The Travel & Leisure list by state. Obviously some states have more competition than others!
AL - U of Alabama
AK - U of Alaska - fairbanks
AZ - U of Arizona
AR - Hendrix
CA - Pepperdine
CO - U of Colorado Boulder
CT - Yale
DE - U of Deleware
FL - Flagler
GA - Berry
HI - U of Hawaii - Manoa
ID - U if Idaho
IL - Chicago
IN - Indiana Bloomington
IA - Iowa State
KS - Kansas State
KY - Louisville
LA - Tulane
ME - College of the Atlantic
MD - Naval Academy
MA - College of the Holy Cross
MI - Kalamazoo
MN - St Olaf
MS - U of Mississippi
MO - Wash U
MT - U of Montana
NE - Creighton
NV - Sierra Nevada
NH - Dartmouth
NJ - Princeton
NM - St John’s Santa Fe
NY - Colgate
NC - Wake Forest
ND - U of North Dakota
OH - Kenyon
OK - Oklahoma State
OR - Lewis & Clark
PA - UPENN
RI - Salve Regina
SC - Furman
SD - Augustana
TN - Vanderbilt
TX - SMU
UT - Utah State
VT - Middlebury
VA - UVA
WA - U of washington
DC - Georgetown
WV - West Virginia U
WI - U of Wisconsin Madison
WY - U of Wyoming
Stanford University
University of California Santa Barbara
Rice University
Santa Clara University
UC Berkeley
USC
Princeton University
Duke University
Northwestern
Cornell
Brown
Dartmouth
Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. There are some colleges mentioned here that are attractive in some way, but not most beautiful, according to my newly-created CBS.
If we set three colleges as being number one in beauty (1 big Uni, 1 mid sized Uni, 1 LAC) we can create a College Beauty Standard.
My CBS of #1 most beautiful colleges:
Big Uni–only been to Penn State, which is certainly not most beautiful. Someone else has to nominate.
Mid-sized Uni–Lehigh. Hills are pretty.
LAC–Kenyon
The campus of Colgate University in central New York is just magnificent. Its architectural heritage spanning 200 years, including its latest 3 new builds, always impresses first time visitors and speaks volumes about the careful stewardship of the campus by Colgate’s leadership.
The Travel & Leisure article suggests that Colgate, less than an hour from Syracuse and Utica, is in the middle of nowhere. I prefer to recall its setting among rolling hills and farm land, with the charm of the Village of Hamilton delivering amenities. With its great facilities and various programs as backdrop, the Office of Admissions displays the suggestion that Colgate is indeed “in the middle of everywhere”.
See the following link to get an idea of what’s being added to the Colgate campus during the next several months. The webcam images support the text and artists’ renderings:
For setting and views, the best I’ve been to is Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. It’s a Christian college, so not a regular place to visit for the CC crowd, but wow, wow, of all the many colleges we have been to, that one stands out. I recently went to University of San Diego, which is often is cited as the most beautiful campus in San Diego, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Point Loma Nazarene (IMHO). The setting on a bluff above the ocean with a winding road down to the beach is to die for. If you are in San Diego, go there to watch the sunset.
@wisteria100 that list from Travel & Leisure is pretty good but I wonder about these (with my alternatives in parentheses):
CA - Pepperdine (Pepperdine has a great view, but campus itself is not a favorite so perhaps Scripps)
FL - Flagler (Rollins)
KS - Kansas State (Kansas)
MA - College of the Holy Cross (OK but has to be close with Mount Holyoke and Wellesley)
NY - Colgate (OK but I have a soft spot for West Point)
NC - Wake Forest (I’d go with Duke – yes East and West are separated, but still has Duke Gardens and some great architecture)
PA - UPENN (Penn has some great areas, but not great overall – Bryn Mawr or maybe Swarthmore)
VA - UVA (UVA is inconsistent, I’d go with Richmond, W&M, or W&L)
@izzoone - Some states definitely have a lot of options to make that T&L list. If they were doing a top 50 vs. top by state, I agree with you that there could be multiples from MA VA and PA.
@Lindagaf like your CBS idea. And though I usually agree with you, I have to differ with you on Lehigh. While, I love a campus with a good hill, I thought Lehigh was a little dark and the way the trees were situated meant the hills didn’t create beautiful vistas like can be found at other hilly schools.
Cornell is quite attractive. I love the gorges and bridges. Stanford is also very attractive. UVM has quite a few new buildings, mountains in the background, and a great small city nearby.
However, to me this isn’t even close. UBC is the most attractive campus by far. It has a forest and the trails through the forest, sandy beaches (at least at low tide), ships nearby (big ones and little ones), sailing nearby, and mountains in the background (big ones and bigger ones). It has a great botanical garden. It even has a farm. If you were to rank by size, it would definitely be in the “big” category.
We very much enjoyed the visit to Salve Regina, in Newport RI, as a beautiful campus, abutting the famous cliff walks
Since our pups were still in their stroller at the time we visited, I didn’t count it among our official college visits, but since it was mentioned above and we have visited it, I would encourage anyone to go out of their way to come see it too.
@thumper1 Pepperdine was on my daughter’s safety list based on the pictures of the view and my personal memory from when I used to drive by it every day on my commute (from many years ago when I lived in So Cal). Once we got there it immediately dropped off the list. View aside, the campus itself felt more like a business park. The architecture is uninspiring. Too many concrete courtyards, etc. It didn’t feel like a “campus.”
Completely agree with West Point, though Colgate is really pretty. Salve Regina is a great call, but UVA needs to move out of the way because Richmond has it beat
PS. I’d put Notre Dame in over IU and I think there are prettier schools in PA than UPenn
