50 colleges where the students are both smart and athletic

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Ivy of the west Stanford University took the No. 1 spot on the list.

When it comes to college, being smart and being athletic doesn't have to be mutually exclusive.

We worked with college database Niche to come up with a list of schools where students are both athletic and smart.

To create this list, Niche culled data from students at colleges around the US, who rated their schools in a number of categories, including academics and athletics.

Many of the schools on the list are big, sports-driven schools - Penn State and UConn, for example - but other, smaller ones known more for their academic prestige - like Princeton and Williams College - also rank highly not just for participating in varsity sports, but also joining intramurals, going to the gym and, of course, having team spirit.

We've included some quotes from students on Niche to show why each school made the list.