As we have started to tour colleges for my D26 she has really focused in on wanting to be at a school that has a cute walkable area nearby. Not necessarily an urban campus in the middle of a big city (but could be if the area itself gives off a quaint vibe). Ideally walkable from campus…not several miles away by uber. I figured this might be appealing to many and even though I’ve seen some input on this in other threads, I couldn’t find a dedicated one so starting one.
We’ve found a few schools where she really likes the neighborhood vibe, but so far all very reachy. Of course also primarily looking to match on academic priorities but trying to make this thread really about schools in cute walkable areas generally.
I’ll start off with ones she has liked…
Harvard - I mean this is such a cool area. Cambridge is a really cute area with lots of restaurants and shops. To me it still feels like a quaint college area even though it’s basically Boston.
Wesleyan - very cute town about 10 min walk from campus with lots of restaurants and shops. It’s a small town so probably not raging nightlife but bookstores, and shops etc within walking distance of campus very cute.
Brown - I went there a long time ago - College Hill is a nice place and there is a small area of a few restaurants and shops basically in the middle of campus. One thing that has changed since I was there is the downtown area is now really nice (it was dead way back when). It’s a 15 min walk from campus but still walkable.
Macalester - the school is in a nice neighborhood. Only a few things nearby but it is cute and walkable to some things.
Haverford and Bryn Mawr - The main Line area is nice with quaint shops and walkable to the slightly more developed Suburban square.
What other schools give off Nice College Town vibes?
U Delaware: beautiful campus, thriving college town directly adjacent with bars, restaurants, everything within walking distance. Even car repair shop, Goodwill, dollar store etc.
UIUC: Campus not as nice as some others IMO of course, but fun college town with plenty of bars and restaurants.
Dartmouth College and Davidson College both have great walkable college towns! The town of Davidson, in particular, embraces the college town vibe with residents attending many school events including Cake Race and the Phi-Eu Debate in addition to concerts and sporting events.
Cornell and Ithaca College, Michigan, Northwestern (Evanston is more urban and not a college town per se but campus adjacent with lots of restaurants and shops), Purdue (both Chauncey and downtown).
Skidmore College, Amherst College (maybe UMass Amherst too—we didn’t tour, so I’m not sure how walkable the town is from campus), Williams College (I found Williamstown to be sort of like a small-scale Hanover, NH), Middlebury College, Bowdoin College, Union College (don’t laugh—the Jay Street pedestrian area is really cute!), and Ithaca College are the ones we’ve visited that come to mind.
I’ll add a couple more public schools:
Penn State - University Park. The town, State College, is a dream. My son attends and I am wowed every time we go visit. Very walkable and it has everything. Very student-centered.
UVA - Charlottesville. Such an adorable downtown! Gets sprawly at the edges, but that’s true for almost every town everywhere.
UMich-Ann Arbor (as mentioned above) one of my faves. Great college vibe, very walkable.
UMass-Amherst (yes, you can walk to the town of Amherst from campus) - smaller than the others I’ve mentioned but plenty going on, and there are free buses that connect to other towns and the 5-college campuses (UMass, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire, Amherst)
One place that I don’t think gets much play on CC is St. John’s in Queens, NY. A private, regional university, founded under Catholic auspices (the late Mario Cuomo, an ex-governor went there); its Jamaica, NY location is not the most exciting place in the world, really more of a bedroom community for Manhattan and Brooklyn workers (it will go down in history as Donald Trump’s teen-age home.) But, for rolling out of bed and having your choice of coffee shops and restaurants within blocks - it can’t be beat. And it’s an ethnic food Heaven.
Also, gotta respectfully disagree about URichmond: the cute walkable town is miles away from campus.
Agree with this. There really isn’t much that is walkable from campus. It’s located in what feels like an isolated suburban enclave, far from some of the fun areas of Richmond. Those areas are there, but not walkable which is the criteria that OP was asking for.
Surprised no one has mentioned Northfield, MN where St. Olaf (great school, not super reachy for most CC families) and Carleton (also great school, but generally a reach for most/all) reside. Northfield is great - definitely meets the “cute, walkable” criteria.
I’ll also second Middlebury, VT - awesome (if small) college town.