OT: UM-AA named 9th best college campus in America
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-college-campuses/
Here's UM's complete report card: https://www.niche.com/colleges/university-of-michigan---ann-arbor/
The ranking includes 1,408 colleges and universities and "is based on key statistics and student reviews from the U.S. Department of Education. Top-ranked colleges offer outstanding campus resources across classrooms, labs, performance venues, housing, food, and recreational facilities."
I can't resist mentioning that my wife's alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis, was No. 1.
The only other Big Ten schools in the Top 25 are Indiana (24) and Wisconsin (25). OSU is 29 and MSU 31,
On this site, Michigan was previously named #1 on the list of Top Public Universities in America and No. 1 on the list of Colleges with the Best Student Life in America.
September 28th, 2018 at 12:53 PM ^
Based on aesthetic criteria, and the campus alone, Indiana Bloomington should be the best. Most beautiful campus I have been on (I'd take it over Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Duke, UNC, Notre Dame, all of the Oxford colleges). Bloomington, although it has a lot to do, isn't as fun of a college town as Ann Arbor or Madison, but the limestone buildings and uniformity of the architecture are truly incredible.
September 28th, 2018 at 1:07 PM ^
Not that this list has much validity to it, and not that it's clear how the list was generated, but at the top of the page it says that "Top-ranked colleges offer outstanding campus resources across classrooms, labs, performance venues, housing, food, and recreational facilities."
So it doesn't appear just to be the aesthetics of the campus. If that were the criterion, then I agree, IUB is about as good as it gets.
September 28th, 2018 at 1:16 PM ^
I'll agree with this in a heartbeat. Bloomington is a beautiful little town. I loved the layout of the city with the campus and the architecture was incredible. Could not recommend going there for an away game enough.
Also never go to Purdue - felt like a strip mall.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
West Lafayette is, how do I put this nicely, not very scenic.
September 28th, 2018 at 1:45 PM ^
It is nice, although I like our campus's diversity of architecture a bit more. Everything in Bloomington is limestone. I missed our red brick buildings.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
I disagree, Bloomington is a great college town and that one little section of campus near the Sample Gates is very nice, but besides that little area, the rest of campus is pretty dull. It's also just so sprawling and big
September 28th, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^
I've been to Bloomington for several UM games and couldn't disagree with this characterization more. The campus is stunning and way less sprawling than UM, which has almost 1,500 more acres than IU. While the town isn't Ann Arbor or Austin, it's not too far behind. I always enjoy my trips to there and Madison more than any other B1G school.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:31 PM ^
Bloomington is absolutely gorgeous. Best campus in the B1G I have been to and I've seen most of them.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:48 PM ^
Bloomington is a beautiful campus...but not the best college town
September 28th, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
Been to wash u several times. Obviously fantastic school academically. Being the best college campus in the US seems...high.
September 28th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^
Agree, Also Univ of San Diego ahead of UC-San Diego in La Jolla diminishes this list's credibility. Both pale in comparison to UC- Santa Barbara.
September 28th, 2018 at 1:34 PM ^
I think you’re wrong about the SD schools and right about Santa Barbara. USD’s campus is much better than UCSD’s.
UCSD is a concrete jungle and USD has a beautiful campus. Both have the same time to get to the beach (UCSD is on a cliff). La Jolla is a tourist trap, La Jolla shores is the real beach town (mainly a beach and nice restaurants), and UTC, where UCSD is, is a plastic strip mall/mall. There’s no place for students to hangout and the campus is pretty isolated. No one lives on/near campus too. UCSD is known as (UC socially dead) for a reason.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:18 PM ^
I live in UTC. It sucks. Moving out as soon as my lease is up, if not sooner.
September 28th, 2018 at 6:40 PM ^
UC SB is pretty spectacular. No idea how anyone finds their way to classes there and not the beach that is....right there. Plus UCSB is now ranked above UNC Chappel hill...
September 28th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
Sorry, kid, but this list is bullshit. I can agree with VaTech--that is a gorgious campus. Harvard is also amazing. But there is no way that Boston College is not high on this list. BC's campus--The Heights--is stunningly beautiful. It is nicer than Michigan-AA. It's nicer than VaTech.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
It's all about the methodology. 50% of the grade is based on student surveys. Every other dimension (Food, Housing, Local Area, Safety) also incorporate qualitative survey inputs, in addition to the quantitative (various costs, crime rates, etc.).
Long story short, great deal of subjectivity in these rankings.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:23 PM ^
Interesting--I've been to Blacksburg and there is literally nothing there but the school. NOTHING. And that's within a 20 miles radius. You've got to go to Roanoke, a serious drive, to find any kind of stuff-to-do. As far as BC, Chestnut Hill is a sleepy town, but Cleveland Circle is a 15 minute walk around the Reservoir. Lots there for the college kid on the go. Downtown Boston is a reasonable trip on the Green line away.
September 28th, 2018 at 3:14 PM ^
"50% of the grade is based on student surveys."
And "self-reported" at that.
Weighting:
50% - Self-reported student survey
15% - Campus food grade
15% - Campus housing grade
15% - Local housing grade
5% - Safety grade
September 28th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^
Notre Dame in the top 20 is hilarious
September 28th, 2018 at 1:11 PM ^
No top 20 list is ever not going to have ND on it.
I just saw a list of the Top 20 Turkish bath houses and Note Dame came in at #6.
September 28th, 2018 at 8:07 PM ^
I laughed so hard I had trouble clicking on the thumbs-up. Almost gave you the most undeserved thumbs-down in MGoBlog history.
September 28th, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
Yeah that campus is really not that impressive. Probably because all the students look miserable.
Is NU on the list? They have a beach!
September 28th, 2018 at 1:46 PM ^
To be honest, ND's campus is pretty nice. It's the surrounding town that sucks.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:23 PM ^
I think the surrounding town is a big part of what makes a college campus great. It's a big part of the reason Ann Arbor, Madison, and Austin are consistently near the top of these lists
Without ND, South Bend is another nondescript Indiana town off the interstate with a Flying J and a few strip clubs
September 28th, 2018 at 8:56 PM ^
Hey, don't discount the value of good strip clubs.
September 28th, 2018 at 10:10 PM ^
Good strip clubs. Putting students through “law school” for over 5 decades.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:34 PM ^
I think the ND campus is fantastic. South Bend on the other hand...
September 28th, 2018 at 5:53 PM ^
Notre Dame's campus is gorgeous. But yeah, South Bend is an armpit.
September 28th, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^
#1 in Best Student Life
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-student-life/
Edit: #1 Public University in United States as well:
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/top-public-universities/
September 28th, 2018 at 1:34 PM ^
I'll try (but not too hard) to let my withering contempt for MSU as an institution cloud my judgment, but... the upper right hand quadrant of its campus around where the bell tower is - it's picture perfect gorgeous. The other 80% of campus? Blander than Aunt Dorothy's mayo+potato casserole
September 28th, 2018 at 3:19 PM ^
"the upper right hand quadrant of its campus around where the bell tower is - it's picture perfect gorgeous"
Agree. That's the "original" campus ... before they expanded post WWII with mostly cookie-cutter buildings composed of non-descript brick, glass, and lots of horizontal lines.
I was last there about 30 years ago. Google Earth shows it way more built up than I recall it being from that era.
September 28th, 2018 at 1:40 PM ^
Sooo.....MSU is the 31st best college campus?
not if you're a female gymnast or a basset hound...
September 28th, 2018 at 2:09 PM ^
I visited Wash U and it's nice, but there's not many shops, restaurants or much to do in the immediate area, so shocked its #1
September 28th, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^
The entire list seems pretty suspect to me. Both Liberty and Regent rank higher than Michigan and huge chunks of their students bodies are online students (student comments in the rating reflect this). They may have nice campuses (Liberty at least makes a ton of money from its online offerings so they may be spending it on making the campus nice) but how would online students, who may never visit campus, know?
September 28th, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
I don't trust any college ranking that lists Liberty over UM. Unless they are ranking per capita homophobia.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:23 PM ^
Having had the chance to tour many schools with my kids along with professional recruiting, how UVA, Yale, Princeton, University of Washington, (or even little Williams) do not make the top 25-- stunning. Sort of disqualifies Niche's findings in my opinion.
September 28th, 2018 at 3:11 PM ^
Of those, I've only been to UW, I remember the campus being quite pretty but thinking that given its fantastic location it could be even more stunning than it is.
September 28th, 2018 at 5:56 PM ^
Yale's campus is wonderful. Love how it blends into New Haven similarly to Ann Arbor. The old town square surrounded by historic churches is also cool, despite the recent myriad of hospitalizations due to K2 overdoses.
September 28th, 2018 at 2:26 PM ^
These lists are stupid
Just like thinking up Haikus
Just beat Northwestern
September 28th, 2018 at 4:01 PM ^
There are other nice places, but I'm not willing to concede "best" to anyone. Michigan has the best campus.
September 28th, 2018 at 4:03 PM ^
This list is ridiculous. Miami (OH) at #70? No way it shouldn't be at least top 25. And Northwestern at #120? Sure, the architecture is all over the place, but it's hard to beat that lakeside setting. There's no rhyme or reason to this list.
September 28th, 2018 at 6:50 PM ^
Yes and maybe. Miami is pretty great, and has gotten better with the influx of international students driving the restaurant scene (they're recruiting heavily in China/SE Asia).
Northwestern... Yes, it's on a lake, but that's just about it. An entire campus of buildings with Lake Michigan in their backyard, and almost none of them have windows that take advantage of it. The library is a Brutalist nightmare, as is their Union equivalent. They basically need to blow it all up and start again.
For my money, the University of Washington needs to be pushing the top of the list. That's one incredible campus.
September 28th, 2018 at 4:50 PM ^
I always thought my three alma maters -- Michigan, PSU, Indiana -- had preposterously good campus prettiness.
PSU is definitely third in that regard. I have no idea which is first, though, of Indiana and Michigan.
Awesomeapples and Outstandingoranges.
September 28th, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
Woot Woot! Degrees from numbers 1 and 9!
September 28th, 2018 at 5:59 PM ^
Hahaha, I thought they placed CSU in the top five, but that's a banner ad. That campus is boring AF.
September 28th, 2018 at 10:42 PM ^
Who's got it better than us?
Wash U.
Sorry. Doesn't work for me.
October 22nd, 2019 at 2:07 PM ^
The college I studied at is not in this list and I am not surprised at all because it wasn't very good. Students were supposed to do a lot of useless tasks and many of my friends ordered them on https://edugeeksclub.com/ I find it a good decision and I regret that I didn't do the same. I could have had so much time!