Penn State students might be forfeiting a six-pack of abs for a six-pack of Natty Light -- although very active, Penn State does not rank among the top 25 fittest college campuses, according to a ranking by Men's Fitness magazine.
A recent issue of Men's Fitness ranked Dickinson College in Carlisle the fittest campus in America.
"We have a physical education requirement for graduation, and all our fitness facilities are free for students," Christine Dugan, spokeswoman for Dickinson College, said.
Students are required to take four semesters of a physical education class for their bachelors, she said. Students also have the choice of taking one cognitive health class like nutrition and three physical education courses.
"We have a health and wellness committee to help make sure we are serving the right food and giving [students] healthy options to choose from," she added.
Like Dickinson, Penn State also has a physical education requirement to graduate, John Pfau, program director for kinesiology and physical education, said.
"We have the health science and physical education requirement," Pfau said. "But it is a selective requirement, and no student has to take a physical activity."
Pfau said students can take classes like nutrition and behavioral sciences that are approved as a GHA, allowing students to avoid actual physical activity as a requirement.
However, most students do choose to take a physical class such as ballroom dancing and archery, Pfau said.
"Every semester we have approximately 2,000 students in a kinesiology class and usually 120 sections," he said.
Men's Fitness did not include any Big Ten schools in the top 25.
Colgate University, Boston College, Wheaton College in Illinois and University of Vermont round out the top five fittest colleges.
Other Big Ten schools, such as University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin-Madison, do not have physical education requirements for graduation, school officials said.
"In the kinesiology department they do offer physical education classes, but you have to be working on a kinesiology degree to take the courses," Carolyn Sharpe, a clerk in Michigan's recreational building, said.
Michigan's fitness facilities are free to students, but there is a fee for classes, in a program called U-Move, Sharpe said.
University of Wisconsin-Madison said they do not have a physical education requirement either.
"We do have many sections of physical activity, and students seem to knock the doors down to get into our classes," Wisconsin's coordinator of physical education program Ron Carda said. "We probably have about 85 sections of activity classes each semester; dance is not in our area and there are probably another 15 or more sections that are in the dance department."
About 1,200 students take physical activity as electives every semester, he added.
"Courses are anything from yoga to martial arts," Carda said. "The core of our classes are weight training, but we also offer triathlon and marathon classes."
Carda said the university has beginning level cases and more advances courses, too.
Melissa McDevitt (senior-marketing) said she was surprised Penn State was not ranked in the top 25.
"Judging by the number of people in the gym and the crowds, I'd think we were a fit campus," McDevitt said. "We have healthy food options in the dining commons and many intramural sports that students can get involved in."
However, not all students believe Penn State deserves the top 25.
"I think we are a less fit campus," Tyler Barton (junior-elementary education) said. "We have things like lionmenus.com where you can order any type of food right to your door without moving and at all times of the day."
