College Admissions Expert Selects Top Teams with School Spirit

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Feb 12, 2014, 12:00 ET

CHICAGO, Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- For many students, varsity sports are what make their college years special.

Edward Fiske, former New York Times Education Editor and creator of the top-selling annual college guide that bears his name, highlights fourteen colleges with the best school spirit in the new ebook, Fiske Guide to Colleges with Great Sports Traditions (ISBN: 9781402294754; $4.99).

Top Fourteen Colleges with Great Sports Traditions

University of Alabama–"Roll, tide, roll." Life in Alabama slows to a crawl on Saturday afternoons when 'Bama takes on Auburn.
Auburn University–Part of a great Alabama rivalry, where the spirit of football lasts year-round.
Duke University–Where else but in America can students pay $60,000 a year for the privilege of painting their faces blue and white and making life miserable for visiting basketball teams?
University of Florida–A study in rivalries, where top-shelf varsity sports teams are a year-round draw.
University of Kentucky–A perennial force in the NCAA postseason basketball tournament.
Louisiana State University–Groupies are notorious for misbehaving at away games, and the athletic scene is intrinsic to the laissez les bon temps rouler spirit of New Orleans.
University of Miami (FL)–Football is the main reason UM is on the map, but the men's basketball team won the regular season and tournament championship in 2013.
University of Michigan–Football overshadows nearly everything each fall as students gather to cheer, "Go Blue."
University of Notre Dame–From Knute Rockne and the Gipper right on down to modern-day greats such as Joe Montana, the spirit of the Fighting Irish reigns supreme.
Ohio State University–Operates the mother of all college sports programs, recently tainted by the mother of all athletic scandals.
University of Pennsylvania–Penn students take their varsity sports quite seriously, but as Ivy Leaguers, they operate under the ESPN radar.
University of Southern California–Overall, the men's and women's athletic teams have brought home 115 national titles.
University of Texas at Austin–The athletic department has a budget in excess of $100 million and spends more than $150,000 a year on nutritional supplements such as Gatorade and Power Bars.
Texas A&M University–Where else do thousands of students stand for entire football games as symbolic "Twelfth Men," ready to run onto the field and join the fray?