The 10 Nicest College Campuses: Ranked By Conference (Big Ten: Minnesota not in top 10)

Donate To GopherHole

I know whatever "Big Game Boomer" is throws an endless amount of rankings around in the offseason for clickbaitey purposes, so it doesn't pay to get overly worked up about their lists. But since it's the offseason, and there's not much else to talk about....

I've been to every B1G campus, and MSU and Nebby have no business being on that list. Purdue's campus is OK, but the town surrounding it is a craphole. Not surprisingly both being urban campuses, but OSU and MN have a somewhat similar feel, and not sure you could rank one of them at 6 and not rank the other. No way Northwestern is no.1. It's a nice campus, and it's cool that you can see Chicago down the coast, but not the nicest in the B1G.

You lose a lot of credibility when you put USC at 4th in the PAC12 ahead of Cal and Oregon. USC's campus is nice, but good gravy don't step off campus. I would argue you can't divorce the two (campus and it's directly adjacent surroundings). Cal and Oregon both have really nice campuses, surrounded by very nice areas/scenery.
 



Gophers_4life said:
BGB = rolls out of bed, throws darts, and slaps together some "top 50" list of complete horses__t.

40k followers on Twitter.


Doesn't deserve threads for the worthless charts, IMO. Sorry I don't mean to be harsh towards you Bleed, you obviously do amazing work on the board!
Click to expand...
Honest question for people more knowledgeable about social media than me - does someone make good money putting out these lists, or is it just a weird hobby?
 





I have been to Vanderbilt and wasn't impressed with the campus. Like Mizzou's better and they aren't ranked?
 





Went to the U South Carolina, and have taught at North Texas and UNLV. My first impression is that South Carolina and North Texas are overrated, and UNLV is slightly underrated. Its hard to say though because the methods are not stated, or I didn't see them. I would agree that UNLV does not have great curb appeal, but a walk through campus is nice. Have been on the campuses of 8 Big 10 schools. They were similar in the sense that that all have a lot of big, old, clunky buildings. Go Gophers!
 

Gophers1992 said:
Honest question for people more knowledgeable about social media than me - does someone make good money putting out these lists, or is it just a weird hobby?
Click to expand...
I'm sure there is a way to monetize a high follower count on Twitter.

With YouTube it is more straight forward: the more people view your video, they more they just straight up cut you a check. There is some standard conversion, like maybe 1M views = $1000? Maybe not that much but you get the idea.
 



Northwestern campus is boring and so is Evanston. It’s getting points for being in a suburb adjacent to Chicago, while Minnesota gets none for being next to downtown Minneapolis.
 


Dakota2 said:
And not even that. Funniest line of the winter was when Brohm said he and his family "love it here."
Click to expand...
100% chance Brohm has “For Sale” signs hidden in his garage just behind the garbage can, just waiting for the right moment to put them out.
 

fmlizard said:
Northwestern campus is boring and so is Evanston. It’s getting points for being in a suburb adjacent to Chicago, while Minnesota gets none for being next to downtown Minneapolis.
Click to expand...
You mean like this?

EVAhOF_U8A4uW3lx.jpg
 

fmlizard said:
Northwestern campus is boring and so is Evanston. It’s getting points for being in a suburb adjacent to Chicago, while Minnesota gets none for being next to downtown Minneapolis.
Click to expand...
I don't think I've ever met anyone who thought Northwestern had the nicest campus in the Big 10. It's a weird list.

Michigan State on the list? D'ok.
 

I agree with Crosby's post on the Loudest Stadium thread.

"Is anyone else weary of the never-ending, meaningless, click-bait, unsupported, trivial rankings this time of year?"
 

nitramnaed said:
You mean like this?

View attachment 18902
Click to expand...
Yeah. It's like 3 train stops from campus to downtown of a major city - one that is clean, safe, and in good shape for the most part. Evanston is a solid 10-12 stops on the sometimes-running Purple Line from even the far north side of Chicago.

Minnesota won't win any awards for best campus, best bar scene, best party scene on its own. It's good but not great. But add in all the options yonder in that photo and I'll take the U over most big state universities that turn into a corn field at the edge of campus (hello, Saint Paul)
 

Gophers1992 said:
Honest question for people more knowledgeable about social media than me - does someone make good money putting out these lists, or is it just a weird hobby?
Click to expand...
I would think that someone made some good money on this. Probably wrote up a great but misleading cover letter and submitted it to a news source. Internet is full of weird stories where you don't know if they are true or not.
 

So again ... you guys are debating the merits of a list .... that was barely off from being randomly generated, and slapped into a Twitter post as clickbait.

I'm all for so-called "talkers". But IMO they should have at least an ounce of genuine effort to them, to be worthy of being that.
 

The U signed its death warrant when it shat on college sports for 30 straight years. Saw no value in it and is now paying the ultimate price.
 

Gophers_4life said:
So again ... you guys are debating the merits of a list .... that was barely off from being randomly generated, and slapped into a Twitter post as clickbait.

I'm all for so-called "talkers". But IMO they should have at least an ounce of genuine effort to them, to be worthy of being that.
Click to expand...
It's the doldrums of the offseason, anything to get people talking is fine by me.

I actually find Big Game Boomer a decent follow on Twitter anyways
 

I remember this story hit when I was going to college there. Put everyone into a tizzy.

sahsponyexpress.com

University of Minnesota voted among ugliest campuses - The Pony Express

When it comes to deciding what college to go to, most will think of the quality of education they gain from the school of their choice. The appearance of the school campus might affect part of the decisions for certain students, but is probably not the biggest influence on their choice. The...
sahsponyexpress.com
 

Let's be honest, UM Campus is a sprawling compilation of concrete alongside a beautiful river. There is no apparent design to the buildings, just a hodge podge of architectural attempts.
 

MennoSota said:
Let's be honest, UM Campus is a sprawling compilation of concrete alongside a beautiful river. There is no apparent design to the buildings, just a hodge podge of architectural attempts.
Click to expand...
Totally disagree. The Mall and original campus are splendid. I'll agree that the original Cass Gilbert master plan should have been followed with a promenade to the river, but I assume you are picking on structures like the Moos tower which does not incorporate the campus design model. What campus doesn't have a few brutalist structures; their aesthetic is in the eye of the beholder.
 


My niece has worked on 3 B1G campuses and this is her take:

"I'd say, PSU (liked the college town feel around campus- gave campus a good feel plus it's a nice campus with pretty buildings), OSU (nice central campus but surrounding areas are tougher), UMN (but in fairness I worked on the St. Paul campus which was in rough shape- no university investment- so only going on that)."
 

I have to admit, PAC12 has some great campuses. Been on both Colorado and Washington campuses. Have not been on Stanford but looks great on TV. All three are probably interchangeable.
 
Last edited:

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom