College Consensus (https://www.collegeconsensus.com), a unique new college ratings website that aggregates publisher rankings and student reviews, has published their ranking of the Best Spring Break Destinations for College Students on a Budget at https://collegeconsensus.com/features/best-spring-break-trips/.
Spring break isn’t just a long-standing and hallowed tradition for college students – it’s big business, with cities all over the world competing to be known as the most popular spring break destination. Many of the top spring break cities depend on the hordes of half-dressed college students for their economy. Whether it’s the city that creates the most social media buzz for the year, or the old standbys that have been spring break destinations for generations, spring break rankings are serious. The College Consensus ranking of the Best Spring Break Destinations for College Students on a Budget is for every college student who wants to make the most of their trip – creating the best memories with the least expense.
Cities ranked in the Best Spring Break Destinations using a variation on College Consensus’ aggregate method, combining rankings from several trusted publishers:
Bustle
Pennyhoarder
Travel + Leisure Magazine
U.S. News & World Report
By combining scores from multiple reputable sources, College Consensus has put together a comprehensive guide to cities that college students recognize as not only great destinations, but great values. The full top 15 (in alphabetical order) are:
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Cancun, Mexico
Clearwater, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
Key West, Florida
Miami, Florida
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Nassau, Bahamas
New Orleans, Louisiana
Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Panama City Beach, Florida
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Savannah, Georgia
South Padre Island, Texas
“After a long, brutal winter of studying,” College Consensus editors write, “spring break is the light at the end of the tunnel, the break that lets you relax, recharge, and prepare yourself mentally for the last few weeks of classes, papers, and exams”: either that, “or an excuse to party for 10 days straight (counting weekends).” As the editors note, spring break was never a major tradition, though college students were taking the time to go to the beach as long ago as the 1930s. “Thanks mostly to MTV and teen comedies,” though, according to Consensus, “college spring break trips have become a rite of passage.” Not every college student spends all winter thinking about sunbathing and day-drinking – there are plenty of alternative spring break service trips, accelerated classes, and internships out there – “but by and large, they have one thing in common – sun and fun.”
However, with student loans and rising tuition costs, money is tighter for the average college student than ever: “Some students are on a tight budget and looking for cheap spring break destinations.” Certainly, “Some students want their college spring break trips to be luxurious and expensive, so they can live like Instagram stars for a few days,” but the majority of sun-seeking college students “just can’t wait to get to hit the beach, and some of the best spring break trip ideas are the simplest.”
Consensus editors admit that ranking the best spring break destinations is a challenging task: “Is it really up to us to say a Cancun spring break is better than a Bahamas spring break?” Instead of making a completely subjective list, “College Consensus applied the tried-and-true Consensus method to create an aggregate ranking of the best college spring break trips.”
College Consensus is a new approach to college rankings. We combine the latest results from the most respected college ranking systems with thousands of real student review scores.
