Have just found this thread. What a great topic. Wow!

With 4 children in college at some point between 1997 and now, we've done our share of visitations. We've seen many along the east coast from Maine to Georgia and as far west as Illinois. In our opinion, Elon University (fka Elon College) just outside Burlington, NC has the most beautiful campus. Springtime is absolutely breathtaking. Small college in a lovely small community. First class all the way (so is the price tag).

My curiosity is up there for UC Santa Cruz. If we ever get to CA, we'll have to plan on seeing this campus even if we won't have college-age children by then.

Message: 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

I have always agreed, but with the recent, unfortunate turn of events at the campus, you or your daughter stand the chance of being raped. How very, very sad.

Kalena, congratulations on your son's early admission to Williams! The school is very particular, so that is a great accomplishment. I hope you get an opportunity to visit the campus. As I described in my earlier posting, the town is quintessential New England and quite a contrast to your beautiful area. It is a great distance from where you live, but with computer contact and telephones with photos, the discrepancy might be somewhat narrowed. I am glad you are willing to let him try the college of his choice.

University of Colorado at Boulder

I haven't checked this thread for awhile and I am glad to see its still active! I have been busy checking other sites which cover college issues. Am1pm2, my suggestion is you just make sure your son attends a school with many strong depts or that is part of a consortium of with other colleges. You might purchase some college videos from
the outfits that sell these (there is one in particular, name escapes me).
Epinions and studentsreviews have good info on schools and might wake your son up to the fact that its a biggish decision and that the schools vary tremenously in every imaginable way. Has he looked at any of the college books--pretty bland but gives some idea.
My daughter is just starting to show an interest in particular schools so I am not too far along in that aspect of the process but being a planner I have lots of info collected.

We're trying to plan some college visits soon, and this has been a great thread. The previous poster mentioned an interesting web site. It's www.studentsreview.com. Fairly unnerving (so many negative reviews of colleges that seem great - also so much drinking!!!), but certainly relevant. Beautiful campuses are nice- but do kids care about it...or does the campus even matter in the long run? Hard to say.

Kids may or may not consciously seek out a pretty campus, but more often it's a matter of being turned off by an ugly one. Of course, ugly is in the "eye of the beholder" but one young man close to me who planned from age 10 to go to MIT found himself chilled to the bone when he actually toured it.

MUCH more to the point is size -- smaller ones can be cute and/or confining; bigger ones can sprawl and overwhelm -- and above all location: city, suburban, rural. It's very difficult for a city university or college to be beautiful (although some manage within their walls), but it's worth it for kids who want the urban energy. It's easier for a suburban or rural college to be pretty, but they can also be very isolated.

There are many, many colleges and universities in this country (and don't forget Canada's OUTSTANDING schools), so: absolutely, choose first on the basis of the strongest school you have a chance to get into, but do bear in mind that it'll be home for 4 years (and long after in your mind), so you should think about what kind of "home" you want.

Furman U in Greenville, SC is indeed gorgeous. I graduated from there, and fortunately, my best friend bought a house just out the gate, so we run around campus together all the time and I still get to enjoy it.

Furman is a liberal arts school, first and foremost, however of the four of us who were roommates we had two accounting majors, a computer/math major and a chemistry major. Furman prides itself on being academically challenging. And it's expensive. When I was there, there were tons of students from NY. It's a rather insular environment, though. There's no "college town". Campus life centers around campus period. If a parent, I would consider this a good thing. As a student, I was starting to wish I'd gone to more of a "party school".

AND... there's a fine if you get caught picking the roses!

Pomona College, Claremont, CA.
Most Ivy League undergrads who visit for a semester would kill to matriculate!
M

Drury University in Springfield, MO. Small, private, liberal arts university. BEAUTIFUL campus, great academics and social opportunity. Numerous alum connections around the world. Fully accredited Architecture program, three early-admission programs with three medical schools, and a host of other academic achievements. SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team has won international competition against thousands of other schools twice in the last four years. One of the best-kept educational secrets of the midwest - on the U.S. News & World Report, ranked #4 on the "Great Schools at Great Prices" list released today, August 20th. Can you tell I'm an enthusiastic alum?

Almost a year after O.P. Have we not uet covered EVERY lovely place? Bottom line: a lot of colleges are lovely for the same reason golf courses are: they're designed to be. Colleges other than seriously urban, down-town places are conceived of as having a "campus" which means "field" in Latin. But sometimes it's a matter of whether Tudor or Gothic or Colonial or modern is the setting you like. Gobbless all those kids starting the whole rigmarole this year again -- have a niece already having fits of anxiety and listening to any whisper of a generalization she hears about any school: "it's a party school." "only geeks go there." etc.

mclaurie,
Vassar: Brain dead, ultraliberal faculty none of whom could hold a rational, nonpartisan thought for more than three microseconds: give me a break!
M

Mikemo, thank you for offering a perfect, and perfectly dreadful, example of the kind of stupid generalizations people throw out as if they were truth about a college.

Cassandra,
You are certainly welcome.
Reality often is way less than expected.
M

Mikemo and Cassandra, What a couple of killjoys.
This used to be a light hearted thread about pretty college campuses and people who have fond memories of their collegate experiences. What is up with the two of you?

For the record, mikemo, I spent a year at Pomona College (3rd year "abroad" from the east coast) and I agree it's first rate and on par with any of the ivies.

I think Mikemo has to take full killjoy honors with that idiotic, gratuitous thing to say about any college. Somehow we made it through 150 posts without a political comment, and Cassandra's corrent that there are a lot of wild generalizations about colleges that make life much harder for prospective students and parents. (And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Pomona has escaped the same assinine description Mikemo threw at Vassar.)

("corrent" = "correct")

So...hands down, UVA has the most beautiful campus in the South, although most Southern schools ae meticulously landscaped. W&L just can't compare. I really don't get some people's love for gothic architecture, but whatever. As for all of the votes for Furman--yay! The landscape architect, George Betsel (sp? forgive me!) is just amazing! He landscaped Keeneland race tracks as well I think... My brother is now enrolled at UFL Gainesville and I hear it's gorgeous. And a note to that person who remarked that one shouldn't send their daughter to UC Boulder: reality check--in 2000, a study found that over a college career lasting an average of 5 years, the percentage of women who were victims completed or attempted rape in college is between 1 in 5 and 1 in 4. Reference: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf
This problem is not isolated to UC Boulder, rather it is an epidemic at our institutions of higher learning. Most of these assaults are aquaintance or date rapes rather than the Lifetime Original Movie stranger rapes. I'm not trying to scare anyone, but everyone, particularly college bound students (of both sexes) and their parents need to be aware of this issue. Remind your sons that if they are too drunk--so is that girl. Anyway, sorry to go nuts, I'm sure that remark about UC Boulder was meant lightheartedly, but the reality of the prevalence of sexual assault in our colleges is quite serious.

Okay -- here's your answer: Berry College in Rome, Georgia -- 28,000 acres!!! There are about 2,000 students, and our daughter loves it there.

My apologies to those who think otherwise but the University of Florida is not a beautiful campus. I remember many of the buildings having a post WW II communist look; big, stark and grey.

The bugs are huge and when football season ends the city becomes ugly in the winter. Then starting in May the humidity makes life outside an air conditioned building uncomfortable.

Stanford University used to be much prettier but remains very nice. The best Saturday tailgate parties I've experienced: beautiful old eucalyptus trees surrounding the football stadium. The campus allows easy navigation and the buildings show some character while remaining functional.

Just my opinion,

Mike (Florida,77)