Even though UC and OSU are part of much larger cities, there's a noticable boundary of where the college scene begins and ends. Both have very college-centric business districts. You basically get the college atmosphere of a small town college but with the amenities of the larger city around it.

 

Bingo.

 

Its hard to believe a grocery store like Giant Eagle could be sustained just by students. I don't know, I guess just because small percentages of students use grocery stores around this campus (maybe 8 percent at the corryville kroger and 40-50 percent at the IGA). Then again, UC has more people from the local area and many go to Hyde Park (they have a built in starbucks).

 

I should re-state this in saying that the majority of Giant Eagle's (and Kroger's) patrons are students from Ohio State (as truly no one knows if a store is totally supported by a certain demographic, unless the pointless study was done).

Hey!

To be honest, I never cared for Uptown Oxford.  The street was too wide, it didn't seem as pedestrian friendly as, say, High Street/OSU, Athens, or even Bowling Green's main street.  The square is a nice public space and I really dig the campus of Miami University, but the actual commercial district...is missing...something.  I dunno.

 

Nice shots anyway!

 

Ahhh...as an MU grad and a proud alum, I enjoyed uptown Oxford while a student, but after moving to Columbus and living in German Village, I began to appreciate older architecture and began to investigate some of the towns around the Columbus area...including Athens, Gambier and Granville.  I hate to say it, but all three of these towns blow Oxford away in the charm department, with Athens being a solid first.

 

To me, Athens feels like a ski town from CO or UT.  Granville exudes a bit more class, partly because it is smaller, and Gambier has a certain charm.  All of these are better than Oxford. 

 

But, when it comes to comparing the actual campus, I'll take Miami any day. 

 

I've seen bigger high schools than Denison and Kenyon - combined - and OU's campus is not as classy as MU's. 

 

So there it is.  Pair MU's campus with a combo of Athens, Granville and Gambier, and you have the perfect collegiate atmosphere. 

Uh...Kenyon's campus (to me) annihilates Miami's, architecturally.  And I believe OU definately has the more interesting campus than MU, though MU has a more symmetrical, more "traditional" college campus.  Again, I definately take Kenyon's overall (I mean, how can you not?  Sh!t like this?):