<p>as a FL girl who lives about 5 minutes from the ocean, i absolutely love the beach/water.</p>
<p>are there any colleges that are either right on the water or very close to it (like, walking distance, preferably while still being on the campus grounds), and are well-reguarded academicaly?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>How about Pepperdine (reputedly one of the most spectacular and distracting campuses anywhere), College of the Atlantic (although the Maine coast might not even be considered to be "ocean" to a Florida girl!) or your very own New College of Florida? New College in particular has a reputation for academic excellence.</p>
<p>That's all I can think of off the top of my head...anyone else?</p>
<p>Do you want to stay in Florida?
UMiami
I believe Flagler isn't far from the ocean</p>
<p>Grab an atlas, and look at the maps for all states with a coastline...I know Rand McNally marks colleges/universities on their atlases. It won't tell you how close to the beach they are, but it'll give you a good idea and then you can do a Mapquest search online or go to the college's website to find out how far from the beach it is. You'll find a ton of schools though.</p>
<p>thanks for the tip!
i wouldn't mind staying in FL i guess,
but a change of scenery (a.k.a. maybe an ocean you can't actually swim in (or an ocean at all, since i live on the gulf, not the atlantic side)) would be nice too :]</p>
<p>St. Mary's of Maryland, Maryland's public honors college, is right on the water. (No, it's not a religious school; it's just located in St. Mary's, Maryland.) Connecticut College is also right on the water.</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara</p>
<p>Yea, Flagler College in St. Augustine is walking distance to the beach. I visit there regularly since it's about a 45 minute drive from Gainesville.</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara and UCSD are literally right on the ocean. Getting in OOS is hard, but it's worth a shot. </p>
<p>USD is also right on the water, but as it's private and doesn't follow the silly UC rules, it's much easier to get into. </p>
<p>College of Charleston is right near the SC coast.</p>
<p>Isn't Bowdoin pretty close to the ocean too?</p>
<p>Oh! Then there's Santa Clara U, which is only a short drive from the SF Bay. It's a cute school. A lot of my friends want to go there.</p>
<p>If you are interested in Lake Michigan, you can consider either Northwestern, which is right on the lake, or the U. Of Chicago which is close to the Lake. Lake Michigan is awesome and you can almost forget that it is not an ocean. There are some pretty nice beaches right on the lake and within walking distance from some nice parts of the city of Chicago. Both schools are top caliber.</p>
<p>Rollins College in Winter Park is right on a lake.</p>
<p>When considering out of state colleges, keep in mind that many ones that are near water also have very cold winters that preclude water activities with the exception of ice fishing.</p>
<p>In the North, beach season -- in terms of swimming -- is usually from about mid June until Labor Day.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has a BEAUTIFUL river (the Connecticut) right on campus. People swim in it all the time, as well as go kayaking, canoeing, etc. There are places to jump off of into it as well. Its not the ocean but the river was a huge part of my college experience.</p>
<p>IIRC, at U Wisconsin- Madison you can rent sailboats right at their student union and sail on Lake Michigan.</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz</p>
<p>its not entirely walking distance from the beach, but only a 5-10 min drive. and the campus is really pretty: its basically located within a huge forest that has awesome ocean views</p>
<p>I second Northstarmom's comment. The thing is - at a lot of these northern schools, the water will only be accesible in the summer, when you won't be on campus anyway.</p>
<p>monydad - Madison is surrounded by two smaller lakes, not Lake Michigan.</p>
<p>I sail corrected. I was there once, 25 years ago, and that was my , obviously faulty, recollection.</p>
<p>Im going to be attending UCSD in Fall, so i'll be biased and suggest UCSD.</p>
<p>out of the UC system, if you just want the beach scene and not too heavily on academics then your best bet is UCSB. I think UCSB received the award of best school to surf, as did UCSD by sports illustrated in 2000.</p>
<p>If you're out of state though, i would focus more on private schools though. The rules are retarted and if you're out of state UC tuition is through the roof.</p>
<p>Northwestern has a lakefront campus with a tiny beach on the north side of the campus. It also has pretty large lagoon in the middle of the campus. By the way, Lake Michigan "looks" like an ocean. :)</p>
<p>I think Pepperdine is very close to the ocean though I only drove by there once and I didn't really <em>walk</em> from the campus to the ocean; so I don't know if it's walking distance. But you can definitely see the ocean from the campus. UCSB is very close and I've been told it's walking distance to the beach. UCSD isn't walking distance to the ocean but it's very close. SD is a nice city to be in if you like warm weather and ocean.</p>