<p>S says his most important criteria (at the moment at least!) is for a school that's in a city (or reasonably close to a city) with a "nice" well defined campus. For example, Case doesn't make this list - although it is in a city, it is not a typical campus feel. Northwestern makes the list though - although it is not really in a big city, it is in a reasonably big place with easy access to Chicago. I believe Georgetown also makes the cut. Any other suggestions? He's in the very early stages of formulating a list of colleges to visit ...</p>
<p>UPenn, Columbia, Georgetown, Georgia Tech…I’ve visited all 4 (and many others) and these are the top urban campuses i’ve seen…with Georgia Tech being a pleasant (affordable) surprise…</p>
<p>U. Penn, Brown, Boston U. Northeastern, UCLA and Johns Hopkins</p>
<p>@muf123, BU does not have a well-defined campus–no campus, really. It’s comparable to NYU.</p>
<p>Another urban school with a traditional campus is American in DC, which may be a good safety in OP’s son’s case. </p>
<p>Rice University in Houston</p>
<p>Penn, Brown, Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, WashU. Maybe Columbia, but not NYU.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt and Penn.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>“Level of applicant’s interest” is “very important” to American; presumably they do not want to be anyone’s safety (behind Georgetown or George Washington).</p>
<p>University of Chicago, in addition to those mentioned above, has a gorgeous urban campus. I agree that neither BU nor NYU have well-defined campuses.</p>
<p>Fordham, Trinity (CT)</p>
<p>Tufts? Although they keep sprawling around the original campus. Just a few T stops from down town and you can go almost anywhere with public transportation. </p>
<p>U Washington, UCLA, Texas</p>
<p>BU is sort of the poster-child for a not-well-defined campus, along with NYU. But I think Boston College, Tufts, and Brandeis would meet the criteria set out by the OP.</p>
<p>A few others in the same vein that deserve mention: Emory, Tulane, USC, WashU, Vanderbilt, College of Charleston, Reed. DePaul. The various Loyolas. USF.</p>
<p>In a slightly different mode, how about Berkeley, UCLA, Texas, University of Washington, Minnesota, Arizona?</p>
<p>McGill (one of the best city-campus balances anywhere). Toronto. UBC.</p>
<p>I’d add Northeastern to the urban-defined campus list.</p>
<p>U of Denver</p>
<p>Someone already mentioned UCLA. Beautiful, well-defined campus in a great section of LA. Close to everything!</p>
<p>For whatever reason, lots of people fail to consider urban publics despite the fact that they are often just as good or better than many of the urban privates they are considering. </p>
<p>How big does the city have to be?</p>
<p>U Minnesota
U Washington
U Arizona
Ohio State
U Cincinnati
Pitt</p>
<p>Seconding Tulane! Beautiful campus and just an easy streetcar ride to downtown. And it’s in New Orleans.</p>
<p>U of MN is a very traditional feeling campus right in the middle of Minneapolis, and just over the river is St Paul…great school if it is the right ‘fit’ …really wish it was the right fit for my kids actually!</p>
<p>A lot of good choices mentioned. I would add Carnegie Mellon and U. Miami (Coral Gables, FL).</p>