University of Wisconsin Madison great in fall and for parting.

Of those I have visited, I vote for Stanford and Williams.

University of CA, Santa Cruz

My vote is University of Colorado at Boulder. Beautiful next to the mountains and only 30 minutes from Denver.

Also University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Miami of Ohio

Just thought I'd ask this, since it is a college thread. Although we live in Ohio and have Ohio U, Ohio State, Kent State close by, my daughter is very interested in Clearwater Christian College, Fla. I know nothing about it, but we have sent for information. Does anyone in the area have any information on it? Any info, good or bad, would be appreciated.

San Diego State University has a beautiful Spanish style campus. Many parts of it look like a Spanish mission, making it a perfect representitive of what San Diego is all about. Not to mention that San Diego is one of the nicest places you could ever live.

I agree with earlier post. Check out Notre Dame and St. Mary's campus. Two top notch schools with awesome campuses and reputations.

A year later - I'm curious to know where Ducks daughter ended up applying (attending?)...

For anyone else reading, I've got to add a plug for my alma mater, William and Mary. A really pretty old campus set right across the street from Colonial Williamsburg, great academics, variety of activities - I loved it and still (7 years later) miss it!

Here's a vote for my daughter's school-- Johns Hopkins University. It's a beautiful and charming campus with great facilities and appealing architecture. Baltimore gets a bad rap, but it's really a nice town-- although you do have to be careful of the neighborhoods you enter, there's plenty of charm there.
We spent an intense year of college searching with our daughter, so visited a few campuses. We have such great schools in this country, it's amazing. We did find that we'd get a "gut" feeling for a place, regardless of its physical appearance, and my daughter got a sense of whether or not she could envision herself on each campus. I also have to vote for my alma mater, University of Colorado - Boulder. And we liked Washington U in St. Louis, and Rice in Houston.
If you haven't discovered it yet, go to your library or bookstore for a copy of the current Fiske Guide to colleges. It has the best summary of each of the best schools, listing their pros and cons in what we thought was the most useful format to help us narrow the field.
Have fun with it.

Fordham University at Rose Hill (Bronx, NY). It is an oasis within the city with manicured lawns, meandering paths and beautiful stone buildings that are exceptionally well maintained. In addition to its fine academic heritage, the legacy of Vince Lombardi fills the halls and inspires an exciting athletic program - Go RAMS!

Another vote for Mt. Holyoke. I believe the campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. Hampshire College, which our dauther attends and which is part of the same 5 College Consortium as Mt. Holyoke, also had a pretty, rural campus. And I'd have to agree that the campus of Williams is very, very nice.

Meant to say "daughter", of course!

University of Colorado in Boulder, by far!!

2200 acres of woods, hills, lakes and Marcel Breuer works, plus the spectacular hardwood-framed ``Natural Bowl'' football stadium.

St. John's University of Minnesota.

Gardens, beaches and a beautiful chapel on the isolated wooded point across the lake.

Women are at College of St. Benedict four miles away, a nice campus, but not as scenic. Academics are combined and they are ranked among the USN&WR top national liberal arts schools.

For sheer beauty, it's SJU.

But if you don't like the Midwest, consider Virginia for the combination of campus/town/region, a very nice mix.

Out West, Stanford was an eye opener when this kid left the Midwest for grad school, but I'm not sure how it compares with other Western campuses. Lewis and Clark is very nice.

University of Florida. Of course I'm biased because I graduated from there 3 years ago. Gainesville is a fun college town and UF is a good school. I love the brick buildings and trees with moss on them. I only looked at schools in the South. University of Virginia is beautiful and great academically. UNC Chapel Hill is pretty but really hard to get into from out of state. University of Georgia is beautiful; I went there my freshman year before transferring to UF (mostly because of my boyfriend who is now my husband). Vanderbilt it pretty and good school but I wasn't that crazy about Nashville. I didn't like the look of Duke but many will disagree. Wake Forest was nice but I didn't like the city. Auburn was kind of pretty but a little too remote for me. Washington and Lee is pretty but really small. Going to school in the South will be a culture shock for you daughter coming from NY. I'm currently working on my masters at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. The school is a commuter one and campus needs work but they are fixing it up. University of Miami has warm weather but I can't stand Miami and it's just not a great area. Plus, the Orange Bowl is in a horrible location. Good luck with your search. It wasn't that long ago that I did it too.

This is a great thread, and since I imagine college visit "season" is about to start again, I thought I would keep it active.

My first vote has to be for my alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill. It is a large school, but I think the key to ANY school experience is to find your niche. For example, I was an out-of-state student and didn't know anyone when I arrived. I was able to finally feel at home when I began to participate on campus- for example, in the UNC Methodist campus ministry, in the Journalism school, and in student theatre. These experiences made a large school seem very intimate and personal.

I would also second a vote for Elon, if one is looking for a

oops :) continuing!!

Elon is a great school to look into if you are looking for a university with fewer students.

The great thing about any of the North Carolina schools (particularly in that area) is the geography- I went on my trips and retreats to both the beach and the mountains, for example. Washington D.C. and Atlanta were also possible weekend trips.

Also, in the Chapel Hill-Raleigh-Durham area, you have easy access to things like malls, movie theatres, and an abundance of activities. I have learned, after also attending graduate school where this was NOT the case, that this was an important convenience for me personally. This may be something to factor in.

Best of luck to all future college students! :)

Wagner College on Staten Island is a lovely campus and it offers the advantages of living in NYC without being in Manhattan. On the highest hill on Staten Island, in a residential area, it overlooks the NYC harbor. It's a small school with strong academics, and was once rated by US News & World Reports as one of the most beautiful campuses of small colleges/universities.

High Point University in High Point, NC is a georgous campus with a strong reputation in the South.

http://www.highpoint.edu/tour

No question, the most beautiful campus in the USA is:

The University of California at Santa Barbara. With the Pacific Ocean on three sides of the Campus, its own beach steps from the dorms (Goleta beach) and the near perfect climate, UCSB is the most beautiful campus in the USA.

Intersting how no one has mentioned the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Located in the Monoa Valley on Oahu, U of H is minutes from Waikiki and Kailua Beach, which consistently ranks as one of the best beaches in the country.