A lot of thought goes into where a person goes to college. A prospective students considers their major, reputation, school rankings, extracurricular activities and many other factors. One thing that student probably does not consider is the school mascot. Maybe they should.

A School Mascot serves as a symbol for a college and in many ways reveals the school's character.  A school mascot can tell how much fun the school is to attend.  Whether it takes academics seriously.  Whether it takes sports seriously.  Or perhaps the mascot does none of this but just serves as a bit of fun and a symbol of pride.  But some mascots are just plain weird.  The following is a list of some of the strangest school mascots.

The Rhode Island School of Design, known as RISD, is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island.  Founded in 1877, RISD is considered the best fine arts college in the United States.  RISD contains one the best fine arts museums in the United States and accepts students from all over the world.

However, while RISD is known as a great fine arts school, it is not well known for its sports programs.  RISD yields an ice hockey team who has affectionately been named the Nads.  The official slogan for the ice hockey team is "GoNads."  RISD also field a basketball team known as the balls.  The official slogan for the basketball team is "When the heat is on, the Balls stick together."  With such unusual names, it is no wonder that the unofficial/official mascot for RISD is Scrotie,  Scrotie is a man sized penis that wears a red cape.

The University of California, Santa Cruz is one of ten schools that make up the University of California.  Located on a hillside above the city of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz's campus is a beautiful forested area that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.  UCSC was founded in 1965 and is a modern research university and known for its student political activism. 

UCSC began its sports program in 1981 and offers Division III sports including basketball, soccer and volleyball.  In 1981, the original mascot was announced as the sea lions but most students objected.  In 1986, the students voted to declare the official mascot of UCSC to be the banana slug.  For those who do not know, a banana slug s a small tiny bright yellow slug that can be found around the campus.  Go Slugs!!!

Stanford University is considered one of the best private universities in the world. Founded in 1885 and located in Palo, Alto California, Stanford has a reputation for hard core academics, a competitive environment and a loyal alumni base. 

Stanford also is very competitive in sports.  It is a member of the Pacific Ten Conference, a division I sports conference that is considered one of the best in the nation.  However, for a bunch of smart people, Stanford's school mascot makes no sense.  Stanford's original mascot was the Indian, but after objectives from Native American Students and a vote of the student government in the 1970s, the mascot was declared to be Cardinal.  No, its not the bird, it is the color Cardinal.  The official mascot of Stanford University is a color.  However, the Stanford Band finding it hard to cheer for a color developed its own mascot, a giant tree.  So Stanford University has a color for a mascot and a big tree showing up at football games.  Odd.

The University of North Carolina School Of The Arts is a public arts conservatory located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1963 as a conservatory of performing arts, the school's stated mission is to train its students for a professional career in the arts. It offers Dance, Design, Drama, Filmmaking and music schools and has students continually perform in public.

Oddly, the UNC School of the Arts has no official sports teams. But that does not stop the students from cheering on its very popular mascot, the fighting pickles. Nothing spreads fear like a fighting pickle.