OT: Campuses across the country.

Columbia:  Damn if they didn't figure out a way to put an actual college campus right in the middle of Manhattan.   It's small, but once you are off the street it's an actual college campus with grass and frisbees and students just hanging out.

NYU:  The exact opposite of Columbia.  There is no "there" there.  The only way you can tell you are on a college campus is by the purple banners hanging on some of the high rises.  Other than that, you can't really tell where NYU begins and where it ends.  (George Washington University in DC is like this too.)

Lehigh:  The entire campus is built on the side of a mountain along a winding switchback road.  No matter where you are, if you look down you see rooftops of buildings below you, and if you look up you see foundations of buildings above you.

Stanford:  I mentioned this above. Stanford is more Palm Springs resort than college campus.  It is very pretty in a country club sort of way, but it is not very college-y.  It does feel like there is money all about.

Cornell:  Cornell is one of those places that IS very college-y.   Built into gorges in the finger lakes region of upstate New York, it is a spectacular college setting in the fall.

Duke:  Duke is like going to school and church at the same time.  The entire campus is stone cathedral architecture.  It's pretty but it can weigh on you sometimes.  There is no break from the sameness.  Durham is meh at best and is far away.

Penn State:  Penn State is not unique per se, but from a Michigan perspective it is quite different from Ann Arbor.  Everything in Penn State is very clearly segmented.  On one side of the main road is the university, on the other side is the town.  Behind the town is the frats.  Behind the university off to the side is the athletic complex.  You always know where you are, never the twain shall meet.  It's not like Michigan/Ann Arbor where the town and the university are interspersed together all over the place. 

Virginia:  Virginia, personally designed by Thomas Jefferson, looks exactly what you would think the founding fathers had in mind for a university.  It's like a Colonial time-bubble.  Virginia is what Harvard looks like in your mind, until you actually visit Harvard and are a little bit disappointed by it.

In Seattle, good architecture (not as good as UM, but good), gorgeous scenery, close to mountains and right on a lake with a channel to the ocean.  Hard to beat.

I would say Indiana- A+ but i go there and it feels like home even tho im from South Bend.

Notre Dame- B-/C+ its just really small and not nearly as special as people make it sound.

Michigan- A i love going to games up there. Its a great atmosphere.

Pepperdine is by far the best A++++++. Words dont describe it

I like to "collect" college campuses.  Every time I am in a new city or town, I make it a point to visit the local college campus and hang out. 

I get extra points if I can get into their football stadium and on the field.   This used to be a lot easier pre 9-11.  You could walk on into the stadium and on the field at just about every school.

Just curious for the folks who just gave letter grades to campuses, what were your personal observations that led to those grades?

M-A+

EMU-C-....I've been commuting there for four years, and yes Ypsi is a shit hole but due to sheer proximity to Ann Arbor some of that charm rubs off.

UCF-B...only saw it at night time, but does have some nice buildings and cool people/nightlife

SVSU-D....took a visit to saginaw with my parents, tiny campus with tiny dorms that had several buildings under constructions

UIC-B...flew threw it and it looked pretty nice

UW-Oshkosh-C-

UW-Green Bay-B+

WMU/Kalamazoo College-D+...meh

...parents and extended family are renting a place in Palm Springs next week...so looks like I'm missing out on the chance to see UCLA and USC

Michigan, A+

Michigan State, B

Penn State, B-

Northwestern, A-

Iowa, C+

Illinois, C+

Harvard, A

Florida, A+

Florida State, B+

Miami (FL), B-

Notre Dame, B-

To be honest, it's hard to remove my experience on the respective campus when basing my ratings.  Also, I didn't get much further than the tailgating lots and football stadiums of some of these.

Michigan A

MSU B+

CMU C

WMU D

GVSU C+

Tulane B

LSU B

Purdue C-

Miami (OH) B+

ND A-

NMU C

UNC A

WUSTL A-

Illinois B

GRCC N/A

Univ Phoenix A+

UCSB: A+, I like UCSB the most of the SoCal campuses. I don't understand how anyone graduates from that place. I would spend all my time at the beach.

Pepperdine: A-, I worked across the street from Pepperdine for 9 years. Having a window view of the ocean ain't bad. But, there's no campus there. There's really no place to hang out except for a small outdoor mall type place. I did see Nikki Sixx there.

UCLA: B, there are some nice spots, but really it's just too crowded for my tastes.

USC: C, imagine going to school at the University of Detroit. It's sort of like that. Much too urban for me.

CalTech: A-, It's alright, but Pasadena gets way too hot for me.

UC Irvine: B+/A-, I think they filmed one of the Planet of the Apes movies there, so it gets extra points for that.

Georgia Tech: C, same as USC

Harvard: B+, I like the old buildings and historic charm of the surrounding area.

MIT: C-, I know, it's just down the street but you can tell it was built much later than Harvard and has a real cold, impersonal feel to it. I'm an engineer, but I didn't feel like I was going to Mecca when I visited MIT.

Nebraska: F, just wanted to take a potshot at them before they fully join the B1G. Seriously, we drove past the stadium on a cross-country trip and it's just blah.

Not to mention that it's in the middle of Oklahoma...

prettiest "campus" and best "setting." Pepperdine's "setting" is ridiculous. The only thing it's missing are the Beach Boys singing on the beach 300 yards away. I'd argue UC-Santa Barbara is even better (parts of campus are literally ON the beach). Neither, however, has a campus, buildings, or architecture that exactly wow you.

The most underrated / unknown might be the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. Unbelievable views of Manhattan--you almost feel like you can touch the Empire State Building.

on U dub, UNC and Rollins College. 

Attended 2 of the 3. 

But all pale in comparison to A2.

Michigan: A+

MSU: B to B-

Oklahoma: C. It's not really a part of the surrounding town- which isn't much of a college town anyway- and the stadium is just plopped in the middle of campus. And there's no visitor parking to speak of.

Northwestern: B because of its location on the lake.

Central Michigan: D

Central Oklahoma (grad student there): C, looks exactly like Central Michigan

Ohio State: F times infinity

Bowling Green: C to D

Eastern Michigan: C

Western Michigan: B to C

Michigan Tech: B, small campus and gorgeous yet remote location

Northern Illinois: C+

Indiana State: D to E because it's in Terra Haute, Indiana

Notre Dame: Strong B

Colorado: A to B, like someone said, like Michigan only with mountains

Albion College: C, appealing quaint small college feel but the town smells funny

North Texas: Okay, i've never visted it, but I've driven past it and every time I do, I point out that they have a more-than-epically-horrible football team.

Wow, the first two grades to come in for A&M were a B+ and a B-.  I was all set to give it a C-, and figured I'd still get accused of shilling for my employer.  We really have no natural beauty to speak of, and a distinct lack of greenspace (despite being a huge campus).  Most of the pre-WWII buildings are attractive, but kind of quirky.  The buildings that were constructed from the 50's to the 80's could probably be swapped with those of a Soviet campus somewhere and no one would notice.  We are undergoing a miniature building boom at the moment, and most of those are large, interesting looking buildings.  Definitely an improvement on the previous standard.

Some other campuses I've visited while down here:

Texas - B-
Some attractive buildings, but very closely packed together.  Also, whenever I've been there, it's felt sort of run-down and a little trashy.

Rice - B+
Very quiet for an urban campus.  Was there on a weekend, and honestly it was too quiet.  Fairly pretty though.

Houston - D+
Went to a Houston Dynamo game last year (they play on campus) and UH is in a rough part of town.  They have a couple of new buildings that look nice, but I was unimpressed overall.

UT-Dallas - F
Just a travesty.  It's an odd mix of modular classrooms and unbelievably ugly buildings.
 

UM - B+

Stanford - A

Indiana - B+

Notre Dame - B

UCLA - B

USC - C

MSU - C+

Minnesota - C

ASU - B-

UM - A = not just the campus, but the surrounding areas are great for running/active lifestyle.

MSU - B = they'll talk it up as a great campus even though it isn't, but it does have some aesthetic charm.  Plus, the river through campus is pretty nice.  E.L., though, is about as generically ugly as you can imagine.

Harvard - A- = Obviously a great school but is very cramped.  Cambridge is a very cool town and Boston obviously rocks, so they benefit from the proximity a bit.

MIT - A- = See Harvard above, but a little more space.  The infinite corridor does mess with you.

BC - B+ = Very cool little campus considering about 3/4 is on a hill.  Near Boston helps.

UWashington - A = Just an awesome campus and the views are astounding.  Stadium layout may be the prettiest in the country.

OSU - C = Just meh.  Far worse than MSU in terms of layout, and there are areas around the campus that would scare the sneer off of Dantonio's face.

Columbia U - B+ = Currently a student, so maybe a bit bias.  Campus itself is VERY cramped, but you can get anywhere in the city via the trains and Morningside Heights has some charm.

ND - B- = Just nothing special.  The campus itself is beautiful in the fall, but there is nothing else there to do.  Plus, they played Rudy in their bookstore on a loop, so they lose points for that.

Fordham U - A-= A very cool little campus, especially given that it is smack-dab in a not-great part of the Bronx.

NYU - C = You only know it exists because of the banner that hang from windows.  A great location, but very meh buildings.

UChicago - B- = admittedly only there once at night, but seemed quaint.  Definitely not a place you want to be alone at night, but okay right near the school.

GVSU - B = Seemed nice.  Rolling hills and all.  Kind of like State, but less Sparty-fueled idiocy.

Using B as my average or a meh... because... well, because its my opinion and I can.

First rating is on campus alone. Second on surroundings (town/city and beyond).

UM - A-/A (lived there, attended)

UVA - A-/A (live there now). Campus is beautiful and historic. Landscaping is a discredit to the University. Charlottesville is amazing, including the natural beauty surrounding the town.

MSU - B+/C (lived there, attended). Beautiful landscaping. Architecture is unimpressive. E.Lansing... well, lets just say I'm glad I don't live there any longer!

ND - B+/C-

NW - B+/A (lived there). Evanston and access to Chicago are great!

UNC - A/B  Chapel Hill is a pretty neat place, just not much to it

Duke - A+/D  Durham = terrible; Campus is absolutely beautiful

IU - A/B

UI - B/B+

Purdue - B+/C-  Was surprised, after hearing about how horrible Purdue was for years, at how nice the campus is

VMI - B/B+  Lexington is a cool little town

USMA - A-/C-  West Point is an impressive place to visit

USAFA - B-/B  Architecture is meh, but the surroundings are beautiful. The Springs is urban spraul meh

UW - B-/A

NCA&T - B-/D

N.Ill - C+/C+

SIU - B/C

W&M - A-/B+

JMU - C+/B-

Loyola (downtown Chicago) - B+/A  Great location! Lots of fun to be had

Penn State: C

Notre Dame: C+

MSU: B+

Cornell: A-

Northwestern: B+

San Diego State University: A

UC San Diego (A long time ago): C+/B-

NMU: C- (Everything about Marquette except campus is great.)

CU Boulder: A+

UF - B+

ASU - C

FLAGLER - B+ (cool location)

DEPAUL - B-

ALMA - F

VANDERBILT - D+

MSU - B

U of M - A-

TOLEDO - C+

UofM - A.  The feeling was confirmed this week when I took my son up for a visit and we toured the campus.  If you went there, you have an emotional attachment to the university that I can only assume other people get when they visit their alma mater.  Only theirs sucks compared to ours.

MSC - C.  It's like one giant Dollar Tree

Notre Dame - B -love the quad and the stadium.  The dorms are hot and small (spent time there at a football camp in the summer of 83).  Football Saturdays are pretty electric.  The grotto is nice too.

Wayne State - D.  Yikes

UCLA - A.  I'm originally from SoCal so I have a biased opinion.

USC - C.  If you attend a school where kids on the football practice field get hit by a stray bullet, your school sucks.

Pepperdine - A.  When you can sit on the front lawn of your school and peer out over the Pacific Ocean, your school doesn't suck.

Oregon State B- Of course it rained while we watched Oregon State beat UCLA back in 89.  The students tore down the goal posts and carried them up and out of the stadium, right through campus.  That was pretty cool.  The buildings had an Ivy League-ish appeal to them.

Stanford A - I like the California architecture with the red tile roofs and stucco siding. 

Cal Berkeley B I thought some of the buildings reminded me of Angell Hall and other Michigan buildings.  But...you know how sometimes a smell or aroma immediately reminds you of a specific time or place.  Well Cal Berkeley falls into that catergory for me, and not in a good way.

Ohio State C cuz it's in Ohio and it blows......and it's in a capital city which generally screams "dump."

Ohio B - I didn't spend any time on campus but we drove past it on our way to North Carolina last year and I thought it was situated in a very picturesque setting in a valley in one of the few hilly regions of Ohio.  Maybe the sun was hit it just right...I don't know. 

Michigan: A. The only thing holding it back from an A+ is the disconnect between Central and North Campus. Fantastic place to go to school

MSU: B- Looks pretty but is too spread out and really only has one spot to go out thats worth anything. Also some of the dorms are down right scary

PSU B I really liked the campus. Beautiful new campus center and its all built up on one hill area. A lot of housing off of one half while the athletic campus is on the other side.  Not a great city but still a lot of fun to visit.

OSU D- Fuck getting full beers thrown at you off balconies as you walk to a game. And apparently you're gay for drinking Sam Adams instead of Natty Light... good times.

Purdue B- Okay campus but nothing to do there and in the middle of nowhere

Fordham B+ Surprisingly nice campus in the Bronx and their Manhattan Campus is small but in a great area right by Lincoln Center and Central Park

NYU C There is no campus but just being in that part of NYC is a lot of fun

Columbia B+ Manages to put a nice campus in a not so nice area. Just a subway ride away from anything. 

Wisco B. I really wasn't that impressed with the campus parts that I saw but it was definitely a fun time.

Iowa- C+ Just there for a football game but I didn't like it at all. Kinda trashy

ND- B Beautiful campus with nice buildings and a great spot to walk around but South Bend is just awful as a city. 

Harvard B+ Nice, small, pretty campus with good architecture and everything self-contained. 

MIT B+ Very weird looking campus but I like it. A lot of strange history that is intriguing to me.

George Mason C+ Not a very nice looking campus. Granted I visited after the DC blizzard last year but its far out from really anything.

Michigan: A

UCLA: A- slightly cramped, but being able to wear shorts and a t-shirt in January is awesome.  Much more hilly than I expected

Illinois: B+, love greek row and their bar scene.  They also have white castle inside their stadium

Wisco: B+, not the biggest fan of urban campuses, but Madison is a pretty fun place

Iowa: B, Girls were surprisingly good looking 

Purdue: C, fairly average.  Enjoyed the trains giving tours while I was there

Michigan State: C-, too spread out.  

Northwestern: C-, based mostly on their athletic facilities.  

Arkansas: D-, built into the side of a huge hill.  Only one work out facility for the entire campus.  Architecture is vomit inducing.  Residence halls look like they were built in the 70's.  The entire campus also smells like its deep fried.

OSU: Flush twice, its a long way to Colombus 

Michigan - A
UChicago - A- (area is too dangerous)
UC Boulder - B (town is cool but campus is bland)
Colorado State - B (nice views)
Air Force - B+
Tulane/Loyola New Orleans - B+ (Mardi Gras floats pass down your street)
LSU - C+ (I really hated Baton Rouge and that campus)
NYU - NA (I couldnt really tell what their campus was my friend just pointed to some buildings that looked like all the other buildings in Manhatten.

90 % of Princeton looks exactly like the Law Quad. Agree with some others UC- Santa Barbara holds classes on the beach -how do you get anything done there?

Stanford - A

Berkeley - B+

San Jose State - C

UCLA - B

USC - C+

CMU - B-

EMU - C

WMU - C

MSU - B -

Northwestern - B

Indiana - B

Penn State - B-

Minnesota - A-

Wisconsin - A-

Marquette - B

Cincinnati - B

Xavier - B-

BGSU - C

Cleveland State - C

Case Western - C+

Harvard - A-

MIT - B+

Providence - B+

Brown - B+

Texas - B

Stetson - B

Depaul - C

Loyola (Chicago) - B-

Maryland Eastern Shore - B-

1. Cornell, as long as you're not there under five feet of snow (even then it's beautiful)

2. SDSU and USD in San Diego: The latter has superb architecture and a view of the Pacific that's the equal of Pepperdine (another great spot)

3. UNC and Duke: Both really beautiful settings, especially Duke, which is like living in part forest/part botanical gardens. Plus the climate has long high points during the school year. Chapel Hill is a good surrounding environment for the university (Durham not so much).

4. Among the Big Ten/Eleven/Twelve etc., Madison is my choice for best, with Michigan and Indiana following, then Happy Valley and Northwestern.

There are also some small schools (e.g. Bowdoin in Maine, the Naval Academy and St. John's in Annapolis) that are really picturesque.

My Grades

Stanford   A

Duke  A

Notre Dame A- (so many trees hard to appreciate the architecture)

University of Chicago A

Pepperdine A-

Kansas B-

Missouri C+

Northwestern B+

Arizona B-

Michigan B++ (love it but architecture too hodge podge, some beautiful places though)

Virginia B (most over-rated)

William and Mary A+

USC B-

UCLA B+

Georgia Tech B-

MSU C+

OSU C-

Indiana B+

Wisconsin B+

Purdue D

Washington (St Louis) C-

My daughter attended Alabama.  While Tuscaloosa won't win any beauty contests, the campus is absolutely beautiful.

For schools where I've taken classes or visited:

One Seeds: Princeton, Harvard, USMA-West Point, Michigan

Two Seeds: McGill, Georgetown, Emory, Boston College

Three Seeds: Fordham, U Mass-Amherst, MIT, Syracuse

Four Seeds: Columbia, Yale, Rutgers-New Brunswick, Villanova

Five Seeds: Tufts, Boston University, American University, The Citadel

Six Seeds: Holy Cross, Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic-Boca Raton, Northeastern

Seven Seeds: NYU, George Washington, SUNY-Albany, SUNY-New Paltz

Eight Seeds: RPI (Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute), Fairleigh Dickinson-Teaneck, Ramapo College (NJ), Temple

Tough call giving USMA-West Point the edge over Michigan, but Grant and Eisenhower get the nod over Gerald Ford, even while the speech that gave us the Peace Corps trumps the speech that gave us expansion of the war in Afghanistan.

Emory may rated too high, but its soccer pitch and all that Diet Coke gets it a two seed. In the Jesuit class, BC over Fordham for the two seed, only because there’s a D-1 hockey arena there, but they’re somewhat interchangeable (for proof see the film "Solitary Man" with Michael Douglas and trade the Flutie Aura for the Lombardi Aura). MIT over Columbia because they don’t have a Head of the Hudson Regatta, and the Head of the Charles Regatta remains a nice event -- and there's that Facebook thing.

Despite being snow-covered for most of the regular school year, Syracuse gets a three seed for having the nation’s largest on-campus, indoor football stadium where crowds for basketball games occasionally outdraw crowds for football and the Newhouse School’s facilities for the nation’s future broadcasters. Boston University has less grass than your average Phish concert, but gets a five seed among the city schools for being within walking distance of Fenway Park, having great views of the Head of the Charles, a performance center that's almost as good as Hill Auditorium and its TWO on-campus hockey arenas, including the one where Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig, Jack O’Callahan and Dave Silk played (see the film "Miracle".)

Northeastern gets a 6 seed over NYU and George Washington among the city schools, only because its renovated hockey arena is where the Celtics and Bruins once played – and it’s within walking distance of Fenway Park. FDU’s basketball gym (in Hackensack, NJ – the town saved by Superman in the first Christopher Reeve film) is where LeBron James had his coming-out party for college recruiters, NBA scouts and an ESPN film crew at the abcd Baketball Camp after his sophomore year of high school.   If you're 

I've been to a few campuses, mostly in the East. Rutgers was alright. MD I've been to several times. Penn State was pretty cool and I got to drive by Beaver Stadium, that place is huge. 

Solely based on propoganda and PAC-10 school commercials during games, many of those campuses are pretty nice.