Urban College with a Beautiful Campus?

College Search & Selection
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<p>There really are so many beautiful schools located in cities. Rice really is a gorgeous place.
Take a look and don’t miss the architecture of Duncan Hall:</p>

<p>[This</a> is Rice: Our Campus](<a href=“http://www.rice.edu/virtualtours/campus/tourfiles/flash/index_fs.html?utm_source=Tour&utm_medium=Virtual&utm_campaign=CampusFull]This”>http://www.rice.edu/virtualtours/campus/tourfiles/flash/index_fs.html?utm_source=Tour&utm_medium=Virtual&utm_campaign=CampusFull)</p>

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<p>^ I agree. I visited the campus when I was in Houston last year. It is located in a nice neighborhood and campus felt very secure.</p>

63

<p>University of Southern California. Sooo beautiful. Seriously, the campus and the surrounding city are like 2 different words.</p>

64

<p>Washington University in St. Louis and University of Chicago. They’re both gorgeous.</p>

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<p>I have no doubt that WUStL has a beautiful campus, but the thing to remember about St. Louis is that the population keeps shrinking:</p>

<p>[Population</a> of St. Louis & Missouri 1820-2000](<a href=“http://www.genealogybranches.com/stlouispopulation.html]Population”>Population of St. Louis City & County, and Missouri 1820-2020)</p>

<p>It’s gone from 856,000 in 1950 to 348,000 in 2000. By the time the 2010 numbers come in it could really be small. And by the time the OP graduates, even smaller. I’ve never been there but friends who have gone for tours say there are very few restaurants, very few things to do in the city.</p>

66

<p>I once described the WUSTL setting as “urban lite” and that might be fairly accurate. No, it assuredly is not NYC, Boston, Chicago or L.A.</p>

<p>But it has distinct and interesting neighborhoods to explore and there’s a metro line that helps one explore them…and also makes it easy to travel between the campus and the airport. Two of the metro stops on the airport line drop students right at walking distance to university housing. </p>

<p>[St</a>. Louis Neighborhoods](<a href=“http://www.explorestlouis.com/visitors/neighborhoods.asp]St”>St Louis Neighborhoods | Explore Cool Neighborhoods St Louis)</p>

<p>The areas near the campus are: The Loop, Forest Park (a vast urban park with museums, skating rink, a zoo and located virtually steps from the campus), The Hill (Little Italy section), Soulard (which hosts the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the country), Laclede’s Landing (bars, restaurants, etc.)</p>

<p>I agree that someone who wants a truly big city experience would not be satisfied, but it is, I think, urban enough for some.</p>

67

<p>I’m a New Yorker and I’d say the neighborhood around WashU. has plenty to do (and lots of restaurants).</p>

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<p>Rice University in Houston, Texas, in my opinion, has the best balance between a “natural/green feel” and “urban.” Rice has Mediterranean architecture (like Stanford) and 5,000 trees on campus (it is designated as an arboretum), one for every undergraduate student. What I really like about Rice is that you could be walking to class and not even notice you are in the middle of the nation’s 4th largest city. But, when you look up to the horizon, you see the skyscrapers in the Texas Medical Center (including this really cool building, nicknamed the “Rainbow Building,” that has roof lighting that changes colors). Whenever you want to escape to the city, it is VERY EASY to do so. The Texas Medical Center, which is the world’s largest medical center, and Rice Village are both within walking distance, and they both have plenty of restaurants/eateries. Hermann Park (one of the nation’s largest urban parks), the Houston Zoo, and the Houston Museum District are adjacent to campus as well. Downtown Houston is about a 10 minute train ride away on the MetroRail. The Metro Rail station is very close to campus too, and Rice subsidizes the train fare.</p>

<p>I’ve visited about 15 campuses during high school, most of them top 20 universities. Other campuses that I feel have the combined urban/scenic campus include: Vanderbilt, Yale, Penn, and Brown. Although both Emory and WashU (visited both schools twice) have gorgeous campuses and have entertainment options in their surrounding areas, they are both a bit more suburban than Rice or Vanderbilt.</p>

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<p>The city of Bethlehem, PA</p>

<p>Lehigh University</p>

<p>[lehigh</a> university - alumni building pictures from mid atlantic photos on webshots](<a href=“Webshots - Desktop Wallpaper and Screen Savers”>Webshots - Desktop Wallpaper and Screen Savers)</p>

70

<p>Cal Tech and UCLA. But USC? feh</p>

71

<p>I’d say UBC! Short bus ride from downtown Vancouver, with all its ritzy hotels, expensive cars and nightlife. The campus is situated right by the ocean, surrounded by forest that’s gorgeous in the autumn, and occasionally gets some snow. You can see snowcapped mountains all around campus too.</p>

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<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://structurehub.com/blog/2009/09/americas-ten-most-beautiful-college-campuses/]America’s”&gt;structurehub.com is for sale]America’s</a> ten “most beautiful” college campuses<a href=“not%20limited%20to%20urban”>/url</a></p>

73

<p>Washington University in St. Louis. WashU has that combination of fall foliage, beautiful Collegiate Gothic architecture, and top-notch academics in an urban setting.</p>

<p>Other great urban campuses that come to mind are Penn, Yale, Chicago, and to some extent Rice (though I’m not sure if Rice experiences a distinct fall season).</p>

74

<p>Northwestern has a very scenic lakefront campus.
<a href=“http://www.sinanbastas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/northwestern-university.jpg[/url]”>http://www.sinanbastas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/northwestern-university.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Evanston is the first lakefront suburb north of Chicago. The downtown area is just outside the campus and is pretty urban with high-rise condos, over 80 restaurants, a 18-screen cinema complex, numerous shops, and barnes & nobles/borders. It’s known as the dining capital of the North Shore. The Chicago uptown neighborhoods (the best neighborhoods in Chicago) are short subway ride away; downtown Chicago is a bit further and the train ride takes 45 mins.</p>

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<p>According to Newsweek:</p>

<p>[The</a> 25 Most Desirable Urban Schools - Newsweek - Education](<a href=“http://education.newsweek.com/2010/09/12/the-25-most-desirable-urban-schools.all.html]The”>http://education.newsweek.com/2010/09/12/the-25-most-desirable-urban-schools.all.html)</p>

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<p>Did visit two beautiful SLAC’s, but they’re surburban…
The only other college we’ve been to is Yale, which we found very nice and comforting, but maybe not what comes to majority’s mind when thinking of “beautiful.” You should still check it out though! </p>

<p>I have to disagree with the mention of Columbia. D took a few summer course there (oh, that’s right, we’ve also seen Columbia!) and it was nothing special. A bunch of chalky buildings, and even some classroom/residential buildings that are streets away from campus (she had trouble finding a Sociology class, walked all over campus with a campus map asking for directions, and finally after 45 minutes, found the building tucked away behind a corner, and was late to class on her first day).</p>