<p>northwestern's entire east side of campus is a beach</p>
<p>I second (third?) the Pepperdine recommendation. The Pacific would be a definite change of scenery from Fla. and the beach there is beautiful.</p>
<p>Definitely check out USD and UCSD....both are right by multiple beaches in San Diego.</p>
<p>Anyone who lives in the Midwest will tell you that Lake Michigan is freezing cold until June. It seriously takes until June for the water to pass 65°. Sure it has a beach, but if you plan on getting in the water before June or after September, don't be surprised at how cold it is.</p>
<p>Pepperdine is right on Malibu beach, and the students polled from there say the dorms are like palaces. The only thing is that they don't guarantee housing for all undergrads, so you can end up far away from the beach because of the competitive housing market in that area. It's also near impossible to find affordable off-campus housing in SoCal, so beware.</p>
<p>Actually the water in the pacific isn't any warmer. I was ocean-kayaking in La Jolla (San Diego) couple days ago and the water was 67 degree; that's already the beginning of July.</p>
<p>^The Pacific has warmer air during the year though, which makes all the difference.</p>
<p>In the midwest, from September through June, you typically stay as far away from the water as possible. In addition to the water being cold, the air is very cold, so no one goes to the beach. California has much warmer air, which makes sitting around the beach tolerable throughout the year.</p>
<p>I live in Santa Cruz and it has a lot of surf spots, but yeah the water is pretty cold here. In fact I went to the beach yesterday and the water seemed a little warmer than usual, but still cold enough to force me out like 30 minutes later. I wasn't wearing a wetsuit though, and one can obviously keep warmer in one of those.</p>
<p>UCSD is beautiful. It's about 5 minutes from the beach in La Jolla. I go to school in that area and I can always look forward to the amazing view.</p>
<p><a href="http://acm.cs.northwestern.edu/%7Erachel/photos/nu/campus/%5B/url%5D">http://acm.cs.northwestern.edu/~rachel/photos/nu/campus/</a> gives one a pretty idea how "watery" the campus is. </p>
<p>Obviously, it looks a little different in winter. ;)</p>
<p>75% of the school year it's too cold or there's too much work to do to enjoy the beaches at Northwestern.... :rolleyes:</p>
<p>How about a school in hawaii?</p>