altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
lol. Postus interruptus.Ranking the BIG (and future BIG) campuses I’ve visited:
1. Indiana (legit gorgeous)
2. UCLA (loses points for no on campus stadium)
3. Northwestern (gorgeous campus, on a lake, with expansive “campustown” and easy access to big city)
4. Illinois
5. Wisky (student union right on the lake is great, but no defined quad)
6. UM (excellent town + classic buildings)
7. USC (lovely buildings; scary surrounding neighborhood)
8. MSU (way prettier than I expected; limited campus town)
9. Minny (perfectly nice, except the five months when it’s deathly cold)
10. tOSU (nothing stands out except it’s enormity)
11. Purdue (bland)
I haven’t been to Iowa, PSU, Nebraska, Maryland or Rutgers, and likely never will.
I'm on board with you in general, though Northwestern ranks below Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan for me. The setting of Wisc's campus between the two lakes, and the hills make it far prettier than NW's partially-built-on-fill-in-Lake-Michigan nature. And UIUC has far more interesting architecture and open spaces than NW does IMO. I like Minnesota's campus. Its college town (called Dinkytown, on the NW edge of campus) was really funky when I visited in the late '80s. A local friend's kid goes there and says it still is.
You're brave to have ventured to USC. I had no interest in trying.
Regarding tOSU (since I know that campus like the back of my hand) there is one spot in particular that's worth seeking when anyone visits. It's Mirror Lake Hollow (and the amphitheater there) on the south side of the library. It's much prettier now than it was when I was growing up there in the '70s and '80s. I visited last year (this week in October in fact) and basked in the sun there for an hour watching life go by.
The Orton Hall geology building and its library on the Oval is really beautiful, too. Classic turn of the century (19th to 20th) building with a turret. You can see that turret in the center of the photo of Mirror Lake.
Finally, going to a Penn State football weekend is worth the effort if you're ever inclined. A memorable experience and the college town is fun. It's just in the middle of nowhere. My brother (lives in Syracuse) and I met up at a hotel in Harrisburg where we stayed and then drove over umpteen Appalachian ridges to the game. Theoretically it takes around 90 minutes, which was fine en route. But this was a night game v. Illinois and we didn't make the drive back to Harrisburg until almost midnight. That was hairy.
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