Not really buying several
http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/a11656269/best-college-campuses/
WashU’s campus and student union looks like a high-end country club.
Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder! Stanford’s campus is boring, Taco Bell architecture to me- yuck. There have been other sources with lists and they include some much nicer campuses. btw- showing a football stadium does not exactly showcase any beauty- why does the rest of the campus merit accolades???
The hills and lake give UW-Madison so much more than some campuses, although climbing the hills versus going around them was sometimes considered by me back in the day… UW has made at least one list.
In all fairness, the list includes the “best” campuses, not the most beautiful. It seems to consider the quality of dorms, teaching facilities, gyms, etc. as important if not more so than campus landscaping and views.
Either way, there’s definitely some odd picks. UCLA, really?
Even “best” is so subjective. Do you give points for easily navigated flat terrain, or for beautiful vistas with hills for tray sledding? Points for four seasons or boring ones? Architecture that pleases/displeases different people? Having a science building or many devoted to only one branch? And- when the photo is of a generic football stadium you have to wonder…
They obviously skipped the Frosh dorms (forced triples for most), and the butt-ugly buildings in the science quad. 
Spoken like a true BiG competitor. hahahahaha
I dunno. D got into UCLA and we toured on Bruin Day. It felt so clean and scrubbed compared to “crunchy” Cal (which where she wound up) that we called it “Disneyland” (even the line to do the housing tour was set up with the whole Disney line strategy).
It really is a subjective thing - parts of a lot of campuses maybe very beautiful to a lot of people. Depends on what your mind’s eye visualizes when you hear the word “college”.
I was shocked at Yale. It’s anything but beautiful–impressive, large, eclectic, citified, architecturally interesting, industrial, but in the middle of New Haven, I would not call it beautiful.
I’m dumbfounded by the inclusion of Grand Canyon University. GCU is a for profit university and the campus is nothing special so I’m mystified by its presence on this list.
Yes to each their own when it comes to college beauty - I would place UCLA on most lists - toured this spring and very nice. Gotta question many of the other picks though.
It seems like Grand Canyon supporters must have found a way to put their thumbs on the scale. Virginia Tech is a wonderful school. Students positively love their experience there–pretty much everyone of them. It’s a terrific campus with a great adjacent restaurant/bar district for students. Really nice AND definitely not #2 best campus in the country.
Yale is odd. Beautiful buildings built for a millennium. True grandeur. Yet you walk between the buildings on very run-of-the-mill streets. New Haven is not bad, just uninspiring.
As I behold them.
Who knew that Hearst was still publishing Town & Country.