Survey Ranks Cosmopolitan First Among Magazines Read on Campus

If you dare to enter the room of an typical college student, you'll likely find dirty socks, empty beer bottles, rock and roll posters--and the latest issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, according to a recent survey.

The latest survey by the National Association of College Stores (NACS) rated Cosmopolitan as the top selling magazine in college bookstores, with Glamour coming in second and People ranking third.

"We're very pleased [with the results of the survey]. It's a large segment of our market," Chip Schenck of Cosmopolitan said yesterday.

The late-summer survey did not provide the breakdown for individual colleges. But, based on an informal survey of several Harvard students interviewed yesterday, the top 10 magazine list here is somewhat different.

By far, the most popular magazine among the Harvard students contacted was Newsweek. "It's really hard here to find out what's going on in the outside world," said Frank T. Apodaca '97.

Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Vogue all had faithful followings among campus women interviewed, but by no means are those periodicals most widely read.

Other magazines mentioned by students included the Atlantic, the New Yorker, the Economist, the National Review, Reader's Digest, TV Guide, Harper's, Tennis Magazine, Time and Sports Illustrated.

In the national survey, Time was ranked fourth and Vogue fifth. But Newsweek only came in sixth nationwide, beating out Gentlemen's Quarterly, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and Mademoiselle to round out the top 10.

Despite the fact that students at Harvard aren't sticking with the tried-and-true icons of popular culture, others in the college-age group clearly are. And, according to their spokespersons, the magazines know it.

Robert Pondiscio of Time said any magazine that claims a lack of interest in its young readership is "a liar."

Rolling Stone's Jeff S. Rabhan agreed. "Our goal is to chronicle students are on the tip of what's going onmusically, as well as politics, fashion andculture, which is what we're all about."

Cosmopolitan goes so far as to publish LifeAfter College, "a lifestyle guide using the Cosmoname which is so strong on college campuses,"Schenck said.

And though seemingly disappointed at coming insecond, Glamour's George H. Simpson noted that hismagazine has been awarded the National MagazineAward for general excellence twice--a feat noother women's magazine has achieved even once, hesaid.

Simpson said that college students might bemore reluctant to buy Glamour because it's "harderof a read" than Cosmopolitan. "We're topical," hesaid. "We deal with big national women's issues,not just beauty and fashion.

Cosmopolitan goes so far as to publish LifeAfter College, "a lifestyle guide using the Cosmoname which is so strong on college campuses,"Schenck said.

And though seemingly disappointed at coming insecond, Glamour's George H. Simpson noted that hismagazine has been awarded the National MagazineAward for general excellence twice--a feat noother women's magazine has achieved even once, hesaid.

Simpson said that college students might bemore reluctant to buy Glamour because it's "harderof a read" than Cosmopolitan. "We're topical," hesaid. "We deal with big national women's issues,not just beauty and fashion.