25 Most Beautiful College Campuses in the United States

Stanford University

The entryway to Stanford's 8,180-acre campus is arguably the grandest of any college campus: A mile-long, tree-lined Palm Drive leads up to the expansive green oval Main Quad, surrounded by red-roofed buildings and the campus's crown architectural jewel, Memorial Church, with its striking mosaic façade. Beauty continues at the Cantor Arts Center's collection of 170 bronzes by Auguste Rodin, one of the largest beyond Paris. The view of campus — and all the way to San Francisco on a clear day — is best captured from the Hoover Tower observation platform.

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Berry College

This rural college in Mount Berry, Georgia holds a lofty record: It's the world's largest contiguous college campus, with more than 27,000 acres of fields, lakes, forests, and mountains. Berry makes prime use of its setting too, with numerous reflecting pools and fountains situated nearby its beautiful English Gothic-inspired buildings like the Ford Dining Hall, Ford Auditorium, and Mary Hall, made possible by the school's largest benefactor, Henry Ford.

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University of Notre Dame

A gorgeous view of the campus while taking a stroll inside of Notre Dame — Getty Images

It's hard to miss the glistening golden dome of the university's Main Building, not to mention the neo-Gothic Basilica of the Sacred Heart that defines this 178-year-old Catholic school. Besides gorgeous architecture, the campus is chock-full of lush quads, where students congregate to kick back when they're not in class or at the football stadium.

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Florida Southern College

You might be surprised to learn that Florida Southern — on a hillside overlooking Lake Hollingsworth in Lakeland, Florida — has the world's largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, including the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel with its colored pieces of glass and wrought-iron tower. It was dubbed the "first uniquely American campus" by Wright himself. Other accolades? It was named a National Historic Landmark in 2012.

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University of San Diego

Some campuses are an amalgam of styles; the University of San Diego sticks to just one, and what a glorious one it has chosen — the Spanish Renaissance, with its elaborate façades, delicate ironwork, and carved woodwork. Ocean views and palm-tree-lined courtyards only add to the paradise-on-campus appeal. The Immaculata Chapel, with its piercingly blue dome and solid bronze front door is visible from much of the city, and is a photo-op-worthy landmark on the campus.

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Bard College

America’s Most Beautiful College Campuses — Peter Aaron/Esto

Frank Gehry's Fisher Center — an undulating work of glass and brushed stainless steel — showcases Bard's thriving arts scene throughout the year. The center is on the contemporary side of the rural campus's architectural spectrum, which goes back to the 19th century. Pathways make for easy exploring, with the Catskill Mountains visible in the distance.

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Rice University

Don't be fooled by Rice's urban Houston address. A double row of majestic oak trees encloses its perimeter — a harbinger of the lush 300-acre campus to come, divided into quadrangles and planted with thousands of elms, hickories, maples, and other trees. The oldest buildings, like the standout Lovett Hall, borrow elements of medieval southern European architecture, including grand, arched passageways and rose-hued brick.

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Cornell University

Ambitious campus planners wanted to create a main quad over dramatic Cayuga Lake, the longest of the Finger Lakes. That original plan evolved, and the beautiful setting now accommodates both historic structures like McGraw Tower and contemporary ones like the I. M. Pei-designed Johnson Museum of Art and the Milstein Hall by Rem Koolhaas. Prospective students (and their parents) are always impressed by Cascadilla Gorge, whose eight waterfalls drop more than 400 feet from Cornell's campus to downtown Ithaca.

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Sewanee, The University of the South

This 13,000-acre rural campus on the Cumberland Plateau overlooking the Tennessee Valley combines Gothic-inspired architecture with magnificent surroundings: forest, lakefront bluffs, and a garden ravine that follows a stream through campus. In spring, it blooms with daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips. The All Saints' Chapel draws inspiration from the University Church at Oxford and Notre Dame in Paris. Catch a performance at the on-site Tennessee Williams Center, named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who left his estate to Sewanee.

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University of Washington

The eye-catching Collegiate Gothic Suzzallo Library at UW's Seattle campus has 35-foot-high stained-glass windows and elaborately gilded vaulted ceilings that soar 65 feet in the air. But come spring, the quad's 29 Yoshino cherry trees steal the spotlight with blooms of delicate pink petals set against red-brick buildings. The Drumheller Fountain is a great spot for views of snowcapped Mount Rainier.

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Princeton University

Gray stone buildings like the University Chapel and Cleveland Tower are pure Collegiate Gothic splendor. But the 500-acre campus's beauty extends beyond their doors. Courtyards, idyllic small greens, and crisscrossing footpaths dot the campus. The handsome ivy-covered Nassau Hall is not only the oldest building on campus, but also a former home to the Continental Congress.

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Kenyon College

Kenyon's hilltop setting in tiny Gambier makes for one of the country's most idyllic campus walks: The 10-foot-wide Middle Path, which spans the length of the college and through town, is shaded by massive trees that glow fiery orange in the fall. Veer off the path for Kenyon's castle-like Victorian Gothic Ascension Hall and the Greek Revival Rosse Hall with its elegant columns.

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Swarthmore College

Just southwest of Philadelphia, Swarthmore's Scott Arboretum nurtures idyllic gardens of hydrangea, lilacs, and tree peonies and a courtyard devoted to fragrant trees and shrubs. The highlight is its outdoor amphitheater, a series of cascading lawn-covered stone tiers shaded by tulip trees and surrounded by Crum Woods and its holly and rhododendron collections. The Dean Bond Rose Garden has 200-plus varieties and views of stately Parrish Hall in the background.

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University of Virginia

How's this for honors? UVA is the only university in the U.S. to be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thomas Jefferson designed the campus's since-copied layout and even hired its initial faculty and planned the curriculum. Highlights of this elegant campus include the Neoclassical domed Rotunda, modeled after the Pantheon in Rome, and the Small Special Collections Library, which showcases the most comprehensive collection of letters, documents, and early printings of the Declaration of Independence.

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Yale University

While some campuses hold stubbornly onto their pasts, Yale embraces changing architectural movements. The collection spans from the Georgian-style red-brick Connecticut Hall (whose construction predates the Revolutionary War) to the Postmodernist Ingalls Rink by Eero Saarinen and the School of Management's Edward P. Evans Hall: a Norman Foster project completed in 2014. Duck inside the wondrous Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, which houses volumes in a six-story glass-enclosed tower, set against translucent grained Vermont marble panels.

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Duke University

Much of this Collegiate Gothic wonderland, including soaring Duke Chapel, was designed by Julian Abele, one of the country's first prominent African American architects. But Duke's campus isn't all Gothic-inspired marvel. Among its architectural gems are the glass-walled Karl and Mary Ellen von der Heyden Pavilion and the Rafael Viñoly-designed Nasher Museum of Art — with five pavilions shaped in a loose radial pattern that house contemporary works by Andy Warhol and Kara Walker.

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University of Colorado Boulder

The flagship University of Colorado combines sweeping views of the snowcapped Rocky Mountains and Flatirons, a gorgeous natural setting that includes a serene lake and two creeks, and ruggedly beautiful buildings to match. Most, including the grand Norlin Library, feature a distinct Tuscan-meets-the-West architectural style of local sandstone walls, red tile roofs, and limestone trim.

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University of Wisconsin – Madison

There are a number of campuses set on pretty lakes, but none commands its lakeshore setting quite like the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Its Memorial Union and outdoor stone terrace practically hug the shores of Lake Mendota. Another building on campus occupying prime real estate: the white-columned hilltop Bascom Hall.

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Wellesley College

Only 12 miles west of Boston, Wellesley's 500-acre campus is another world entirely, with pathways that meander through sprawling meadows, groves of conifers and hardwoods that surround tranquil Lake Waban, and 19th-century brick buildings tucked into the wooded hillsides. Several greenhouses, lush with tropical, subtropical, and desert plantings, stay green straight through the long northeastern winters.

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The College of William & Mary

Named for its royal English founders, William & Mary is the second-oldest college in the U.S. (Harvard came first) and is anchored by the brick Wren Building, whose weather vane bears the founding date of 1693. Students sprawl on the grassy Sunken Garden, which stretches from the Wren to Crim Dell Pond. Duke of Gloucester Street links the 1,200-acre campus to the town of Williamsburg.

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University of Chicago

Located in the South Side Hyde Park neighborhood, this campus blends traditional English Gothic style with the modern designs of Eero Saarinen and Mies van der Rohe across 215 acres that include an official botanical garden. Be sure to pay attention to details: many of the gargoyles on the ivy-covered buildings date back to the end of the 1893 Columbian Exposition, when the campus was constructed.

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Bryn Mawr College

The first example of the Collegiate Gothic style created by architects Cope and Stewardson (who drew influences from Oxford and Cambridge universities) is found at this women's liberal arts college. Campuses across the U.S., including Princeton and Washington University in St. Louis, went on to emulate the look of Bryn Mawr's Pembroke Hall. But the buildings aren't the only lookers; Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park, helped with the layout of the campus's 135 tree-covered acres.

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Furman University

The serene landscape of this 750-acre wooded university in Greenville, South Carolina is focused around a lake and the landmark Bell Tower. From a Japanese temple beside the school's Asia Garden — full of irises, bamboo, and camellias — to a replica of Henry David Thoreau's home, the setting on this campus is as diverse as its student body. Oh, and did we mention the 18-hole golf course and miles of walking trails?

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Vanderbilt University

Sure, it might be planted just outside of downtown Nashville, but you certainly wouldn't know by looking around. The campus actually doubles as a sprawling arboretum. With some 170 species of trees scattered across 300-plus acres and sightings of hawks, owls, and cardinals, it's easy to forget you're actually in the middle of a city.

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Flagler College

This private liberal arts college, located in beautiful St. Augustine, Florida, started out as a luxury hotel. The Ponce de León Hotel was built in 1888 in the incredible Spanish Renaissance style. Today, the building is the centerpiece of the college and a National Historic Landmark.

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