Nicest college campus in America?

[Reverend_Smitty]

The ugly thread got me thinking, what do you think the nicest looking college campus in this country is? For me it has to be Princeton...I'm sure there are nicer ones out there but I love all the old buildings there and when we were in high school my friends and I used to wander around the campus just to feel "all grown up"...so it's more of a personal thing to me.

your thoughts...

[GalleryGod]

1. Stanford.

B-)

[alittlelark]

74. I'll second Stanford...

[CabalPowered]

77. deleted

*edit.. oops this was supposed to be a response to the OP.

[salin]

106. When I first saw Stanford - I found it cold and manicured

I had grown up around ivied type colleges (not nec. ivy "league" but brick buildings, or limestone, lots of trees, and ivy growing on the sides of the building) a little less coifed than the Stanford campus. And all those red roofs - just was so different than what I (college brat) had grown up with that it struck me as pretty but a wee bit 'manicured/manufactured'.

Then it grew on me. I don't know that I would call it the "nicest" - but it is beautiful. Very different from eastern (and some midwestern) schools (brick, ivy). And where else is there that great "Dish walk"? (3 mile hiking path in the foot hills just behind campus - open to the public (and to cows) to walk.)

[momophile]

2. University of Colorado at Boulder

The Tuscan Vernacular architecture with the mountains looking over the campus is beautiful.

[LeftyMom]

3. University of Santa Clara

It's very pretty and green, the buildings with the classrooms are very new and nice and it's got a pretty little mission right there on campus that still holds services regularly.

I'd want to go to school there if it weren't private and crazy expensive.

[1gobluedem]

4. Miami of Ohio is beautiful

It looks like a movie set -- all the buildings match.

The University of Michigan central campus is gorgeous too. Especially the Law Quad area.

[Pierre.Suave]

21. agreed

of course.

[mtnester]

43. My son graduated from Miami of Ohio

GEORGEOUS campus.

Pricey too for an in state public college. I will be happy to mail you the entire printout of what it cost us to send him there...

Maybe not...th pages of $$$ scared me enough I think I filed it DEEP in the hard to get to file cabinet.

[salin]

45. Miami of Ohio... and Indiana University

though I am biased to IU as I grew up there.

[1gobluedem]

61. IU has a very pretty campus

Their student union is gorgeous.

[salin]

108. sorta feel like I grew up in the student union

great place for 'U-brats' to hangout on the weekend (prolly to the consternation of students.) First time I saw the UM student union I was a tad disappointed - until I learned that the IU union building was quite unique and unusual - not the standard.

While UM isn't quite as beautiful (imo) - you get Ann Arbor - which is a tad more hip and interesting than Bloomington. (I lived in A2 for several years - and it is among the best college towns in the country - b-ton is cool - but it is no Ann Arbor.)

[Giant Robot]

64. I always thought north campus was pretty

But central campus had a lot of neat old buildings and history to it.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

66. Gets my vote...

If you were to close your eyes and imagine what a college campus looks like, you'd be thinking of Miami. Just gorgeous.

And even as a Buckeye, I have to give a nod to the Ann Arbor campus -- also a very livable campus.

[MissMillie]

5. Well given that we have a $1million endowment for landscaping

I'm saying HBS.

[bif]

6. Middlebury, VT

[1gobluedem]

62. Middlebury IS gorgeous

It's the quintessential New England campus.

[MassLiberal]

84. I went to Middlebury...

and I would have to agree with you. You can't beat that backdrop of the Green Mountains.

[Awsi Dooger]

95. My grandfather went to Middlebury

I really enjoyed my trip to campus in the late '80s, finding the language dorm where he lived.

[mzteris]

7. Duke

[underpants]

8. Funny story about Duke

as the story goes ...

way back in the 50's the football coach at Wake used to take recruits to the Duke campus on Sundays mostly. Show them around, it is the perfect looking campus, and get them to sign letters of intent. When they showed up in the Fall they found out they weren't going to that school.

This was before the Reynolds built Wake a new campus.

[mzteris]

9. lol......

I didn't even go to Duke (I lived in Durham for a while). It IS beautiful. I think NC State isn't very pretty at all - except in a couple of select spots. UK (Univ of Kentucky) has some pretty spots as well, but overall, bleh. Same with UNC-CH and just about every other campus I've ever been on - and I've visited a few.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

15. Duh!

Though East Campus sucks big time... NC State is ok in parts (it's my undergrad school), especially by the School of Architecture.

[Auggie]

10. Ohio University in Athens, Ohio

A little bit of old, a little bit of new, in the foothills of Appalachia

http://www.ohiou.edu/athens/bldgs/cgreen_r.html

[DixieBlue]

60. I concur!

It's such a lovely place.

[Botany]

82. And on a spring afternoon "the beach" @ Strouds Run St. Park was NICE

East Green was nice too



Cutler Hall

[BOSSHOG]

11. Swathmore College near Philadelphia

Very quaint with an awesome natural ampitheatre.

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Iowa in Ames

(or maybe it's Iowa State - I can never remember all the fucking permutations on state school names).

Urbana-Champaign is a nice campus, too. Union Seminary in NYC. Beloit college has a nice campus, though a couple ugly buildings.

[DrDan]

16. I agree with you re Yale

A very pretty place

some very very ugly alumni, however

[KamaAina]

35. Hey! At least we only took him straight out of prep school!

some very very ugly alumni, however

You're referring to a certain member of the Class of 1968 in Davenport College whose middle initial is "W", right? Well, Harvard took him in to graduate school knowing full well that he'd wasted his four years at Yale, so there! Plus, we tightened our legacy admissions policy around that time; while it still doesn't hurt to have a prominent name, obviously, you must now also prove that you have something on the ball. Coincidence? I think not...

K-A, Y'85, cum laude (which W. couldn't pronounce, much less attain :P )




edit: spelling (keyboard tends to gag on double letters)

[DrDan]

59. now wait just one dog gone second

tightened admissions???????

"One of George W. Bush's twin daughters plans to continue the family tradition by attending Yale University in the fall . . . . " -

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:PMsE-jOwojAJ:archive.salon.com/politics2000/wire/2000/05/18/daughters/index.html+bush+daughter+Yale&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

that is how you tighten your legacy admissions???????

[KamaAina]

71. That is absolutely how we tightened our legacy admissions!

in the old days, both of the J&B twins would've gotten in! :P

[DrDan]

102. lol - you win

[emmadoggy]

110. Ames is Iowa State...

and it is a lovely campus (much nicer than U of I, in my opinion).

[lizziegrace]

13. UNC Chapel Hill n/t

[Cabcere]

47. That is a lovely campus.

:hi: It's my mom's alma mater, so once when we were in Chapel Hill we went to visit the campus, and I think if it hadn't been out of state for us I might have considered applying there (not just for the campus, though...you know what I mean). I think I'm going to have to go with William & Mary, though - I fell in love the first time I visited, even though it was 95 degrees in the shade and humid as anything that day.

This is my campus. :loveya:






Edit: D'oh! Sorry about the hugeness of that first photo...if it causes problems, I can delete it. :blush:

[lisamay]

88. I vote for William and Mary, too

I saw it for the first time when I was 14, fell in love with it, and graduated in 1995...

I took my husband there for my 10 year reunion, and he fell in love, too. He kept saying, "There's a forest in the middle of your college!"

[treestar]

63. My alma mater, yes it is!

[YDogg]

14. University of North Carolina

and Dickinson College

[noonwitch]

17. The old part of Michigan State's campus is pretty

At least it is when the students aren't having a drunken riot, which means on Wednesdays it looks nice.

[1gobluedem]

18. Yes it is, but the 'new part' is God awful

Is there any decent architecture from the 1950s and 60s? What were they thinking?

[noonwitch]

23. There are very few decent buildings from that era

My uncle used to go to the ugliest catholic church I have ever been inside of-most are pretty, even the modern ones.

This one is no longer-it was St. Norbert's in Inkster, MI. The altar had orange (HOJO-roof orange) shag carpeting. There was this weird mural behind the altar that was in orange and blue (more HOJO memories). When my cousin got married, my only advice to her was not to get married in that church!

[Burma Jones]

19. I like Georgetown University's Campus

Knox, my alma mater, was also nice, what, with the last remaining site of the Lincoln Douglas debates and all.......

[femmocrat]

49. Notre Dame

I thought it looked like the type of campus you would visualize or imagine when thinking of a beautiful university.

[femmocrat]

51. I think Georgetown looks more impressive from a distance than up close.

I love the view of it from the GW Parkway, but it seems kind of crowded and a jumble of old and new architecture when you visit it.

[Burma Jones]

72. A very good observation......

I mostly see it from the GW Parkway.....I don't think I've been on the Campus proper in about 10 years.

[MountainLaurel]

70. Main Campus is fine

But the medical campus is hella scary.

[Pierre.Suave]

20. I have always been a fan of

the University of Michigan's campus. Specifically central campus, but I might be biased.







edit: the top picture is a view of the law school from the back facing the Law Library which is mostly underground.

The second picture is a view of the Michigan Union

[1gobluedem]

22. Especially the Law Quad area

So gorgeous when the fall colors are at their peak.

[Pierre.Suave]

24. that and

the Diag, I like them both.

[Broken_Hero]

25. hmmm

The University of Kentucky. Although, the University of Charlotte NC, was a close one....:D

[Tyrone Slothrop]

26. Never been there, but Brooklyn College frequently wins

or places very highly when that sort of thing is ranked.

I only live a few miles from there, but I've never personally been. Maybe this spring when it warms up a little bit.

[NewWaveChick1981]

27. UNC-Chapel Hill.

:) But then again, I'm partial to it because I spent a lot of time there. But it's a beautiful campus.

[Nicole]

28. University of Oklahoma

It has beautiful old buildings and lots of green areas.













I had to include pics since OU made the ugly list on the other thread.

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

40. South Oval at OU

In late October and early November, the mums are stunning.

[Nicole]

41. Absolutely

Here's one that shows them just starting to bloom.

[fishwax]

56. It is a beautiful campus

and I still think of it fondly :)

[ceile]

29. Two popped into my head

St. Edward's Univ in Austin (my alma mater)-before the new building explosion, but still nice.
http://www.gotostedwards.com/x650.xml

Univ of Alabama-got lost in Tuscaloosa once around the campus area and didn't mind one bit.

[huskerlaw]

30. Pepperdine University

Malibu

[Arugula Latte]

36. The campus does look beautiful (they've filmed many things there, too)

However, doesn't Pepperdine have a kind of a scary christofascist student body?

[huskerlaw]

38. The campus is, indeed, beautiful

I haven't heard anything negative about their student body (other than that they're paying FAR too much money for school, but that's true of most private schools out here).

I work at another university in Los Angeles and associate with people who work at Pepperdine quite frequently...I'm pretty sure "scary christofascist" would have come up at least once. ;)

[kwassa]

44. Being an alumni of that cryptofacist institution ...

I would point out that it is the LOCATION IN MALIBU that makes it beautiful. The architecture is quite unremarkable. If they really want to make some money, they should sell that land.

Pepperdine also operates many satellite campuses. I went to the business school in Culver City, in a high rise, where I had a splendid view of the brushfires coming along the Santa Monica mountains down into Malibu. The fire was fought to a draw on the edge of the main Pepperdine campus, because that is where the last road existed before the burning brush-covered hills take over from the congested coastal strip. 1992, I think. Quite impressive at night.

[taught_me_patience]

48. Second that.

Best location in the U.S. However, I have a nagging feeling the "missionaries" "bought" the land from the indians for a handful of beads.

[barb162]

52. Yeah that is one beautiful location

[tishaLA]

31. UCLA and Berkeley

beautiful...

UCLA




Berkeley

[Tikki]

58. UCSB......

By nice...if you mean beautiful setting...yes, it's Santa Barbara.





Tikki

[EFerrari]

90. Cal is full of beautiful spots.

:hi:

[sweetheart]

32. UCSC & simon frazer university

Since the country 'america' is larger than the US,
simon frazer university in vancouver is beautiful

[Shine]

46. Ditto on UCSC!! I was lucky enough to go there!

Gorgeous campus, nestled on 2,000 acres of redwood forest....

:hi:

[Arugula Latte]

33. Berkeley is my favorite

The hills surrounding it, the view of San Francisco and Bay, the fog rolling in, the smell of eucalyptus, the vibrancy of the campus... *sigh* ... wish I were back there.

Other campuses I've seen are amazingly impressive, such as Duke, Yale, Harvard, but they have a very different feel than Berkeley (they're more traditional and formal) and I like the rolling hills on the Berkeley campus and Strawberry Creek and the Redwood Grove, etc.

Stanford? Bah -- too bland. :D

Lewis and Clark in Portland is also a very beautiful campus.

[Xithras]

75. Cal alum and Bowlesman here, and I disagree.

While Berkeley is a nice campus, I don't think I'd even put it into the top 10. While some of the buildings are beautiful, most of the campus is an uncoordinated mismash of architectural styles that offer very little continuity around the campus. The roads around campus are circular and confusing, and the hills get hot, dry, and dusty most of the year. Even worse, the campus is so physically dispersed, and it merges with the surrounding city to such an extent, that it is an incredibly confusing place for new students to navigate.

I think the atmosphere and academic environment at Berkeley cannot be matched. But beautiful? I don't think so.

[EFerrari]

92. You're right. Berkeley is a all about diversity and its influence

goes right out into the community.

I hope you know your post is now on YPR. :)


/ack

[EFerrari]

91. AND Stanford is full of Republics.

I'd give anything to get lost in Dwinelle again like I did the first time I tried to find the some office, maybe the Latin office or maybe Linguistics. I bet there's someone lost in there right NOW. :)

[Kickin_Donkey]

99. Ah, Dwinelle Hall ...

I was still getting lost in that labyrinth in my fifth, and final, year at Cal. I found it amusing to get lost in that building time after time, particularly between levels on the office side. My wonderment of that campus never ceased.

Cal '85

[EFerrari]

104. I was Cal 87 and then onto the English PhD prog.

So, I got to hide out in the nooks and crannies for 'way long. It was great. :)

[Awsi Dooger]

96. Berkeley was my first thought

I found it much more appealing than Stanford, which always seemed dusty to me. I remember walking around the Berkeley campus late at night on a foggy November weekend and loving it. Seemed like a national park in spots.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

34. Trinity University, San Antonio, & Little Chapel in the Woods, Denton

Both were designed by O'Neil Ford of San Antonio.

Little Chapel in the woods at Texas Woman's University was finished in 1940 and Eleanor Roosevelt spoke at the Dedication. All the images in the art deco stained glass were made by the women in the art department.

The front window has a woman with her child by her side, in a modern suit, and the husband is a small figure. The other windows illustrate professions such as teaching, nursing, and the arts, and all the figures are women. Each side window has an inspiring quote from somebody as well.
It's a very subversive feminist chapel, if you think about it. Which is appropriate for a woman's college.
Picture:


Trinity University moved to San Antonio in 1950 from Waxahachie and settled in an old limestone quarry on the north side. All the buildings are made of a particular kind of red brick.

Picture of huge chapel with 112-rank organ where they have Presbyterian services on Sunday Morning:


Fountain in little formal meditation garden next to the chapel:


Bell Tower in front of Chapel:

I got my B.A. there, which didn't get me any fabulous jobs, but it is an excellent liberal arts school.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

37. I'm fond of Western Washington University.

It's got a pretty little campus.

[northzax]

39. Colby College, Waterville, ME

the way life should be.

northzax, scl, '97

[skippysmom]

42. Mount Holyoke

...and not just because I went there...

[CTyankee]

80. My daughter went there! Class of 1986,

I think part of its beauty is its rich history. The oldest continuing women's college in the country and the first of the 7 Sister schools. I loved going to visit her there but she bitched about how they didn't have a movie theatre in S. Hadley and "at least the girls at Smith have one."

[CatholicEdHead]

50. University of Wisconsin ,Madison

St. John's University, MN
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks

[KitchenWitch]

73. Yes to all three and two additions

St Olaf College - Northfield MN
Carleton College - Northfield MN

[barb162]

53. William and Mary has a really nice and historic campus

[Robeson]

100. I like there's too...

...It's a beautiful campus.

[Hand]

54. Kenyon (Gambier, OH)

It actually does look like this in the fall!

[5thGenDemocrat]

67. My wife, Annie, is a Denison alum

Who spent a lot of her time over at Kenyon. She agrees with you (and adds that Denison has a very nice campus as well -- or, at least, did when she went there).
John
Went to a very good community college whose campus looked like an overblown strip mall and a state university whose architecture was a mixed bag.

[Bombtrack]

55. University of California, Santa Barbara

bikinis are pretty

[pokerfan]

57. This little one worked for me

[Redneck Socialist]

65. UC Santa Cruz. Study among the redwoods and...

banana slugs!

[Rambis]

79. UCSC watch deer out the window

while sitting in class. It is the nicest campus I have been on. I love the student union.

[Redneck Socialist]

94. Great campus, great school

Did you go there?

PS Did Bobby really call Nader an asshole?

[Rambis]

103. Nope

I had friends that went there and I would visit every chance I got mostly after dead shows in CA.

[Madspirit]

68. Swarthmore n/t

[salin]

109. Swarthmore is absolutely charming

and indirectly helped me become who I am today (both my parents are Swarthmore graduates).

[BreweryYardRat]

69. Not mine.

Adequate modern architecture. Nothing hideous, but nothing pretty, either, except for some cool scientific models over by the science buildings.

[redwitch]

76. I hung out in Princeton when I was a teenager.

Lots of concerts at McCarter, Alexander Hall and Dillon Gym. Gorgeous campus. I loved to sit with my feet in the fountain. And play hide and seek in Firestone Library. Great little town! :hi:

[CTyankee]

81. Princeton is way cool and lovely. But I live in New Haven so I have my own

preferences...

[MassLiberal]

86. I live in the 'burbs of New Haven!

and yes, Yale's campus is beautiful.

[CTyankee]

87. I'm in Westville. Where are you at? n/t

[CabalPowered]

78. University of Oregon

I love how pedestrian and bike friendly UO is, and Eugene! The mixture of architecture and the old growth forest really give it an ambience I haven't seen on other campuses. With the exception of maybe Santa Cruz.

[Botany]

83. I just drove by it but it looked nice ... St. Mary's College MD

On the St. Mary's River where just up from
where the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay join

[MassLiberal]

85. the University of Virginia is beautiful

The original part of the campus, designed by Thomas Jefferson is breathtaking in its simplicity.

[mentalsolstice]

89. William & Mary n/t

[cloudbase]

93. Caltech n/t

[Nailzberg]

97. Northwestern

I didn't go there, but I grew up pretty close by. A beautiful campus right on the shorefront of Lake Michigan.

[SKKY]

98. I've only driven through it, but I find it difficult to believe there is...

...a more beautiful campus than Pepperdine in Malibu, California.

[regnaD kciN]

101. University of Washington USED to be wonderful...

...until they developed an Edifice Complex in the '90s, and tore up lots of the landscaped areas of the campus to put up nondescript modern buildings. It's still beautiful in parts, but the whole is more chaotic than anything. :-(

The college I went to, St. John's, is lovely, but way too small (about two or three city blocks) to compete with campuses that have their own woods.

















Here's one I took back in the late '70s...

[Pendrench]

105. I haven't been there is awhile, but I seem to remember that Hopkins had a nice campus.

And wasn't it used for some of the exterior shots from "St. Elmo's Fire"?

Tim

[spindrifter]

107. University of Washington

The campus has spectacular views--of Mt. Rainier, the Cascade Mts., Lake Washington. In the spring the cherry blossoms on the quad are incredible. The grounds have scads of interesting plants.

[eppur_se_muova]

111. Berry College, near Rome, GA ...

No, I didn't go there, but it's famous for its lovely campus. There is a working horse farm as well as a dairy on campus, also an elementary school. Much of the campus was built during the Depression, and all the historic buildings have been lovingly preserved. Berry has an enormous campus which was created by a large land grant years ago. There are believed to be three times as many deer as students on campus.