Quality higher education? Check. Beautiful surroundings? Check. Teeming with things to do? Check. Diversity? Check.

West Chester checks all those boxes and more when it comes to college life, and the oft-celebrated Chester County community is itself celebrating a little well-deserved recognition; it was just ranked No. 33 among America’s Best College Towns by College Rank.

“The town is lovely, vibrant, diverse and welcoming to students, visitors and residents,” West Chester University alumna and Chester County Conference and Visitors Bureau Director of Marketing and Communications Nina Kelly said in West Chester’s profile.

College Rank honored the nation’s top 50 college towns with populations under 200,000, and in West Chester it found abundant “music festivals, sidewalk sales, touch-a-truck day, block parties, vintage markets and events for entrepreneurs.”

The rankings prioritized the environment in which students will invest four or more years of their lives.

“Your GPA and ACT/SAT scores aren’t the only factors that should determine your ideal college match. Your personality and interests matter too,” Kara Mayer Robinson wrote in introducing the Best College Towns.

“You won’t spend all your hours hitting the books, so why not find a great college town where you can head off campus and find tons of stuff to do?”

Read more about West Chester and the other top-ranked college towns on College Rank here.