1. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
With more than 20 college campuses set within six-mile radius, there’s little doubt that history-rich, pub-fueled Boston and Cambridge make for great twin college towns (just the Charles River sets the two apart). But Harvard University, in Cambridge, is in a league of its own (and we’re not just talking about the Ivy here).
2. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I.
Artists and creative souls will surely find inspiration during a visit to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). It is, after all, the country’s leading arts school (dating back to 1877) and artworks (murals, sculptures, mosaics, and more) are heavily displayed throughout the campus (coordinate your visit with one of the annual alumni art fairs, or pop into the RISD|works store to browse original pieces that you can purchase and take home).
3. Sewanee: The University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.
The latest student survey from the Princeton Review awarded Sewanee: The University of the South (founded 1857) the top spot in the “Most Beautiful Campus” category, and we have to agree. The massive 13,000-acre campus, collectively known as “the Domain,” encompasses the university’s buildings and the town of Sewanee, Tennessee – set 55 miles outside of Chattanooga – as well as large tracts of the surrounding countryside.
4. Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.
Spanning 8,180 generous acres, Stanford is much more than just your run-of-the-mill college campus – it’s a self-sustaining community, complete with power plant, water system, post office, lakes, and countless picturesque paths. Designed by Central Park-planner Frederick Law Olmstead in 1891, Stanford (located about 30 miles south of San Francisco) attracts more than 150,000 visitors each year who come for tailored, hour-long walking and golf cart tours that cover the campus’s many wonders.
5. Tulane University, New Orleans
Prestigious Tulane University (established 1834) draws a crowd – and for more than just students in search of an esteemed education (in fact, it received more student applications in 2010 than any other U.S. university). Its Uptown campus, set along New Orleans’s streetcar-plowed St. Charles Avenue and opposite lush Audubon Park, welcomes visitors through the neo-Romanesque-style Gibson Hall (dating to 1894, it’s the oldest building on site – stop at its Admissions Center for visitor info or to sign up for a guided tour) to a college campus that covers more than 110 acres speckled with majestic oaks, some 80 architecturally eclectic buildings, and countless complimentary diversions.
7. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Jocks and bookworms equally delight in the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus (set 33 miles west of Detroit), home to both the country’s largest football stadium and old-world-style libraries (along with other structures) that feel plucked straight from the pages of Harry Potter.
8. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.
Not many universities can say they were conceived and designed – from campus construction down to the first curriculum – by one of our nation’s founding fathers and a former president. Yet from the founding of the University of Virginia in 1819 (it’s located in Charlottesville, about 100 miles south of D.C.), Thomas Jefferson had his hands in just about everything.
9. University of Washington, Seattle
Visit downtown Seattle’s University of Washington during the fall football season and you’re in for a tailgating treat: One of two universities in the country where you can tailgate on a boat (the University of Tennessee is the other), a floating community of die-hard Husky fans glides over Puget Sound and Lake
10. Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
There are few more storied centers for higher education than Yale University, whose 300-plus-year history has enlivened its quintessential New England hometown of New Haven, Connecticut (set at a crossroads between Boston and New York City), and turned out some of society’s most successful upper-crust echelons (four of the last six U.S. presidents hold Yale degrees).