Ok, 55 here, and I had no problem walking up and down the hill at Denison . . . what made me nervous was the idea of driving on some of the campus roads in ice/snow!
Why is this a thread? 
jk–it’s turned out to be kind of entertaining. 
Considering the “Freshman 15”, I think a hilly campus might be a good idea for DS.
Love this post, and I agree with Tom Sr. I actually cannot believe that anyone would be turned off a campus because it has hills, with the exception of physically disabled people. We visited Tufts and BC and until I read that thread the other day, it never crossed my mind that hills are an issue for some, presumably, pretty lazy and unfit kids.
@LucieTheLakie I personally never met anyone who hated the Lehigh campus.
Hampshire has some hills, and our tour guide introduced herself with an apology for how ableist the campus is. That was an outstanding “welcome to Hampshire.”
Add Wellesley to the list of hilly campuses. The thing to be aware of for new students is that when a campus is hilly, what looks close on a campus map may actually take a lot longer to traverse, or be trickier in inclement weather.
I can see why people wouldn’t want to be on a hilly campus. Full disclosure – I’m disabled so hills are almost impossible for me. But even when I was able-bodied, I hated hills. They take more time to walk up, they’re an inconvenience, and steep ones leave you feeling out of breath when you get to the top (or maybe I was just out of shape!) I could see being worried about falling down hills, especially if you have bad vision, bad coordination, or you live in a place with a lot of snow or sleet. Hills probably shouldn’t be a reason to take a college off your list entirely, but I could see that it would be a deciding factor – just like the quality of food, the size of dorm rooms, etc.
@maya54 While walking a hill obviously takes more effort than walking on a flat pathway, you really shouldn’t arrive to class ‘sweaty and disgusting’ from that walk. If that is the case, I would think the kid is really out of shape!
Add Colgate to the list of hilly campuses. But a pretty one at that. And I agree with the poster who said that hilly schools often have beautiful views
Keep in mind that your student may be hauling a heavy pack and it may be snowing, slippery, and icy. And injury or mobility impairment doesn’t always just happen to other people. Sometimes it happens to you. I am not wild about hills.
Occidental College has a nice hill on campus.
Lots of people assume Kansas is flat, but the University of Kansas has a very hilly campus!
We saw Lafayette and Lehigh in the same day. While Lehigh was beautiful, I found the hills overwhelming and it made for a less cozy campus, IMO. When we saw Lafayette, it felt more comfortable with neat and tidy buildings surroundling manicured quads. Lehigh just appeared intimidating for some reason. I felt this more than my kid. My husband on the other hand liked the feel and look of Lehigh better. It’s a matter of taste
Also, if you’re an athlete or dancer who is prone to knee and shin injuries, a hilly campus can be very difficult
When I was a freshman, I would walk downhill to the athletic center for early morning conditioning for football. Walking back up that hill dead tired at 7:00am in the winter gave me a strong moral conviction that hills were bad.
In all seriousness though, I agree that these types of concerns are parent driven. On the campuses we recently visited with my daughter, she saw hills and immediately thought, wow that would be a great place to sled in the winter.,
We like hills. My daughter wrote about them in one of her “why x” essays.
Some people nix schools because of the hills. Others do not like certain buildings, the weather, etc. To each his own.
I went to Lehigh sight unseen (I visited the summer after I graduated high school for the first time) so I had no appreciation for what I was getting myself into. I will never forget walking down the hill to the bookstore one of the first days I was there to buy all of my books and then having to walk back UP the hill to my dorm with a backpack full of very heavy engineering texts. And yet I still managed to gain the Freshman 15. But having survived it, it does become somewhat of a badge of honor. We lived just off campus on a steep hill and there were several dicey moments of me or my roommates trying to park cars on the street in front of our house in the winter.
I now have mobility issues but didn’t when I started school. I would have been turned off to a hilly school especially in areas where there can be snow and ice. Walking on a hill when there’s ice? No thank you.
Now that it’s hard for me to walk on flat land, let alone on hills, I am very happy to be on a pretty flat campus.
I don’t know if hills would have been my deciding factor but it’s something I would have considered if I was looking at non-flat campuses.
One of the colleges my son looked at was flat as a pancake. I didn’t like it – I like at least some topography! The college he has chosen is draped over the top of a hill, so yeah! Terrain!
Having just climbed Chimney Rock and 71 stories on my fitbit from the experience, I totally want everything flat from here on out!
Cornell sits on top of a hill. My daughter walks these hills every day and is in tip top shape. Plus the campus is beautiful.