<p>"The latter will be controversial - Yale and Penn people will say “No way, we’re just talking about the campuses here” while Northwestern and Cornell fans will say “How can you evaluate our campuses and ignore a waterfront view?”</p>
<p>I can’t speak for Cornell, but while Northwestern has an absolutely fabulous waterfront location, the campus layout doesn’t take full advantage of it, IMO. You have to make a bit of an effort to get to the lakefront to enjoy it, as you won’t necessarily see it in the course of a normal day. Student housing and paths should be right on the lakefront, IMO, and the student center should leverage it more.</p>
<p>During the college tour circuit, I remember being impressed by Princeton’s campus, blown away by Yale’s ambience and architecture, but then underwhelmed by Harvard’s campus; I was very surprised given Harvard’s stature. Yale reminded me of Oxford (which I guess is the point) where I had been just captivated as a kid touring the UK. The movie-set “fakeness” didn’t really hit me. I even applied EA to Yale partially based on the emotional response to the campus. I got deferred then rejected, but did manage to get myself into Harvard in April – go figya.</p>
<p>I am now a happy sophomore at Harvard and have really grown quite fond of the campus and the square and my river house. Sunny days lying along the river pretending to study are pretty damn special.</p>
<p>One campus that left me cold, though, was Stanford. I could not connect with it in any way.</p>
<p>Nat - I should add this to be fair and complete about Harvard (which BTW, I love with an ardent fervor, even while I wonder why on earth their grounds staff would outline the Old Yard in PVC pipe and clothesline :)). Most college campuses are self-contained enclaves that students tend to call “bubbles.” Most urban campuses are less campus-like and more a continuation of the surrounding city. But Harvard is a different concept of a campus - one that runs throughout its city and blends the ambience of the neighborhood and retail areas with the campus clusters. If you take a hi-lighter and color in a “bubble” campus on a map, you get a big dot. If you take campuses like NYU and GWU, you’ll get something like the spray pattern of shotgun pellets. If you color in Harvard’s campus on a map of Cambridge, you’ll get something like the markings on a giraffe, meaning that you’re constantly wandering in, out, and among the townsfolk and “real world” on your way back to the ivory tower. I love that about it, and it’s the reason that I enjoy wandering around there so much. So on the grounds of its uniqueness, it should get a slew of bonus points in addition to what I gave it for its mixed architectural bag.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl - Give me the word and I’ll nominate you for the job as NWern’s campus planner, next time it’s open. Good ideas! And despite the minimalist mess that’s the North Campus, I love NWern and Evanston almost as much as Harvard and Cambridge!</p>
<p>Princeton is my favorite among the Ivies, followed by Harvard, but there’s something about Locust Walk / Penn that just really speaks to me and I feel almost nostalgic about, even though I didn’t go there :-).</p>
<p>Great plan at Northwestern - it’s a wonderful campus and town, and the combination of the arts scene and sports scene in addition to the academics there makes it one of the really special universities in the country. It was my D1’s goal before she ever dreamed of getting into Harvard, and I continue to think of it as if I have a student there, based on a wonderful, three-day father-daughter college visit we made.</p>
<p>Well, cool. Maybe one day I can think of Harvard as if I have two students there :-). (Not gonna happen – my kids aren’t at that level! But a girl can dream …)</p>
<p>gadad. I agree. The fact that there is a dense campus center and then amoeba like arms of university that reach into the city is a positive and distinctive feature of the Harvard campus.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the “city” of Cambridge has really morphed into a ho-hum affluent shopping mall of little interest to a student over the past twenty years. It’s just jammed with suburbanites competing for places to park, crummy chain stores and restaurants, and expensive frou-frou cafes. Student friendly amenities like cheap delis, grocery stores, etc. are few and far between. It’s a big gripe of mine.</p>
<p>My sis went to Yale, and as bad at New Haven’s rap is, the immediate environs of Yale has a lot more time-worn studenty diners, cafes, dive bars, night clubs where it’s easy to grab a table and have some cheap grub with friends. It’s seems more New Yorky, while Cambridge exudes New England stuffiness.</p>
<p>^^^ “. . . While Cambridge exudes New England stuffiness.”</p>
<p>. . . or creeping Princetonification? :)</p>
<p>But Nat, I’m going to guess that you live on the Yard or in a River house. If you haven’t been there, check out the hole-in-a-wall shops and eateries up Mass Ave., about a block or two from the Quad houses. Authentic ethnic, cheap, and in many cases pretty good! Almost like a little bit of New Haven that your sister might appreciate.</p>
<p>My list agrees with gadad’s more than JHS’s, since Dartmouth is much closer to the top of my list than the bottom. Dartmouth is almost like a movie set - where the director said "Find me a filming location that embodies the concept of “New England College.”</p>
<p>Yale, Princeton, and Harvard - all beautiful in their own way.</p>
<p>Stanford looks good too but in a sterile sort of way. Not a cigarette butt or piece of litter in sight anywhere. Plus living in California, I’m already numb to the charms of the Mission/Taco Bell archtectural style.</p>
<p>Columbia - Okay. Penn - I wasn’t impressed.</p>