Most beautiful college campus is...?
 

Before we know it, we will be looking at colleges. While I know that the beauty of the campus is not the main draw of a school by any measure, it is a factor. We will be looking at schools with strong academics but not at all limited to the ivies. All womens schools are a possibility, too. Fodorites have often provided great info in the past so I am asking you opinions. Thanks so much.

Hofstra University on Long Island has a beautiful campus. It's academically sound, and its location is about 30 miles east of NYC and convenient to some of the best beaches ( the Hamptons and Jones Beach) in the country.

We love the U. of Wisconsin in Madison. It's on Lake Mendota, and sitting on the Union Terrace can't be beat.

One of the Seven Sister Schools, Sweetbriar. Sits on several thousand acres of the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.

Pepperdine
UC Santa Cruz
Stanford
Wellesley
Smith
Dartmouth
Bucknell
Miami (Ohio)
Duke
Northwestern
U Washington (Seattle)
Bryn Mawr
Williams
Washington and Lee

(Many of these are from Princeton Review's top 20 list, at least the ones I've visited, plus some I think belong in the top 20).

Perhaps a little bias, but Michigan State Univertity's campus (especially in the fall) is beautiful. The trees in full autumn glory along the Red Cedar River is simply gorgeous.

U of North Carolina in Chapel Hill gets my vote.

Furman University, just north of Greenville, SC, makes a fuss about its status as "one of the most beautifully landscaped public institutions in America." That's a quote I've read in several guides to American colleges and universities.

Meanwhile, Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., is also quite lovely -- and oddly enough, for a look at it, rent Scream 2, which was filmed on the campus.

For a beautiful college campus in a beautiful city, I recommend Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC, which is also home to Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University, which is an historically black college.

I also have to give high marks to Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, NC, north of Asheville, for a beautiful college in a beautiful village set amidst some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the eastern US -- beautiful to the third power, in other words.

Unfortunately, many of the other higher education options in Western North Carolina tend to consist of rather bland modern buildings, although UNC-Asheville makes up for it by boasting botanical gardens as well as mature landscaping, plus its location in North Carolina's most architecturally diverse city, if not its most beautiful.

My alma mater, Tulane in New Orleans, has a beautiful urban campus. Lots of green space and beautiful oak trees.

Another thumbs up for LSU in Baton Rouge. VERY nice.

I debated about saying this but Sweetbriar is not a Seven Sisters college. All of the Seven Sisters are in New York or Mass. I have heard Sweetbriar is amazing though.

UC Santa Cruz.

Hofstra might be the worst campus in the US. It's bisected by the 8 lane Hempstead Turnike and the town of Hempstead could charitably be called the home of winos and latin gangs.

University of Kansas (no joke) in Lawrence, KS.

University of Colorado in Boulder. At the base of the Rocky Mountains, with amazing views of the Flatirons. The weather is beautiful, they never close the golf courses! It can snow one day, and be 70 and sunny the next! 300 days a year of sunshine! An hour and half to some of the best skiing in the world! Good looking students from all over the country as well!
Go Buffs!

Colorado State University has a beautiful campus. I agree with Lawrence...there is also a small college close by called Baker University in Baldwin, a very pretty little town. MSU is also beautiful.

Berry College in Rome, Georgia. Has a 28,000 acre wooded campus.

I'll vote for Miami of Ohio. Beautiful campus, great academics. I'm biased though since both our kids have attended. Daughter '01 grad, son a senior.

Frank

My vote goes to Pepperdine University just north of Los Angeles, on the coast.

It's in Malibu...along the Pacific Coast Highway, high up on a hill, with a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean.

UC Santa Cruz.

Dartmouth up in New Hampshire.

Hofstra...ech. What about Nassau Community College? Or Pratt...in the heart of Bed-Sty Brooklyn?