Unbelievable that I’ve seen all but a couple of these campuses and the list,in my opinion, a pretty darn good list.
http://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/40-most-beautiful-college-campuses-in-rural-areas/
I’m glad to see that St. Olaf is on that list. We toured it a year ago. It is absolutely stunning. My daughter didn’t end up going there, but we absolutely loved the morning we spent visiting that school.
Wellesley at 12 is indeed gorgeous, but rural it ain’t. It’s upscale suburbia.
Great list how about West Point. Not everyone’s cup of tea but a beautiful campus
I visited Elon a few years ago with DD and while she didn’t end up applying, we did think it was a stunning campus. I’m surprised it wasn’t ranked higher.
I guess the “rural” definition excluded two of my favorites – Indiana and Colorado.
Mr. Jefferson’s Academical Village at #4 is a complete travesty. UVA is required to always be #1 on this list – that’s actually written into the U.S. Constitution.
Surprised Bennington is only #38…
Some colleges are mainly beautiful because of their landscaping and trees (such as Penn State). Some are beautiful because of the architecture of their buildings. Others are mainly beautiful because of their settings, with mountains and lakes.
I would not describe Evergreen State College as rural by any stretch of the imagination. And I find the buildings to be quite ugly. It is true that it is close to the Olympics and Puget Sound, so the location is near beautiful areas. But the campus itself has a lot of sixties and seventies style concrete block.
If Evergreen qualifies as rural, then I would replace it at #17 with Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Although there is a small town around it, the campus, and buildings are charming.
Boulder is more ‘rural’ than Wellesley. I noticed they didn’t show any of these schools in the ‘mud’ season or even in a blizzard. If only every day at St. Olaf’s was a beautiful fall day.
At the end they describe how they defined rural - if memory serves me it was a area with less than 50,000 people.
“Most beautiful”? that gotta be very subjective ranking. Here’s another one: http://www.bestcollegereviews.org/features/most-beautiful-college-campuses/
One vote for my own alma mater, Embry-Riddle Prescott. Great campus in a beautiful location!
NAU is another one.
LOL. Wellesley College is located in the Town of Wellesley, Massachusetts, an upscale suburb of Boston located about 16 miles from the heart of Boston proper and completely surrounded by other suburbs including Newton, Needham, Weston, and Natick. Perhaps they didn’t notice the other 4.7 million residents of metropolitan Boston surrounding Wellesley? Lovely town and lovelier campus, but “rural”? I don’t think so.
2 of them are on my son’s short list .
My daughter’s school is very high on both of those lists. It has all the features @Charliesch mentions above: beautiful historic buildings and architecture, landscaping, and natural setting with lakes on campus and hills surrounding it. We visited last weekend and with the fall foliage it was gorgeous. 
“At the end they describe how they defined rural - if memory serves me it was a area with less than 50,000 people.”
That’s so stupid - practically every suburb of a city would be “rural” then.
I am happy that Miami made a list at #22. Pretty campus was one of D’s reasons to attend there. Whatever makes them happy…she had great 4 years there. And our state of OH has few others, nice to know!
For http://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/40-most-beautiful-college-campuses-in-rural-areas/
whereas this list: http://www.bestcollegereviews.org/features/most-beautiful-college-campuses/
Of course, MY kid’s school is top ten on the second list and only top 20 on the first, so the second’s methodology is clearly better 
“Of course, MY kid’s school is top ten on the second list and only top 20 on the first, so the second’s methodology is clearly better.”
Clearly list # 2 is right. Since UVA is #1 rather than a ridiculous #4 on the other list.