List of America's Most Beautiful College Campuses (30)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both U Virginia & College of William & Mary are on the list.

U Chicago, Northwestern, Berry College, Stanford, Princeton, Wellesley College, Bryn Mawr, U Colorado-Boulder, U Washington-Seattle, Rice, Lewis & Clark College, Yale, Duke, Furman University, Wisconsin-Madison, Kenyon College, Notre Dame, Bard, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Flagler College, Florida Southern, Sewanee-The Univ. of the South, UVA, Wm. & Mary, U San Diego, Cornell, Swarthmore College, U Georgia, & U Hawaii.

It’s clear that whoever put this list together has never been to Pepperdine

As someone from a beach town in Southern California, I never found the Pepperdine campus to be all that impressive. I would choose the campuses of UC San Diego, University of San Diego, or UC Santa Barbara over Pepperdine any day of the week. Sure it's a good view, the actually campus itself has mainly ugly buildings and is far away from most of LA and non beach related activities.

But hey, to each their own. I'd probably remove about half the campuses from the list I've visited as well.

Also grew up in LA. went to USC. Daughter is at UCLA. But cmon. UCSD is not pretty. USD is definitely a beautiful campus. UC Santa Barbara has some pretty buildings, but overall not as pretty as USD. TO deny the fact that Pepperdine has the best setting of all of these CA schools is ridiculous. Sure the buildings are not that pretty, but from the inside, the views are amazing. You will spend most of your time inside. And basically every other building there has glass walls facing the pacific. The setting is unrivaled in the West Coast. I would have traded that campus and views for mine at USC in an instant…..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both U Virginia & College of William & Mary are on the list.

U Chicago, Northwestern, Berry College, Stanford, Princeton, Wellesley College, Bryn Mawr, U Colorado-Boulder, U Washington-Seattle, Rice, Lewis & Clark College, Yale, Duke, Furman University, Wisconsin-Madison, Kenyon College, Notre Dame, Bard, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Flagler College, Florida Southern, Sewanee-The Univ. of the South, UVA, Wm. & Mary, U San Diego, Cornell, Swarthmore College, U Georgia, & U Hawaii.

It’s clear that whoever put this list together has never been to Pepperdine

As someone from a beach town in Southern California, I never found the Pepperdine campus to be all that impressive. I would choose the campuses of UC San Diego, University of San Diego, or UC Santa Barbara over Pepperdine any day of the week. Sure it's a good view, the actually campus itself has mainly ugly buildings and is far away from most of LA and non beach related activities.

But hey, to each their own. I'd probably remove about half the campuses from the list I've visited as well.

Also grew up in LA. went to USC. Daughter is at UCLA. But cmon. UCSD is not pretty. USD is definitely a beautiful campus. UC Santa Barbara has some pretty buildings, but overall not as pretty as USD. TO deny the fact that Pepperdine has the best setting of all of these CA schools is ridiculous. Sure the buildings are not that pretty, but from the inside, the views are amazing. You will spend most of your time inside. And basically every other building there has glass walls facing the pacific. The setting is unrivaled in the West Coast. I would have traded that campus and views for mine at USC in an instant…..

+1, cannot believe someone mentioned ucsd as an alternative beautiful campus when most of it is stratified concrete. I do prefer La Jolla to Malibu, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both U Virginia & College of William & Mary are on the list.

U Chicago, Northwestern, Berry College, Stanford, Princeton, Wellesley College, Bryn Mawr, U Colorado-Boulder, U Washington-Seattle, Rice, Lewis & Clark College, Yale, Duke, Furman University, Wisconsin-Madison, Kenyon College, Notre Dame, Bard, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Flagler College, Florida Southern, Sewanee-The Univ. of the South, UVA, Wm. & Mary, U San Diego, Cornell, Swarthmore College, U Georgia, & U Hawaii.

It’s clear that whoever put this list together has never been to Pepperdine

As someone from a beach town in Southern California, I never found the Pepperdine campus to be all that impressive. I would choose the campuses of UC San Diego, University of San Diego, or UC Santa Barbara over Pepperdine any day of the week. Sure it's a good view, the actually campus itself has mainly ugly buildings and is far away from most of LA and non beach related activities.

But hey, to each their own. I'd probably remove about half the campuses from the list I've visited as well.

Also grew up in LA. went to USC. Daughter is at UCLA. But cmon. UCSD is not pretty. USD is definitely a beautiful campus. UC Santa Barbara has some pretty buildings, but overall not as pretty as USD. TO deny the fact that Pepperdine has the best setting of all of these CA schools is ridiculous. Sure the buildings are not that pretty, but from the inside, the views are amazing. You will spend most of your time inside. And basically every other building there has glass walls facing the pacific. The setting is unrivaled in the West Coast. I would have traded that campus and views for mine at USC in an instant…..

+1, cannot believe someone mentioned ucsd as an alternative beautiful campus when most of it is stratified concrete. I do prefer La Jolla to Malibu, however.

I call UC SD "UC Bishop Ranch". Bishop Ranch is a group of several corporate office parks along I-680 between Concord and Pleasanton. As I said earlier in this thread, University of San Francisco is underrated for its views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the city of SF and the East Bay Hills, along with its proximity to Golden Gate Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spent last week driving around Vermont and we thought Middlebury College was gorgeous. Not just the mountain setting, but the buildings were attractive--lots of stone. We also liked UVM. Lake Champlain makes for a beautiful backdrop.

+1, but you failed to list a third school. I would be interested in your opinion.

PP here. Not sure what you mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both U Virginia & College of William & Mary are on the list.

U Chicago, Northwestern, Berry College, Stanford, Princeton, Wellesley College, Bryn Mawr, U Colorado-Boulder, U Washington-Seattle, Rice, Lewis & Clark College, Yale, Duke, Furman University, Wisconsin-Madison, Kenyon College, Notre Dame, Bard, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Flagler College, Florida Southern, Sewanee-The Univ. of the South, UVA, Wm. & Mary, U San Diego, Cornell, Swarthmore College, U Georgia, & U Hawaii.

It’s clear that whoever put this list together has never been to Pepperdine

As someone from a beach town in Southern California, I never found the Pepperdine campus to be all that impressive. I would choose the campuses of UC San Diego, University of San Diego, or UC Santa Barbara over Pepperdine any day of the week. Sure it's a good view, the actually campus itself has mainly ugly buildings and is far away from most of LA and non beach related activities.

But hey, to each their own. I'd probably remove about half the campuses from the list I've visited as well.

Also grew up in LA. went to USC. Daughter is at UCLA. But cmon. UCSD is not pretty. USD is definitely a beautiful campus. UC Santa Barbara has some pretty buildings, but overall not as pretty as USD. TO deny the fact that Pepperdine has the best setting of all of these CA schools is ridiculous. Sure the buildings are not that pretty, but from the inside, the views are amazing. You will spend most of your time inside. And basically every other building there has glass walls facing the pacific. The setting is unrivaled in the West Coast. I would have traded that campus and views for mine at USC in an instant…..

Congrats to your daughter for attending UCLA - it's a big upgrade over USC, but you know that.

Once you get used to the beach views at Pepperdine, you're stuck with ugly buildings, brown and fire-burned hills, and not much of a town. Though it's always fun spotting someone famous late at night at the grocery store. Some people love those views, but I'd choose La Jolla and Santa Barbara any day of the week over Malibu. And UCSD has the Giesel Library, which is one of the few cool brutalist buildings worth seeing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spent last week driving around Vermont and we thought Middlebury College was gorgeous. Not just the mountain setting, but the buildings were attractive--lots of stone. We also liked UVM. Lake Champlain makes for a beautiful backdrop.

+1, but you failed to list a third school. I would be interested in your opinion.

PP here. Not sure what you mean.

Oh, I see--we're supposed to pick three more. Dartmouth gets my vote.

[Anonymous]

Yale.

[Anonymous]

Wisconsin is in a beautiful place, but the actual buildings knock it off the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale.

Yale has some really cool architecture, but town of New Haven isn't great and the sports facilities are two miles away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both U Virginia & College of William & Mary are on the list.

U Chicago, Northwestern, Berry College, Stanford, Princeton, Wellesley College, Bryn Mawr, U Colorado-Boulder, U Washington-Seattle, Rice, Lewis & Clark College, Yale, Duke, Furman University, Wisconsin-Madison, Kenyon College, Notre Dame, Bard, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Flagler College, Florida Southern, Sewanee-The Univ. of the South, UVA, Wm. & Mary, U San Diego, Cornell, Swarthmore College, U Georgia, & U Hawaii.

It’s clear that whoever put this list together has never been to Pepperdine

As someone from a beach town in Southern California, I never found the Pepperdine campus to be all that impressive. I would choose the campuses of UC San Diego, University of San Diego, or UC Santa Barbara over Pepperdine any day of the week. Sure it's a good view, the actually campus itself has mainly ugly buildings and is far away from most of LA and non beach related activities.

But hey, to each their own. I'd probably remove about half the campuses from the list I've visited as well.

Also grew up in LA. went to USC. Daughter is at UCLA. But cmon. UCSD is not pretty. USD is definitely a beautiful campus. UC Santa Barbara has some pretty buildings, but overall not as pretty as USD. TO deny the fact that Pepperdine has the best setting of all of these CA schools is ridiculous. Sure the buildings are not that pretty, but from the inside, the views are amazing. You will spend most of your time inside. And basically every other building there has glass walls facing the pacific. The setting is unrivaled in the West Coast. I would have traded that campus and views for mine at USC in an instant…..

Congrats to your daughter for attending UCLA - it's a big upgrade over USC, but you know that.

Once you get used to the beach views at Pepperdine, you're stuck with ugly buildings, brown and fire-burned hills, and not much of a town. Though it's always fun spotting someone famous late at night at the grocery store. Some people love those views, but I'd choose La Jolla and Santa Barbara any day of the week over Malibu. And UCSD has the Giesel Library, which is one of the few cool brutalist buildings worth seeing.

Thank you for the Dig!!! Touché. yes, I’m glad she is at UCLA and not USC. But I’m sorry. Growing in MB, I’m just a sucker for ocean views. I hated USC campus. I would rather have views of the pacific 360 days per year than views of another building on most campuses. Sure, LaJolla is nice. I would prefer that too. Malibu is a small town. But you are close to the action if you want action. I hate brutalist architecture. So Geisel for me is horrible. UCSD is ugly. USD on the other is beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Bard campus overlooks the Hudson River and has a 930 acre arboretum. Truly beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Salve Regina in Newport RI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yale.

Yale has some really cool architecture, but town of New Haven isn't great and the sports facilities are two miles away.

Great info ! Thank you.

Important for readers to know which schools' sports facilities require travel from campus. Columbia University ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The University of Arizona in Tempe, Arizona has an attractive campus & a decent Honors College.

No way. While it's not ugly, and the desert is quite beautiful, the campus itself is flat and boring. And doesn't have nearly enough shade for a place that hot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this list of 30 colleges & universities was expanded to 33 schools,which schools do you think deserve to be added ?

Colgate
Middlebury
Vassar

Vassar, no way. While the main campus is kind of pretty (but not at all stunning), it's pretty small and surrounded by the ugliest part of the city on one side and highway on the others.

While the Hudson Valley is very beautiful itself, the campuses of NY schools tend to be underwhelming.