Whether it's SoulCycle, Flywheel, Cyc Fitness, or your local gym, spinning classes are 45 minutes of intense, grueling cardio and strength building that can make even the most in-shape among us balk.

And though every class is different, the general tips for getting through your first ride are the same.

Keep reading to see the eight best strategies for cycling first-timers that will make your first class a success.

1. Get there early. Even if you reserved your bike online, you'll still need to change into cycling shoes (SoulCycle and Flywheel have pairs you can rent) and set up your bike.

Plus, if the class is really full and people are on the waitlist, your bike may be given away if you're running late. 

2.Reserve a bike in the second row— the first row is usually filled with the more intense veteran spinners who take these classes religiously, and it can be helpful to watch both them and the instructor when you start out.

And even though it's tempting, don't sit in the back. Knowing that riders are behind you and watching your pace can keep you motivated on hills and sprints.

3. Wear sweat-wicking clothes. You will sweat a lot during spinning in that hot little room. It's important to wear breathable clothing that wicks the sweat away from your body and won’t ride up. Women should wear leggings and a tank top and men should wear shorts and a tank top. 

4. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. You'll want to be as hydrated as possible before entering the room or else you won't push yourself as hard. Bring a water bottle too for the (merciful) water breaks throughout the class.

5. Have the staff adjust your bike, but make sure it works for you. Having the seat pushed too far or not far enough forward can make all the difference in your comfort level. Start out with their advice and adjust the seat, handlebars, and height accordingly.

Also make sure everything is properly secured before locking yourself into the bike. Wobbly handlebars or a wiggling seat will take you mentally out of your workout.

6.Focus on your posture. Relax your upper body and hands. Riders tend to clench their shoulders and cling to the handlebars, but your hands should be soft (no 'white knuckles') and shoulders loose with your neck long and back straight.

It should feel like a lot of your weight is in your feet and legs — not in your hands — and that your core is engaged.

7. Go at your own pace and stay in the saddle. Observe the form and pace of the instructor and others around you. Listen to the music, and do the best you can. If you're really tired, bring down your resistance and try to keep up.

8.Stretch! Afterwards, your hips and quads will really be feeling your work out. Take the time to stretch either on or off your bike so that you avoid any future injuries.

SEE ALSO: Why People Pay $34 A Class For The Most Popular Cycling Work Out In America

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A jury of architecture experts at the seventh annualWorld Architecture Festival (WAF) named a chapel in Vietnam "building of the year" for 2014 out of nearly 300 projects.

The chapel, designed by a21studio, is a community space located right outside Ho Chi Minh City. 

There is a lack of communal centers outside of Ho Chi Minh City as a result of a estate crisis, according to the WAF website. This new building was designed as a place for people of the community to hold weddings and exhibitions, as well as participate in conferences. 

The space plays around with natural elements, and encourages members of the community to stay and enjoy "a light coffee and snack."  

“Colour and light have been deployed to put people at ease and the architect has found poetry in the mundane,” said Paul Finch, WAF’s program director.  

The building is made out of steel frames and metal sheets that were recycled from the owner’s previous projects.

“The judges felt this was a project that embraced history and modernity, and created a dialogue in the process," said Finch in a press release. "It has created maximum effect with minimum materials and has produced an unexpected change of pace in its urban context."The rainbow chapel sticks out from its surroundings thanks to colorful curtains that welcome people from around the community inside.You can check out more designs from a21studio here. 

SEE ALSO: The Best New Buildings On The Planet

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In the wake of the devastating terrorist attacks on Sep. 11, 2001, the U.S. vowed to hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice.

That hunt immediately led to Afghanistan, the home of the Taliban government harboring the Al Qaeda terror group that carried out the attacks.

Less than a month after 9/11, U.S. Special Forces and CIA operatives were on the ground to link up with Northern Alliance fighters. Dubbed Operation Enduring Freedom, the Afghan campaign would initially be hailed as a rousing success, with the Taliban driven out of power just two months after American boots were on the ground.

But that success morphed into a hard slog for NATO troops, who endured heavy combat, roadside bombs, and an insurgency that enjoyed relative safety in Pakistani tribal lands. Now more than a decade after the war began, the U.S. cannot claim "victory," but the combat mission will come to an end later this year.

In response to the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. partnered with the Northern Alliance, a rebel group that had been fighting the Taliban for years.

The Afghan war began with a massive bombing campaign helped by CIA and Special Forces on the ground, who ultimately drove the Taliban from their last stronghold in Kandahar two months later.

Many militants were captured in the initial stages of the war, and they were later sent to the newly-opened Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.

So you've finally cleared up enough space to install iOS 8, or you purchased a new iPhone 6.

While iOS 8 doesn't look radically different, Apple's new operating system is capable of stunning visuals, and apps can now do more than ever thanks to widgets and app extensions.

From cutting-edge mobile games to gaining access to your favorite apps with just a swipe, there's no doubt that iOS 8 has ushered in a new era for apps.

Use Litely to turn your iPhone photos into subtle masterpieces.

Litely brings professional-grade photo filters to the iPhone, and its new update for iOS 8 introduces four new smart adjustments that let you tweak contrast, temperature, highlights, and shadows.

Price: Free

Customize your iPhone's keyboard with "Fleksy."

"Fleksy" claims to be the fastest keyboard in the world, but it also comes with plenty of customization options. You make your iPhone keyboard better suited to you with options to change the color, or free up some screen real estate with the ability to shrink or expand your keyboard.

Price: $0.99

"Lifesum" is a great way to track your lifestyle choices.

"Lifesum" calls itself "the celebrity entourage of health people guiding the superstar through their day." The app helps you track what you eat thanks to a built-in barcode scanner and search feature, and thanks to iOS 8, "Lifesum" can now import your exercise information directly from Apple's "Health" app. If you're out and about, you can also see your daily progress with the iOS 8 widget in the Notification Center.

Price: Free

Some of YouTube's biggest stars are extremely young.

From little kids like toy reviewer EvanTubeHD to brothers ZayZay and Jojo, kids are getting their start on the platform at pretty early ages — and they're becoming super successful. 

We rounded up a list of our favorite nine stars (some are duos or groups), all people who have used YouTube to skyrocket to fame.

Most of these celebs are young, but we also noted a few who took advantage of YouTube's boom several years ago and never looked back.

Teala Dunn, 17

Dunn, who is a veteran actor on various shows like "Dog With A Blog," uses YouTube as a way to get to know her fans. With nearly 500,000 subscribers, this 17-year-old does everything from makeup tutorials to videos about her morning routine.

EvanTubeHD, 8

Youtube Embed:
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Height: 600px

Evan is the 8-year-old behind EvanTubeHD, a family-friendly YouTube channel where Evan (and occasionally his sister or mom) reviews toys and video games. Evan and his dad created the channel a few years ago, and now, with nearly 900,000 subscribers, the family makes millions in ad revenue from their videos. 

Bunny, 26

Bunny, aka Grav3YardGirl, may be on the older side of the young stars, but her fanbase is extremely young. With 3.8 million subscribers on YouTube, she is one of the most popular stars on the platform. In New York City, a line three blocks long formed the morning she announced she would be appearing at Tart to see fans.

Lyft is a ride-sharing service that aims not only to make taxis look antiquated, but also to take market share from industry leader Uber by being more fun and friendly.

We did a ride-along with Lyft veteran Bouchaib El Hassani in New York City to see what it's all about.

Even amid the bitter war between Lyft and Uber, Bouchaib loves his job. He drives about 50 hours a week, setting his own work hours for when it's most convenient.

"I get to know things that I wouldn't otherwise know about other professions, and other states and cities. I learn a lot in this car," he said to Business Insider. "Plus, the flexibility is great."

Bouchaib has a perfect five-star rating, and he coaches new drivers though Lyft's Mentor program.

Bouchaib is originally from Morocco. He's been driving full-time for a year now and joined Lyft when it first launched in New York City in July. He previously worked at a different ride-sharing company, but he didn't want to name names. "As far as treating drivers, the others don't come close [to Lyft]," he told Business Insider.

Bouchaib, who has a five-star driver rating, is a Lyft Mentor, so he's the first point of contact for many new drivers. He and other Mentors — generally the most experienced and highest-reviewed drivers on Lyft — are responsible for preparing drivers and making sure their cars are in tip-top shape for driving. "Sometimes I'll tell them to go wash their car or just present themselves in a better way," he said.

In San Francisco, where Lyft was first launched in 2012, it's not uncommon to see cars with Lyft's trademark pink mustache attached to the grille of the car. But Lyft had to make some concessions to New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) before it could launch in the city this summer. Lyft can only operate here if it uses cars that have been licensed by the TLC. A giant mustache on the outside of the car happened to be against TLC regulations, so Bouchaib put some mini stuffed mustaches on his dashboard instead.

New York Comic Con kicks off this week!

From Thursday to Sunday, fans of all ages will head to the Javits Center in Manhattan to celebrate all things comics, television, and film. 

Last year 133,000 people attended, according to host ReedPop, hoping to see favorite actors and writers at the four-day annual event, now in its ninth year.

We’ll be there all weekend gearing up to see "The Walking Dead" cast and creator, a sneak peek at Disney's coming films, and Netflix's new show "Daredevil."

A first look at two of Disney's next movies.

We've already seen trailers for Disney's first animated Marvel movie, "Big Hero 6," which looks like another early hit. Disney should be sharing a clip from the film out this November.

What we're really excited about is getting our first look at "Tomorrowland," a sci-fi action adventure starring George Clooney and Hugh Laurie based on the area of the same name in the Disney theme parks.

Director Brad Bird ("The Incredibles") and producer Damon Lindelof ("Lost") will be in attendance. Until now, the picture has pretty much been shrouded in secrecy. It was supposed to be released this year but was pushed back to a May 2015 release.

What's next for "Godzilla."

After a huge $92.3 million opening weekend, Legendary and Warner Bros. confirmed a "Godzilla" sequel was in the works.

Director Gareth Edwards will return to direct. Though we know the new film will contain three new foes for 'zilla, we haven't heard much else about the film. That may change Thursday during a 60th-anniversary panel for the monster.

What really happened to Nicolas Cage's Superman movie.

Did you know Nicolas Cage was almost the Man of Steel in a canned Superman movie? 

Tim Burton, who brought us 1989's "Batman" was set to release "Superman Lives" in the summer of 1998; however, the film never made it to theaters.

A coming documentary called "The Death of 'Superman Lives'" plans to reveal what happened to the film. Producers will be on hand to answer questions about Burton's unreleased movie. We even may get to see a few clips from the making of the never-released film.

It's no secret that the world is rapidly changing.

"Twenty years ago, there were fewer than 3 million people with Internet access; now there are nearly 2.5 billion. Mice can grow human ears. Robots make cars. Guns can be manufactured with a 3-D printer," Citi's Andrew Pitt writes.

For investors, it's important to understand how all these changes are going to shake up the global order in the coming decades.

Pitt led a team of Citi Research analysts and Oxford University contributors teamed up to analyze the impact of six global mega-trends in a new 92-page report to clients.

"We live in a turbulent world. Knowledge will help you ride the winds and avoid the storm," Pitt writes in the report.

We present the key points here.

Trend 1: The world is getting more integrated.

The number of democracies has increased, and national borders have gotten more permeable.

Over the past 18 years, approximately 5,000 miles of land borders were opened, which has allowed 400 million citizens to live and work where they choose. Even non-democratic nations like China have increased global trade. 

And of course, there's also globalized media. More than 1.1 billion people use Facebook every month, and more than two-thirds of Hollywood's revenues come from international markets.

Source: Citi Research

Dropping tariff rates have led to increased integration and trade.

Tariff rates have greatly decreased from the 1980s, which has made it easier to export and import goods and services. Take India, for example. Its peak tariffs on industrial products were over 200% in the 1990s but were less than 10% in 2009. 

Reduced tariff rates have also helped domestic investments. Regional trade agreements are seeking broader goals of deeper economic and political cooperation and integration as well.

Source: Citi Research

Trend 2: The global population is getting older.

Several factors contribute to the aging population. First, fertility rates have declined, which has increased the proportion of older people. People now have better access to contraception, and women are pursuing education and employment opportunities as they become increasingly available.

Second, mortality has declined because healthcare has improved and global poverty has dropped.

Third, the Baby Boomers are growing old. The Baby Boomer generation was a "fertility spike," and now those numbers are translating to an "elderly spike."

Source: Citi Research

Pinterest, the photo-based social network with a $5 billion valuation, has a gorgeous office space in San Francisco.

Pinterest's office bursts with creativity and our guide, Malorie Lucich, tells Business Insider that lots of employees have "secret" passions and hobbies, like martial arts, lock-picking, Vespa-riding, bike-fixing, ballet, and jam jarring, to name a few. 

Every so often, Pinterest will host a "studio night" where it lets employees share their non-work skills with their peers. 

Although our visit didn't align with one of those, we did get to tour around the office. 

Pinterest's office is located in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood (Airbnb and Postmates are there, too).

Enter through the front doors, located on 7th Street, and you'll be greeted by Layla at the front desk.

Not to mention comfy couches, live plants, and a yarn-bombed pipe.

New York City has become home to some of the tech industry's most promising companies, including Etsy, MongoDB, and Vice Media.

So we created the Silicon Alley 100 to celebrate people who did the coolest things in the past 365 days.

What does it mean to have done something cool?

Getting acquired or going public — that's pretty cool. Founding an awesome startup or building impressive hardware — that's also cool.

Investors? They're somewhat cool. But the inventors, innovators, and lead executives building the next big things are the people who really should be celebrated. We prioritized entrepreneurs over investors, simply because it's a lot harder to start a company than to fund one.

Coolest does not mean most important or most impactful. There are many, many people who are instrumental to the New York City tech community who are not recognized on this list.

Thanks to all who make New York City an amazing place to launch a startup.

Complete Coverage

In A-Z Order

The Complete List 1-100

The 2013 List

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the many readers who took the time to send us nominations. We would also like to thank Maya Kosoff, Rebecca Borison, Alyson Shontell, and Jay Yarow for their input.

100. Charlie O'Donnell

Partner and founder, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures is a seed and early-stage venture-capital firm, and the first venture-capital fund based in Brooklyn. In November, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures invested in design app Makr, contributing to its $865,000 seed-funding round. In December, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures invested in peer-to-peer lending startup Orchard Platform's $2.7 million seed-funding round. Brooklyn Bridge Ventures has also invested in Ringly, SocialSign.in, and goTenna. Its biggest breakout company, however, may be home-security camera company Canary.

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures raised $8.3 million in January. But O'Donnell's greatest achievement this year in tech may be his support of female founders. Unlike other New York City investors who have female founders in only 10% to 20% of their portfolio companies, female-run companies make up a whopping 62% of O'Donnell's portfolio.

99. Allison Goldberg

Vice President, Time Warner Investments

Time Warner’s investment group put its money behind some ambitious companies this year. In June, the group invested in women’s news website Bustle, which raised a round total of $5 million, a company called Epoxy that connects YouTubers with fans, which raised a round total of $6.5 million, and data-management company Krux, which raised a round total of $35 million.

Time Warner Investments has also backed self-service advertising platform iSocket and TV marketing platform Simulmedia in the past year.

98. Shana Fisher

Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

Shana Fisher is known for her knack at spotting the hot new startups early on. And in November she took her talents to Andreessen Horowitz, where she's now a board partner.

For a better understanding of Fisher's talent, all you need to do is look at some of her previous investments: MakerBot, Pinterest, Vine, FiftyThree, Refinery29, and Stripe. Fisher tends to keep a low profile, but tech insiders will immediately recognize her success. 

Her investment advantage? "I like to think I have a strong grasp of human psychology," Fisher said about evaluating entrepreneurs.

Lyft moved into a new, three-floor headquarters on 2300 Harrison Street in San Francisco.

Its iconic pink mustaches — and even thick strands of the mustaches — are everywhere. Employees can steal away in secret libraries, on the roof deck, or in one of a few cafeterias to get work done.

Business Insider visited Lyft in September and sat down with President John Zimmer. Zimmer says when he's having a rough day at work, he takes a Lyft car to and from the office. He doesn't tell the drivers he's CEO of the company that employs them (although he does if they ask).

Zimmer says hearing how Lyft has improved their lives is the best kind of pick-me-up; it helps him deal with legal headaches in the ride-sharing industry, and a not-so-passive-aggressive war with its main competitor, Uber. Uber recently stole Lyft's COO and runs advertising campaigns encouraging people to "shave the 'stache."

Lyft is currently doing millions of rides per month on its platform, with revenue growing 40% month over month.

The entryway and front desk in Lyft's new headquarters were designed to make visitors feel like they are walking through the pink mustache.

Here's a close up under the shaggy shade of the reception desk.

The ‘stache hairs were packed tightly into the ceiling and are made of foam pool noodles covered in stretchy pink fabric. Walking beneath them feels a little like going through a car wash.

Even with the best GMAT scores and resume credentials, getting into a top business school is an incredibly competitive process that, to be honest, can sometimes feel like a crapshoot.

College and graduate school ranking authority The Princeton Review just released its 2015 guide to business schools, which includes a list on the toughest B-schools to get into.

The Princeton Review surveyed thousands of current students at top business schools and collected data from business school administrators like average GMAT scores and undergraduate GPAs of the first-year class, acceptance rate, and enrollment rate to come up with this list.

Here are the most selective business schools in the U.S., according to The Princeton Review:

1. Stanford University - Stanford Graduate School of Business
2. Harvard University - Harvard Business School
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Sloan School of Management
4. Columbia University - Columbia Business School
5. University of California – Berkeley - Haas School of Business
6. New York University - Leonard N. Stern School of Business
7. The University of Chicago - Booth School of Business
8. University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School
9. Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business
10. Yale University - Yale School of Management

CHECK OUT BUSINESS INSIDER'S LIST: The World's 50 Best Business Schools

For all your school news: Follow Business Insider Education on Twitter

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The retail industry is undergoing a dramatic shift: E-commerce is capturing a larger share of sales than ever before. 

We've created a slideshow highlighting the retail categories where e-commerce is having the most impact, and where there is still opportunity for disruption. The shift away from physical retail toward digital retail is happening faster than many observers expected. 

BI Intelligence is a research and analysis service focused on mobile computing, digital media, payments, and e-commerce. Only subscribers can download the individual charts and datasets in Excel, along with the PowerPoint and PDF versions of this deck. Please sign up for a free trial here.

If you've ever imagined traveling to the kingdom of Arendelle, walking the streets of King’s Landing, or exploring the eerie setting of Twin Peaks? Now you can.  

A new infographic released from Just The Flight shows the 50 real life places that inspired some of our most beloved stories.

Now the only question is: which will you try to visit first? See the full list below.

SEE ALSO: The 10 Best Destinations For People Who Want To Move Abroad

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Silicon Valley real estate is outrageously expensive, but perhaps nowhere is this more true than in the quiet town of Atherton, California. 

The town of 7,000 was recently named the most expensive zip code in the country in Forbes' annual list.

According to Forbes' analysis, the median listing price in Atherton is a whopping $9.03 million.

Tech billionaires Paul Allen, Eric Schmidt, and Meg Whitman all currently own homes here. Sheryl Sandberg also lived in Atherton before she moved into her new waterfall-equipped home in nearby Menlo Park last year. 

Our friends at Point2Homes helped us find the most expensive homes for sale in Atherton right now.

A structural engineer designed this one-story home for his family.

Address: 297 Polhemus Avenue

Price: $9.95 million

It has 11,843 square feet of living space over more than an acre of land. There's a large basement, with enough  space for extra bedrooms, a media room, gym, and an area reserved for wine tasting.

Don't be fooled by this house's modest exterior.

Address: 97 Fairview Avenue

Price: $9.99 million

Inside there are seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a home gym, and a pool and spa. There's also a detached guesthouse with its own kitchen. 

This 12,000-square-foot home looks like an old European castle.

Address: 65 Selby Lane

Price: $12.3 million

The columns, stonework, and impressive inner courtyard give this home an Old World feel. Inside, sleek countertops and a cutting-edge design make it feel more modern. 

The opinion of New York Times food critic Pete Wells can make or break your restaurant.

That’s why even though the famous foodie tries to remain as anonymous as possible, New York restaurants often have his picture hanging in the back so their staffs can treat him like royalty if he ever shows up.

So it was shocking that in his most recent review, “A Serendipitous Trip to Spain,” it was revealed that the most famous man in the NYC food industry was left waiting so long for a table that he went to eat somewhere else:

“They say we’re looking at two hours. They’ll call us.”

This was the grim report from inside the latest East Village restaurant to have turned its no-reservations policy into a viral marketing campaign. A small, hungry mob was gathering on the sidewalk. Hoping to find a pleasant place to drink and snack until the phone rang, I herded my group to Huertas, a new Basque-leaning tapas place a few blocks away.

This restaurant's staff members — if they know who they are — must be kicking themselves. Instead of eating at the original mystery establishment, Wells walked to Huertas a few blocks away and gave it an absolutely glowing two-star review:

The room smelled like garlic and smoke. A cured pig’s leg sat at the end of the bar, its ankle held tightly in a clamp. A sharp knife had exposed its interior architecture of meat and fat and sinew. Later, we ordered a few slices of this Iberico ham, and as it melted on our tongues, warm and salty, we all traded looks. We did it again when we ate crumbly shards of aged manchego that tasted of brown butter and caramel. The looks meant: This kitchen knows where to get the good stuff.

Later on, the other restaurant did call to let the Wells party know its table was ready, but “we didn’t want to leave." Ouch.

No word yet on which restaurant turned Wells away for two hours, though it is in the vicinity of the Momofuku Ssäm Bar, which doesn’t do reservations.

Moral of the story: Never keep Pete Wells waiting. And get a reservation at Huertas, because it’s about to get extremely busy.

SEE ALSO: The Best 'Cheap Eats' In New York City

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If you want to trade the markets you have to live the markets — that means turning your trading desk into your second home.

That's why we put out a call to our readers to send in pictures of their oh-so-important spaces, and the response was just awesome.

The desks came in from Croatia to Chicago, Brazil to Switzerland. You sent us everything from massive desks with a bunch of screens to killer views that likely make the day go by a lot faster.

Thanks. Keep 'em coming.

If you would like to include your trading desk set up, feel free to send an email to jlaroche@businessinsider.com and llopez@businessinsider.com with a photo and a brief description. 

This set-up comes from a trader in Switzerland. He uses Interactive Brokers to trade stocks and options and uses various market data tools. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 shown is also running Interactive Brokers for his mobile needs.

This desk comes from a trader in Macedonia. This trading desk is an all Apple setup and consists of an iMac 27” mid 2011 edition (for charts) , MacBook Air 13” 2013 edition (trading room activities) , iPad 2 (for news). In addition you will see an iPhone 5 and a e-cigarette.

Here's a European natural gas trading operation. This desk is based in Prague, Czech Republic.

Aspen, sometimes called the “Rocky Mountain playground of the rich and famous,” reigns over expensive ski resort real estate.

The newest listing on the block, which is selling for $65 million, is no exception. 

The 17,000-square-foot home sits atop the well-known Red Mountain (aka Billionaire Mountain), and looks over Aspen and all four of its ski areas.

The mansion features 7 bedrooms, 11 baths, and a 4,150 square foot deck — not to mention floor-to-ceiling windows with some pretty breathtaking views.

Welcome to the Summit House.

The lot is 5.98 acres in total on Aspen's Red Mountain.

The mountain is sometimes known as Billionaire Mountain because of its expensive real estate.

This past week in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Muslims from all over the world came together to perform rituals, give thanks and prayer, and celebrate as part of one of the most important Muslim traditions of the year. Over the course of four days, followers completed various stages of ceremony at a number of different locations in and around the city.

The annual pilgrimage to Mecca, also known as Hajj, occurs every year on the 8th to 12th days of the last month of the Islamic calendar. Over 2 million people came this year and, while some feared for potential Ebola outbreaks within a group of that size, an epidemic did not occur.

Hajj is thought by many to be the largest annual collection of people in one place. The crowds are massive in size and the magnitude is truly stunning.

The annual journey to Mecca, also know as Hajj in the Muslim faith, is considered one of the largest yearly gatherings of people on the planet.

All Muslims who are physically and economically able to go to Mecca, a city in Western Saudi Arabia, are mandated by the Pillars of Islam to make the journey at least once in their lives. Muslims come from all over the world to the city to give thanks and prayers and to celebrate.

All men who enter Mecca for the Hajj must wear similar white clothes, symbolizing their equality with one another.

College is about balance — yes, it's important to take your classes seriously, but it's equally as necessary to cut loose and have fun during your undergraduate years.

Business Insider has created a list of schools that best embody this dual principle — the "work hard, play hard" mentality that many students look for. We found that there was no typical "work hard, play hard" school, and everything from liberal arts colleges to Ivy League universities to large state schools are represented in the following ranking.

To compile this list, we used data from Niche, looking at its rankings of the best party schools and schools with the best academics, smartest students, best Greek life. Niche's college section — College Prowler — features close to 1 million in-depth student reviews on more than 8,000 schools.

We've included a few quotes from each school's Niche profile in our ranking to help illustrate what the student body is like.

#20 Washington University in St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

"Amazing nightlife compared to peer institutions. Granted, we are no Arizona State but the students here know when to hit the books and when to party hard. There is a great hook up scene if you're into that."

"The academics at WashU are superb. The teachers add fun and an innovative approach to lessons which create an intellectual vibe here at WashU."

Visit Niche for more on Washington University in St. Louis.

#19 University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California

"You can find any type of person at one of USC's parties. As long as you are a Trojan, there is no discrimination. Everybody comes together to enjoy the night."

"USC is the best academically successful party school."

Visit Niche for more on the University of Southern California.

#18 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Urbana and Champaign, Illinois

"The social party scene is top notch and everyone always has a great time. Students are also responsible and know when enough is enough. The bars are always a great place to be to be social and most events occur there."

"The program is great and the advisers and professors are very knowledgeable. The workload is definitely not easy, but my motto is always "work hard and play hard". There are many diverse internship options for students."

Visit Niche for more on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.