It really is subjective. I loved Haverford and Lafayette; hated Swarthmore and Lehigh. Bryn Mawr is just okay to me.
We have not seen a # of the ones listed above, but among the 15 that we have seen… Princeton was the most impressive / attractive overall. Plus… its surrounding area is nice as well, so there was not a huge let down once you leave campus…
Colgate and Cornell for sure but I haven’t seen anything that comes close to Dartmouth so far. Like going to college at a summer camp lol.
Princeton, Bryn Mawr, Smith. Swarthmore in the spring. The entire state of Vermont in the fall.
Its so cool seeing everyone say Wellesley I actually live 3 minutes driving distance away from the campus, always walked my dog there, it is beautiful but I never realized it was one of the best
All of the campuses have nice areas and not so nice areas, but overall, Cornell takes top honors IMHO. The combination of the clock tower and stately old quads mixed with new all glass additions and soaring spaces inside buildings, and getting it all to work well together does it for me. And then add in the incredible gorges cutting through campus. Princeton would be my second pick. I haven’t seen Wellesley but I have been to dozens of campuses throughout the country.
For state universities and colleges, UVM is nice.
Many beautiful campuses mentioned here! My top four: Hamilton, Wellesley, Cornell and Trinity College in CT. The surrounding area is not great but the campus itself, especially the long walk and chapel, are very nice.
Cornell-- stunningly beautiful!
@berniesmom Agree with you about Trinity. Doesn’t get much love on CC but thought it was very pretty especially on a beautiful fall day with foliage. Wellesley we saw in the summer, and though the lake area was nice, the rest of the campus was brown from the dry summer, so it did not show well that day. Half of Hamilton was pretty, the other side to me definitely was not. Richmond was gorgeous with not a thing out of place and Holy Cross is a beautiful ivy covered campus.
Cornell, Colgate, & College of the Holy Cross are some of my favorites.
add Bucknell to the list
and yes it is all pretty subjective
Second on Holy Cross. Beautiful campus. Bryn Mawr, Yale and Vassar. Princeton is stunning.
If we start an ugliest, i start with Brandeis
I think that while the campus is small, some of Bowdoin’s buildings are pretty cool – like the Arctic museum and the one nearby with the round top – and the polar bear statue is neat too. My wife thought it was a lame idea for us to stop and walk around for thirty minutes on our honeymoon, but I wasn’t going to drive all over Maine (on the way to Bar Harbor) without stopping to see at least one of its iconic LACs. I tried to get Bates and Colby thrown into the bargain but one look told me it wasn’t happening. (It was spitting rain that day.) Anyway, Bowdoin will always be special.
What are her stats?
What can your family afford?
@prezbucky I agree some of the buildings at Bowdoin are pretty cool … and the setting at the end of that street that’s lined with all those classic New England Inns, it’s all picture perfect. Maybe not picture perfect or the single most beautiful, but it’s about as quaint as they come.
A shame you didn’t get up to Bates. Lewiston not super great but the campus is, in my opinion, the most beautiful of the Maine LACs.
The Maine LACs all have nice museums worth visiting. Good excuse to go. That plus a Gelato Fiasco visit in Brunswick.
Carnegie Mellon.
@prezbucky Hilarious that you toured colleges on your honeymoon. I’m totally with you though - I love looking at colleges.
@merc81 I got a 31 on the ACT(27 science, 28 math, 33 reading, 36 english). 2040 on the SAT (610 writing, 640 math, 790 reading). Almost all A’s. I also have an interesting story - most kids in my school don’t go away to college. I go to a Jewish orthodox girls’ school and most girls study in Israel for a year after high school and go through a Jewish religious program to get a degree. If someone goes to a regular college, she usually lives at home. I’m the only one in my grade taking SAT subject tests. My school doesn’t have AP, IB, or honors classes, but I have around eleven Jewish subjects every year, in addition to regular high school subjects. My everage school day ends at 5:00. My school doesn’t have standardized test preparation classes or a guidance/college counselor. We do have someone in charge of helping girls get into a study program in Israel, though. I’ll have to ask a teacher who I can list as my guidance counselor on applications.
You’re probably wondering why I decided to go to college. I’m actually not sure when I got the idea into my head, but at some point I knew I wanted to go to a prestigious school on a beautiful campus and study all sorts of subjects. My list of colleges is: safeties-CUNY Queens, SUNY Binghamton, match-Barnard, Wesleyan (sort of reach), reach- Williams, Amherst, Yale, Harvard, Brown. Some of those schools are a really high reaches, but I may retake the SAT and I’m hoping my unusual circumstances will help.
As for the financial aspect, I’m only applying to schools that will meet 100% of demonstrated need, with the exception of my safeties. My family income is in the sixties with two parents and four kids. We have a lot of assets, though.