[PSY]

1. If you attend one of these schools, do you feel it's accurate? If you don't, would you still attend a school even if it had a rep as a party school?
I did not attend any of these schools, but I have a lot of friends who attended UCSB (the second school listed). In all honesty, I DID pass up on applying for UCSB several years ago due to its reputation; however, in hindsight, I feel it would have been more fair for me to spend a weekend in the vicinity to see how "partyish" it was. Both my undergraduate and graduate universities actually have the OPPOSITE reputations: being boring and lacking social environments. =P Turns out that just depended on who you hung out with, though. If you wanted to party, you could party, and if you wanted to study, you could study.

2. Do you think lists like these influence students? If yes, how?
As I stated above, it DID influence me at the time, because I didn't want to deal with late-night music and shouting while trying to get a good night's sleep. It wasn't that I thought the people at those schools were "dumb" or that the programs were "bad"... I just didn't want to deal with the campus-wide distractions (yes, my assumption at the time was that you wouldn't be able to go ANYWHERE, except for the library, if you wanted to study in peace).

3. How do you personally balance your academic life with your social life?
Time management. Get a giant calendar, hang it on your wall by your desk, and color-code all the things you want to do for the month (red for assignments that are due, green for bills that are due, blue for social events, etc.). I graduated from my Master's program in April, but that's what I did, and it allowed me to find a good balance between getting a 4.0 GPA, having fun with friends/family members/my boyfriend, and volunteering on TeenHelp. It takes practice and a great deal of self-discipline, but if you want to find that balance badly enough, you'll find a way. =)