With a seven mile distance between campus and the beach, as well as a Division I beach volleyball team and a competitive surf team that won a national Red Bull competition, Time’s Money Magazine named UNC Wilmington the tenth best university for beach lovers.

“These 10 colleges exude beachy vibes and academic chops,” said Time’s Money Magazine’s writer Kaitlin Mulhere about the universities on this list.

The process by which the best beach schools were chosen “started by narrowing [the] Best Colleges ranking to schools in states that border the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, or Gulf of Mexico, and pulled out schools that had easy beach access,” said Mulhere.

This meant that “no lake, riverfront, or northern, rocky coastal colleges made the cut,” said Mulhere. The magazine also limited the list to five schools in a certain state and only one college per city. Also, all of these campuses are within roughly 10 miles of the shoreline.

“I love this [ranking],” said UNCW sophomore Hannah Daley. “I consider UNCW a good beach school because not only is it a great university with nice people, a beautiful campus, and helpful faculty and staff, but [UNCW] is also ten minutes from the beach.”

Daley also mentioned that the beach atmosphere and weather “permeates the community,” shown in how “everyone is so chill.”

Another student who admires the relaxed atmosphere in Wilmington is UNCW Surf Team Captain Shane Burn.

“I grew up in Wilmington and have competed all over,” said Burn. “From New York to Florida to California, and UNCW is still the only school I applied to because of how cool the community and people are [in Wilmington].”

Burn explained that the recognition for the school is not only well deserved, but also allows people to start seeing the quality of education that is available at UNCW.

The fact that UNCW is also academically successful was another factor the magazine took it into consideration. Mulhere wrote that “[these universities are] each high-value colleges with comparatively strong graduation rates and career outcomes.”

The articles noted that UNCW has a 71 percent graduation rate, which is above average for a UNC system university, according to data from CollegeMeasures.org.

UNCW is also well known for the marine science program offered. The article said that the “strong marine science program” is a reason that the university received the ranking it did on the list.

Moreover, this ranking on a nationally known list brings more than just praise for the university’s proximity to the coast and academic programs involving the ocean.

“I feel like it is great for the school to be recognized,” said UNCW sophomore Bethany Farmer. “[The list] puts our name out there so more people are likely to apply, making UNCW more competitive.”

Farmer explained that a university is more than just its programs and environment. To be a real contender, UNCW needs strong incoming college students to apply, and an article such as this could garner such attention.