Amanda Munro, right, and Ana Lybbert finish beers before they enter Sam Boyd Stadium for the UNLV football game against Wyoming. Despite being in what many consider the ultimate party city, UNLV isn't ranked as a "party school." Photo by John Locher.

When Chicago native Jeff Jablonski told his parents he was going to attend college in Las Vegas, they were not enthusiastic about his plans.

"They thought it was going to be crazy out here," the 21-year-old University of Nevada, Las Vegas hotel management student said.

But after a few months at UNLV, Jablonski reached a different conclusion.

"Nobody parties out here. It's terrible," he said.

"You can find more parties at a religious school in Illinois," Jablonski added.

Outsiders might think that UNLV, the only state university in this city devoted to partying and good times, would be a bastion of college students devoted to matching that reputation. But the various publications that rank the nation's "party schools" say otherwise: UNLV doesn't appear on any of the latest lists.

When the Web site CollegeHumor.com released its list of the top 50 party colleges earlier this month, UNLV was absent. Instead, the list was dominated by large state schools in small college towns, like top-ranked Michigan State University, in the 50,000-population East Lansing, Mich.

"I was actually surprised," the Web site's front page editor, Streeter Seidell, said of UNLV's absence from the list.

Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison are also perennial fixtures at the top of "party school" lists published by Playboy and Princeton Review.

Playboy Magazine has compiled three such rankings, in 1987, 2002 and 2006. UNLV made the list in 1987, when Playboy placed it at number 14, but was absent from the recent rankings.

Officials with the UNLV Division of Student Life didn't return calls for comment for this story.

UNLV spokesman Dave Tonelli offered this explanation in an e-mail: "A large number of our students are from Southern Nevada, and many work demanding schedules while pursuing a degree. One could make the argument that these students do not frequent resorts and night spots as much as someone from outside our area might initially think."

Students attributed UNLV's lack of a partying reputation to a problem that has plagued the university almost since its inception: The campus remains a commuter school without a clear identity or traditional college atmosphere.

"I think it's unfair," UNLV Student Body President Jeff Panchavinin said. "We live in the number one party city in the country. I can stand on the intramural field and see the Hard Rock."

Maryland Parkway doesn't have a "Greek row" of fraternity and sorority houses that other colleges and universities have. And with the exception of a couple of bars along Maryland Parkway, there isn't much nightlife around the campus, Panchavinin said.

"Maybe it's a good thing we don't have that ranking," he said. "But some of those schools on the party school lists are great colleges."

Jonathan Michaels, a business major from New Jersey, said UNLV students usually have to travel across town to house parties but don't tend to frequent the few fraternity houses around campus.

The rankings are usually based on surveys of students about how much alcohol is consumed on campus and the size of the school's greek community.

In CollegeHumor.com's poll, the Web site's editors ranked the 80 schools that contributed the most college-related content to the site. UNLV was nowhere near the top 80, according to Seidell.

The top 80 colleges were then awarded points for a low average SAT score and the percentage of female students listed as "not in a relationship" in online networking Web sites like MySpace.com and Facebook.com, among other factors. Schools lost points for the number of "all-male vocal ensembles."

"This favors bigger state schools because they're schools where you can just work a little and have a great time," Seidell said. "You're not going to find that at a small liberal arts school in upstate New York, where you have to work a lot."

UNLV Student Senate President Adriel Espinoza said the university's absence from the lists points to a general problem on campus.

"You kind of need that community feel," Espinoza said. "You need those bars, those hang-outs and coffee places (around campus)."

A proposal to create a college atmosphere, dubbed Midtown UNLV, is in the works. University officials are teaming with developer Michael Saltman to revitalize the area near the university with shops and bars that would appeal to students and keep them on or around campus.

Panchavinin said the project would be a boon to the area.

"I don't think we'll ever become a great university until we have the Midtown UNLV project and have the Greek row," Panchavinin said.

Those projects aren't about turning UNLV into a "party school," Panchavinin said, but creating an atmosphere that students enjoy.

Espinoza, however, said he isn't opposed to UNLV being recognized as a party school.

"If we can't make it on a scholarly list, why not make it on a party list, right?" Espinoza said.