<p>I want to hear about which schools had the most striking campuses and the best tours. If anyone has visited the following schools, that would be especially helpful but all information is welcome:</p>
<p>Columbia
Notre Dame
Princeton
Stanford
Boston College
Harvard</p>
<p>a notre dame tour is always awkward when you are the only one who doesn’t stop to pray at the grotto thing.</p>
<p>but the tour itself was really good, and the campus is beautiful. great food as well.</p>
<p>BC has a beautiful campus. the tour was decent, nothing to write home about. also good food.</p>
<p>I’ve visited Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton, but only Princeton on an actual guided tour.
Harvard and Columbia have similar campuses in that they have an actual “campus” but are directly in an urban environment. And you really can’t go wrong with Boston or New York City=) Personally, I liked Harvard’s campus more than Columbia’s, maybe because it’s greener, and prettier, in my opinion. Princeton is a bit more “isolated.” It’s not rural or anything, but the town of Princeton, NJ is not as big as Boston or NYC. The campus is very beautiful though, and the buildings are also very pretty, particularly the interiors. The tour was fine, not one of my favorites, though, because they kept mentioning the eating clubs. lol. But the campus is nice:)</p>
<p>I recently visited Harvard and Princeton and have to say in terms of environment and location Princeton was much better than Harvard. I may be biased in the fact that I enjoyed the slightly less urban setting than Harvard. Also, I liked the tour guide and admissions officers better at Princeton too.</p>
<p>The best information session in my opinion was Union College (NY)</p>
<p>I’ve never taken a formal tour of Princeton, however I have visited it several times and absolutely love it. I think it’s beautiful and has a very European/Gothic feel to it. Columbia is nice as well, but still, I prefer Princeton’s campus.</p>
<p>Kenyon College
Lawrence University
Emory University
Vassar College</p>
<p>Honorable Mention - Illinois Wesleyan University for its extreme cleanliness</p>
<p>The tour I went on at Wesleyan was awesome- the guide was absolutely hilarious and down to earth when it came to talking about the school.</p>
<p>My tour at Harvard was horrible. The girl just talked about how historic this or that was. It was incredibly boring and pretentious; an ultimate turn-off. </p>
<p>UPenn took a grand total of two and a half hours. On a 90 degree day. Absolutely horrendous, to say the least. </p>
<p>Princeton was great. Brown was decent. Yale was…typically nerdy, but in a good way. Colgate, I believe, gives you ice cream sandwiches. But, all in all, the tour depends on your guide more than anything else. If you have to choose, go with the one that looks funniest.</p>
<p>I think Harvard and Yale have the same tour, with just the names changed – obviously different campuses but they have similar background stories, on both tours you stop at a statue and can rub its foot, etc.</p>
<p>Princeton is absolutely beautiful. The only downside (if you see it as such) is the small-ish town it’s in.</p>
<p>I visited Columbia and was amazed the second I stepped foot on campus. Ever since I took that tour I’ve wanted to go to Columbia for law school.</p>
<p>For me, although I had a GREAT tour guide, it was more the grandeur of the campus and the contrast from the city around it that got me. I know my brother was sighing the whole time we were on campus, and neither of us generally are city people.</p>
<p>I visited a couple of Boston schools. Wellesley has a gorgeous traditional campus located in an affluent town. Northeastern has a beautiful campus s more modern look that is located INSIDE the city with a definied campus. Lots of green areas…saw people tanning, playing volleyball, and frisbee on my tour.</p>
<p>I looked at like 17 schools and I thought that BC had the prettiest campus. I also thought Franklin & Marshall had the best info session - the admissions office had asked current students what their favorite things about the school were and then the responses were included at the end of the powerpoint.</p>
<p>Of the schools you’ve mentioned, I’ve visited Harvard and Boston College. I thought that the Harvard one was AWFUL. The tour guide focused more on when the buildings were built and the history of the statues than talking about the school. I felt like I was a tourist or something, not someone considering a school. But there’s no denying that Harvard is really pretty. It’s exactly what you think of when you hear “Ivy League”: brick buildings, ivy, and smart-looking students meandering around.</p>
<p>The Boston College tour was good. My tour guide knew a lot about the school, and he snuck us in a few classrooms. 
We also saw the library, a computer lab, and a few other buildings. It was very informative. Unlike Harvard, he focused on student life and not prestige. I definitely got the feeling of what being a student there would be like. (And I liked it.) The school is GORGEOUS. The information session was not as great. They had 5 students answer questions from the audience. They sort of lacked diversity and exemplified the stereotype of “rich, white, Northeast students.” They seemed nice and honest, however.</p>
<p>thanks everyone so far. anyone else?</p>
<p>I particularly like urban campuses that remain beautiful. Particularly, some of my favorites are Uchicago, Johns Hopkins, UPenn, and Columbia.
Johns Hopkins is a little bit different from the rest in that it is just about as urban as the other three, but the campus itself makes you forget everything and feel like you are in a giant park with flowers, squirrels and the like. The red brick architecture made everything look so quaint and perfect.
UChicago was nice too, but felt a little more dreary because of the gothic architecture. However, the buildings felt very powerful and gave an aura of strength and intelligence.
Columbia was very frilly and beautiful in the neo-classical sense. I loved the structure of everything and the attention to detail in buildings, though so were admittedly older and more run-down than others. However, the campus was tiny and a lot of buildings were situated like NYU buildings where they were literally IN the city. no grass, etc. lol
UPenn was very historic and nice, though it felt squished at times. very beautiful architecture tho :)</p>
<p>Saw Lafayette on a beautiful spring day. The campus was gorgeous and the tour was very well run.</p>
<p>Kenyon College and Furman University, beautiful campus and the tours were very informative and, most importantly, memorable because the guides were a lot of fun. I will also agree with F&M, great tour.</p>
<p>i really loved washington university in st.louis and uc berkeley! the tour at washU was terrific (although it was a very hot day!) and the tour at uc berkeley was just OK.</p>
<p>Princeton…definitely at the top of my list…one of the most beautiful campuses EVER…</p>