30 years ago stuck in their head. I had a friend who came out to Waco from SEC country 20 years ago. I have more than a few negative comments about Waco from him. The city he was living in was getting a Top Golf, and he was excited about it. I told him that I had been to the one we have here a few times and liked it. He was floored.

I have another former roommate at Baylor who now lives in Lawrence, KS. He was shocked by how much Waco has changed when I talked to him about it.

Nacogdoches, Huntsville, and Stephenville today aren't as good as Waco from 20 years ago.
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Dia del DougO
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11:10a, 2/8/25

I went on a fishing trip with a couple of buddies many years ago. They dragged me into a stripper bar in Huntsville that made Two Minnies look like the Moulin Rouge.
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Dia del DougO
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In reply to RightRevBear • 11:16a, 2/8/25
RightRevBear said:
Too many people still have a picture of Waco from 30 years ago stuck in their head. I had a friend who came out to Waco from SEC country 20 years ago. I have more than a few negative comments about Waco from him. The city he was living in was getting a Top Golf, and he was excited about it. I told him that I had been to the one we have here a few times and liked it. He was floored.

I have another former roommate at Baylor who now lives in Lawrence, KS. He was shocked by how much Waco has changed when I talked to him about it.

Nacogdoches, Huntsville, and Stephenville today aren't as good as Waco from 20 years ago.

I know I'm just an old fart that doesn't matter, but I much prefer the Waco of 30 years ago. Some of the best independent local eating joints of any town in Texas, some groovy hole in the wall eateries. Cogdells sporting goods, even the switch to The Sportster, was also a must-visit, and a couple of other cool places. La Fiesta was unbeatable Tex Mex back in those days. Waco was worth frequent trips even when it wasn't football season, though it certainly had its warts.

Folks that think Chuy's chain fare is good eatin' don't even know, man.
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historian
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5:02p, 2/8/25
Very subjective, poor judgment on several of those. Georgetown should not get credit for any amenities in Austin. Yes, they are nearby but they are not the same cities. I don't know if Georgetown has much in any of those categories. College Station is also questionable. I don't know enough about Nacogdoches, Stephenville, or Abilene.
“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”
Psalm 119:36
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Wolf 359
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11:26p, 2/8/25
Just want to stand up for Stephenville just a little. It's actually better than you think, especially considering the criteria they used to make their list, namely the Cost of Living, crime rate (Safety), recreational activities, quality of life (you don't see any blighted areas in Stephenville), and food offerings. Just like Tarleton is no longer a small "Ag school" (their undergraduate population is only slightly smaller than Baylor's, and they're about to get their own Med school!), Stephenville is no longer some backwater Texas town sporting a couple of Dairy Queens and a Sonic! Tarleton's increasing size aids Stephenville with additional cultural enrichment and entertainment/concert opportunities. Here's some video clips highlighting what I'm talking about.







Then, there's this . . . .



Tarleton's rather "eccentric" student body does travel well!
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PaperBear89
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In reply to chorne68 • 10:00p, 2/9/25
chorne68 said:
BellCountyBear said:
Georgetown?! Maybe if you're 85 and living in Sun City.
Georgetown is Austin and it is great.

WAS great. That goes for both Austin and Georgetown.
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Russell Gym
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10:21p, 2/9/25
Lubbuttocks at 3? …. Behind Hell and the Lake Of Fire??
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RD2WINAGNBEAR86
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In reply to Dia del DougO • 11:58p, 2/9/25
Dia del DougO said:

I went on a fishing trip with a couple of buddies many years ago. They dragged me into a stripper bar in Huntsville that made Two Minnies look like the Moulin Rouge.
LOL!!!!! That blows my mind. Two Minnies was definitely a "Put em' on.......put 'em on!!!!!" kinda place.
Bitcoin, $Trumpcoin, or $Fartcoin? That is the question.
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Big12Bear
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In reply to Wolf 359 • 7:39a, 2/10/25
For a town Stephenville's size, they have a surprisingly good food scene and are starting to attract some pretty big name chefs away from the metroplex.
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Wolf 359
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In reply to Big12Bear • 9:24a, 2/10/25
Big12Bear said:
For a town Stephenville's size, they have a surprisingly good food scene and are starting to attract some pretty big name chefs away from the metroplex.
Stephan Pyles for one!
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johnnychimpo
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In reply to Russell Gym • 11:50a, 2/10/25
Russell Gym said:
Behind Hell and the Lake Of Fire??
Is that shade regarding the San Marcos zip code that ends in '666'?
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