Ten Beautiful Campuses to Consider

Where you decide to attend is a decision based on many factors. Your financial situation, choice of degree path, and other concerns weigh heavily on the final choice. If you are looking at the outward appearance of the campus as a factor, here are ten of the most beautiful campuses in the United States to help you narrow down your search.

New England and Northeast

Bryn Mawr College is a women’s liberal arts school located in Pennsylvania in a town of the same name. The campus is known for its architecture. The college was founded in 1885 and is situated on 135 acres surrounded by lush trees and serene grounds. There is even a duck pond on the campus worthy of a landscape painting.

Amherst College, located in Amherst, Massachusetts, was the second largest of its kind in the middle 1830s. The school was founded in 1821. Over 100 buildings are spread across this 1,000-acre campus. Five hundred of those acres make up the school’s wildlife sanctuary, including wetlands, woodlands, ponds, and a river.

Southern Campuses

Forests, lakes, and founds make up the 27,000-acre campus of Berry College located in Mount Berry, Georgia. The private liberal arts college is known for its Gothic architecture. The school has even been used as the setting for well-known Hollywood movies.

Sewanee, the University of the South, is located in southeastern Tennessee on a whopping 13,000 acres of land. Founded in 1857, the school was not finished until 1959. Aside from the natural beauty of the Cumberland Plateau on which it is located, the school is known for its Neo-Gothic architecture.

Midwest

Many of the buildings on the Indiana University Bloomington campus are made from limestone, a material found in abundance in the area. Maxwell Hall, a tall limestone building that houses the school’s administration offices, is known for its peaked tower. The campus was originally founded in 1820. A wooded area, known as Dunn’s Woods, is replete with trees and known for its walking trails.

Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio expands over 1,000 acres of trees and sprawling green spaces. In 1949 a fire destroyed Old Kenyon, a Gothic-style building constructed in 1829. Original blueprints were used to rebuild the structure which still looms over the campus.

Southwest

Rice University in Houston, Texas sits on a mere 295 acres. The campus is known for the Mediterranean-inspired Lovett Hall. Founded in 1912, the school’s main claim to beauty is found in the on-campus arboretum, the Lynn R. Lowery Arboretum. More than 4,200 shrubs and trees give the small campus its splendor.

Sandstone walls and red-tiled roofs dot the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder. It is the school’s location at the base of the Rocky Mountains that draws visitors and nature lovers from all over. The campus is surrounded by stunning mountain vistas.

Pacific Northwest

Stunning mountain tops and cherry blossoms are just part of the views students at the University of Washington at Seattle will see on the 703-acre campus. Denny Hall, constructed in the French Renaissance Revival architectural style, was designed by architect Charles Saunders.

Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Oregon is another small campus at just 137 acres. The school is situated on top of a hill overlooking a forest. The school’s architectural centerpiece is the Frank Manor House designed by a local architect and completed in 1924. The large mansion even has its own waterfall and reflection pool.

Honorable Mention

Visitors to the University of Hawaii at Manoa may find themselves viewing a campus standing under a rainbow. The rain often falls over the 320-acre campus giving it a multicolor appearance. The school is situated in a beautiful valley near Honolulu. Campus buildings are surrounded by lush green and palm trees in clear view of a local mountain range.