Boston College came to mind. As did Princeton. And Stanford.
Check out Indiana University. Bloomington is a very cool little town and those sandstone buildings are gorgeous. No doubt because of size there are other buildings that don’t “match” but it’s a nice spot.
I can think of tons that are smaller.
UConn is huge and spread out. Buildings don’t match. I would never describe it as a pretty (or contained) campus though Horsebarn Hill area is pretty. I live close and am there often for games. Don’t agree that UVM is a good match either. I love UNH and think it fits the beautiful and contained description. UMaine as well. Most of the campuses that I can think of that fit are smaller than you’re looking for.
Ohio University, there is a lot of matching brick there. Nice college town.
Wake is gorgeous but no college town area to walk to - Reynolda Village is the closest thing, but not much there ( even though so cute and charming)
What about Santa Clara? GORGEOUS school
OP said:
Thirding Indiana University as a possibility. The town is adjacent to downtown, and although like many flagships has Greek and athletic life available, it has tons of other options available as well, including around 1k concerts/recitals a year from one of the country’s top music schools. There are several lakes and state parks in the area, and it has an active outdoors club. Its school of public and environmental affairs is also well-regarded.
We love this gorgeous and very fine college…but it is neither rural, suburban or wooded.
WashU has a GORGEOUS campus. It is in a suburb of St Louis and has a really cute area near the school where lots of students hang out (Del Mar Loop.)
Duke also has a gorgeous campus, but not sure it fits your “college town” desire and also has a strong greek scene. UNC is close by in Chapel Hill. Bigger public school and not a very pretty campus in my opinion but super cute college town.
Michigan also has a beautiful campus with a great college town.
I’ve been struggling with whether or not to mention WUSTL, but my S24, who I think has overlapping tastes in campuses/settings with the OP’s kid (e.g., he also really like William & Mary), LOVED the WUSTL campus and setting.
I think it all kinda depends on what the OP means by “1. Rural or suburban location - nothing right in a city.” WUSTL is outside the city limits, but the city is literally across the street, and it is still a moderately dense area. Historic inner-ring suburban areas like that are what I would call “streetcar suburbs”, and are actually one of my favorite forms of development. They are dense enough to be walkable and to support local neighborhood commercial districts, but still spread out enough to feel comfortably spacious.
And in fact the Metro still runs from WUSTL into Downtown, and also back to downtown Clayton. And finally Forest Park (in the the part of the city straight across the street) is an amazing, global-class park.
So I think it is a great setting, but part of what I like about it is that it is still well-connected to St Louis. Which may or may not be on point for the OP.
By the way, Macalester also has what I would consider to be a very similar, and very desirable, location in the Twin Cities: right between Downtown St Paul and Downtown Minneapolis, same sort of lovely walkable, streetcar-suburb form. Macalester is way smaller than the OP wants, and has a somewhat eclectic campus style. But I am mentioning it because many people (myself included) think Macalester has a great setting, and I think WUSTL is in some ways similarly desirable.
Agree on UMaine. Fits your criteria… Orono and that whole area is so beautiful.
UNH has a big road running right through the campus, but otherwise Durham is quite nice as well.
A bit surprised nobody has mentioned Virginia Tech unless I missed it? Or is that too big (30K) students and/or too sprawling? Technically the campus is big, but I usually think of it as the part around the drill field, and then the sports complexes to the south.
I’m more knowledgeable about Engineering, but their College of Natural Resources and Environment seems to have a lot of different options. Degrees & Majors | College of Natural Resources and Environment | Virginia Tech
It is definitely beautiful, most of the buildings match (I prefer Hokie Stone to brick myself), and Blacksburg is definitely a cute college town in a pretty part of the country. (not that I’m biased as an alum.) Nearby Christiansburg also adds more options for shopping.
As someone who grew up in WS and still has family there, the university and the town are not connected in a way that makes me think of WS as a college town. It’s a town with a college in it.
I was thinking about it - but I didn’t think the town was ‘special’ - just a lot of regular stuff. But the campus is stunning.
I agree it has been that way historically but with the new Wake downtown campus, I also think that is changing. Students have a reason to be downtown now.
Hmmmm. Downtown WS - not nice.
Actually the new Innovation zone is quite nice, Winston Salem has revitalized over the last decade. Two new Kimptons and a bunch of new restaurants and bars. Wake’s got a brand new medical school, classroom space for undergrad and lots of state of the art research space. https://www.innovationquarter.com/tenant-directory/wake-downtown/
Ok. I was there last year (at wake) for Paul McCartney and once for work and stayed at the Marriott downtown. - two or three years ago. Wasn’t nice. Maybe they fixed the area.
I can comment well on Winston Salem. Our son went to grad school there. LOTS of revitalization happening in the town. We have been there more than a dozen times. The downtown in particular is getting a lot of work. The Steven’s Center for performing arts is getting a multimillion dollar renovation. It’s a fabulous performance space. Once that is completed, I believe you will see a resurgence of restaurants etc in that downtown. Wake is in a nice area of WS. The grounds are gorgeous.
Re: Reynolda…the grounds are amazing. Just the walking paths are worth the visit, and they are used by a lot of students. The gardens at Reynolda are maintained by some group/major at Wake. I wouldn’t say it’s like a downtown…at all. But it’s a fabulous outdoor area for folks to use for recreation.
Good point on UConn-some pretty buildings and some really not and a mix!!! Wait though how is UConn not contained ? Cause the dorms are across the street ? It’s still pretty rural with cows up the road.