STATE COLLEGE -- There are two sides to College Avenue.

On one side, you have the Penn State University campus, its classrooms and administration buildings projecting and protecting the ideals of higher education.

The other side of the street features the businesses that thrive upon the university's student population. There, and on other streets surrounding the campus, you find the restaurants and bars that help make Penn State as popular as it is.

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Penn State this week finished No. 2 in a Princeton Review survey of the nation's best party schools, ranking behind only the University of Texas and just ahead of third-place finisher West Virginia University.

The party school list is based on a survey of 115,000 students on campuses across the country and is included in the Princeton Review's "Best 361 Colleges" guide, which went on sale yesterday. The company is not affiliated with Princeton University.

Reaction to the ranking also has two distinct sides.

While the students who voted Penn State so high embrace the vibrant social life, university officials do their best to play it down.

"I don't know that being regarded as a top party school is flattering," said Tysen Kendig, university spokesman. "Certainly, we want our students to have a great experience at the university, both academically and socially. But I think we need to be careful at all colleges and universities because we are dealing with a climate of alcohol abuse. And that's definitely not something that any college or university would be proud of."

Mr. Kendig also questioned the legitimacy of the survey.

"It's really an insignificant ranking," he said, "and it discredits itself by not being scientifically based. It's essentially an online poll.

"I will give credit to the Princeton Review. They do a terrific job of marketing these surveys. There are a lot of other rankings out there that quantify other aspects of the college experience. Last week, Washington Monthly had a poll of the best universities in terms of service to the nation, and it was more scientific. Penn State ranked No. 3 in that poll.

"Personally, I think that's a much more significant poll, yet they've gotten relatively little attention compared to the party school ranking.

"It's unfortunate."

The drier side

Meanwhile, 120 miles away at Grove City College, some were toasting that institution's place at the other end of the spectrum.

In the Princeton Review's ranking of the nation's most stone-cold sober schools, Grove City finished No. 4, ahead of the Naval, Coast Guard and Air Force academies. Brigham Young was ranked No. 1.

"It communicates what kind of student we attract," said Amy Clingensmith, Grove City's communications director. "This is not a fact we're ashamed of. It's part of who we are."

Nationally, one of the most prominent figures in academia, National Collegiate Athletic Association President Myles Brand, has been especially vocal in denouncing the annual Princeton Review rankings.

In 2002, when he was president of Indiana University-Bloomington, the review named his university as the nation's top party school at a time when he was trying to step up efforts to deal with alcohol abuse on campus. One student had died from binge drinking.

Mr. Brand wrote a column critical of the review, and yesterday he reiterated his criticisms when reached at NCAA headquarters.

He called the survey a Web-based publicity stunt that the media fall for every summer, noting that students can flood the Web site with nominations without regard to the truth, ganging up on a rival university or nominating their own school to make the list.

While news stories on the party list can be fun, he said, "unfortunately it's not always taken that way. It's taken seriously by a lot of people.

"Alcohol abuse is a very serious problem on campus," he said. "The review purports to have serious [intentions]. But it inadvertently encourages alcohol abuse."

And as he did in his 2002 column, he cited an American Medical Association opinion of the review:

"The Princeton Review should be ashamed to publish something for students and parents that fuels the false notion that alcohol is central to the college experience."

Quiet on College Avenue

The bars along College Avenue, which will buzz with business once fall classes begin at Penn State next month, have a different take on the students' partying. But one bar owner after another interviewed yesterday preferred to say nothing on the record because of what one described as "touchy" relations with the university.

Right now, he said, with the autumn harvest of football weekends looming large, it's best to avoid the subject.

Mr. Kendig said the university is doing what it can to keep partying under control.

"It's a constant battle, especially in an area where the alcohol climate is significant," he said, "where there are ads in the daily newspapers promoting drink specials at bars every day of the week."

Mr. Kendig said there are marketing campaigns aimed at raising students' awareness of the dangers of irresponsible drinking. There's also a partnership of university officials, government leaders, police and representatives from various bars and beer distributors "looking at this problem and trying to promote responsible drinking and get us away from situations where we end up with students in the hospital."

According to university officials, more than 350 Penn State students were taken to the emergency room for alcohol overdoses last year.

'Party hard ... study hard'

Kathryn Stetz, 20, is a junior majoring in public relations at Penn State. A lifelong resident of State College, she chose Penn State because "it's a good school, not too far from home."

She works as a waitress at the Sports Cafe & Grille on College Avenue, where, she said, there is strict supervision of drinking. This bar, and others near it, check and double-check IDs, some with electronic scanners. Underage drinking and public drunkenness are not tolerated.

But you don't have to go to a bar to drink.

"There's a lot of alcohol at Penn State campus," she said, "but it's more of a social thing you do with your friends.

"If you want to drink on a Monday night, you can find someone who will drink with you on a Monday night. But most people stick to Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It's crazy here on the weekends."

Ms. Stetz acknowledged "underage drinking is common."

"Freshmen, they come here, it's their first time away from home, and a lot of them have never drunk before," she said. "They know they can go to a fraternity and get a beer if they want to get a beer."

Joel Gilchrist, 22, a fifth-year senior at Penn State, lives at the Zeta Psi fraternity house on East Foster Avenue just off campus. His reaction to the university's ranking is the opposite of that from the administration.

"I think it's awesome," he said. "It may be a little high, but we're definitely a Top 10 school.

"This is a good party house. We always have a lot of people. We have a motto here: Party hard, drink hard ... I mean, party hard, study hard. The week is for school work. But you can always find a good time here on the weekends."

Still, he said, it doesn't get out of control. Zeta Psi is part of the university's Interfraternity Council, which monitors the Greek organizations. They aren't allowed to have kegs on the premises and, yes, they do check IDs of people coming in, he said.

"Everyone in the house has a responsibility to keep things under control," he said.

Football weekends, Mr. Gilchrist said, are the best -- or the worst, depending on your perspective.

"Some of the older alumni come to town, we don't tend to be as wild, I guess," he said, "but the younger alumni who graduated maybe two, three, four years ago, they still have the frat guy in them."

As far as the ranking is concerned, he doesn't doubt its legitimacy.

"If you have that many people saying it, there must be something to it," he said. "They must be having a good time."