We ran across this article when looking at the Campus Squeeze.com blog and thought it might be entertaining. Please note: This list of Ugly Colleges was not created by us - we are just reposting this ugly colleges article from Campus Squeeze. The look of a school is subjective, and what matters the most is the education that you get out of your college loans.
©University of Maryland
20. University of Maryland-College Park- Much controversy over this one. The surrounding neighborhood isn’t great, and overall the buildings are on the downswing. It does have a nice quad and trees, but seriously. Who cares about trees? If all the stuff surrounding the trees is disgusting, doesn’t that say something about the college? You decide for yourself.
19. Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey- All about the neighborhoods; this one leaves much left to be desired. The lack of a centralized campus is the problem here, because the buildings are just scattered around New Brunswick with no set design, really, so it just seems like a bunch of ugly buildings. The Don Imus stuff didn’t help it’s reputation at all, so I kind of have pity on Rutgers. Which is why they’re 19 and not higher on this list.
18. Texas A&M- There’s not much wrong this campus except for the lack of color. One poster said it’s essentially “BEIGE BEIGE everywhere…†I couldn’t agree more. And, um, “Aggieland�?? Not exactly an appealing phrase, is it? And on their website, they have an extremely strange lack of pictures of their buildings. Just keep adding fuel to my fire, Texas A&M. Knock yourselves out.
©Ithaca College
17. Ithaca College- Ithaca pales horribly next to Cornell. Their proximity just emphasizes the beauty of the architecture at Cornell and the absolute lack of any kind at Ithaca. Sure, Ithaca is “gorges†but the campus is a bunch of gray buildings that just blend into the ground. I was extremely unimpressed by Ithaca College, but Cornell looked amazing. It got just left off my list of beautiful colleges, which I apologize for. Sorry, Cornell.
16. Rochester Institute of Technology- Ugh, this place is drab city. Sure, it’s full of smart people, but it’s just a brick campus. Gross brick that has no such spoke of “character†that brick usually has. These buildings that make up the RIT campus are all factory-esque. Not something you want to be looking at all day, especially if you’re going to be spending thousands of dollars to be established in your field.
©Northeastern University
15. Northeastern University- Why do all these schools have to be so boring? For once, I’d just like to see a building that was intentionally designed trying to be beautiful, but just failed badly. We’ll see as we get further down on the list. Back to Northeastern. I don’t want to use the word drab again but in this case there really is lack of a better word. It’s gray and dull, and looks very utilitarian. As I look out the window and see the overcast sky as it starts to thunder and the General Mills factory pouring out smoke, that reminds me of Northeastern. You must not be able to find it when it rains in Boston. But I heard that they’re doing construction there, so hopefully it getting better. But its “ugly†rep will live in infamy. At least in my book.
©Harvey Mudd College
14. Harvey Mudd College- You’d think that because of it’s California location, it would actually be pretty. Well you couldn’t be more wrong. Being a Claremont College, that’s surprising. The buildings are old and faded, and the architecture isn’t relative to the California lifestyle. That’s too bad, considering how well some of the other colleges in the area are designed. Harvey Mudd got just slabs of concrete. It’s a pretty good school, too. What a shame.
13. University of California, San Diego- Oh my, not another California school. That’s depressing. The architechture here is nothing but obscene. They tried way too hard to be modern and it was just a miserable failure. (Hey, finally! Someone who tried!) Some of the buildings really just look like a futuristic trailer park. It’s flat out brutal. It’s too high tech for my taste; too much glass, not enough personality. You may differ, but I’m the one making the list.
©UTD
12. University of Texas at Dallas - This campus may not be all bad, but if all the new buildings are going to be ’state of the art’ like this one, UTD is in trouble. According to the UTD website, “The NSERL is a state-of-the-art, 192,000 square foot research facility set for completion in spring 2007. UTD will draw scientists from all over the world and from all disciplines to its first-class laboratories.†Or they’ll just laugh at the “fish scale†building. Give me a break, you can’t get away with this building, even if it is The Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory.
©Drew University
11. Drew University- I went on Drew’s website and took the tour of the campus to see if I could prove people wrong who said that Drew was ugly. Uh, no. The buildings are old: very, very old. Like old in a bad way. Old as in they look dirty. Of course, they took the pictures in beautiful fall when all the trees have orange leaves…um, so what? Trees, like I said before, do not make a beautiful campus. It’s pretty gross altoghter and trees cannot make up for that.
©Pitzer College
10. Pitzer College- Uh-oh. A Claremont College. I almost didn’t believe it until I looked at the slide show on their site. Nasty plain, white buildings that are so rounded, they remind me of silos out in the middle of nowhere. They have absolutely no personality. A couple of buildings look like they were made out of scrap sheet metal. That’s not what a college campus is supposed to look like. You get enough of that in the working world.
9. Illinois Institute of Technology- This is the third “institute of technology†on the list. They need to get better architects at these schools. The low-rise buildings are so nasty and dull that they feel like a blast from the past. Some serious renovation is in dire need at this school. Only the Main building is okay, but the rest just falls short with its flat, square-ish design that feels like an office complex. Of course all of their pictures focus on the Main building, because the rest is just not camera-worthy.
8. SUNY campuses- Buffalo, Binghamton, and Albany- (pictures from top to bottom) I’m sandwiching these all together because I don’t think they deserve separate spots on the list. They may have some green space, but that doesn’t make up for the ugly buildings. Buffalo’s campus (I’ve driven through it multiple times, considering it is about ten minutes from my house) has some nice upperclassmen apartments on a lakeish-thing, but its buildings look like Lego land. It’s so bizzare. They are just squares that protrude from a main structure. Binghamton’s just awful in the middle of rural nowhere with random squares, again. Like that’s supposed to be a cool design. And Albany’s buildings are just drab and rundown pieces of concrete. SUNY needs some serious face lifts, the whole system and its buildings.
©North Carolina State University
7. North Carolina State University- Brick, brick, brick, brick…it should be their fight song. The whole entire campus, I’m not even joking, is red brick. Is that supposed to be some kind of a character statement? it looks like a low income housing project. To throw in an accent of some kind, the designers must’ve thought, “Hey! Why not some metal?†and just put some random steel porticos around the campus and called it a day. And maybe some steel bars around the windows to make them feel smaller and more like a jail. That’s the spirit!
©Rowan University
6. Rowan University- Ugh. Uggggggh. One word-nasty. The school colors are brown and yellow. Brown and yellow!!! I don’t think I need to spell it out for you. You know what those colors look like. Moving on, what’s up with these buildings looking like prisons? Is that some kind of a trend? One looks like a prison, then the other looks like a born-again Christian church from the 1970’s. And what is it made out of? Hmm..red and grey brick! How original of them. These colleges need to mix it up a bit.
5. Carnegie Mellon University- A poster said “I don’t think it’s buildings or classrooms would meet the local building codes in my town.†That’s deplorable. Carnegie Mellon makes itself look great on is website but how unfortunate that it really isn’t. They tried to fandangle it so that people perusing the site wouldn’t see how ugly its buildings really are. But alas! They slipped. I haven’t actually been to Carnegie Mellon, just heard horrible things about it and Pittsburgh. So I decided to take a virtual tour of its residence hall. But what they didn’t realize is outside the window of a room you can see the god-awful brick red building that looks like something you’d see at Rikers. What else is new?
4. Brandeis University- Way-out weird design all over campus. Each building tried to be modern and contemporary with a mix of glass and brick, but it just looks unfriendly and cold. Which is actually a good description of Boston in the winter. I’ve heard from multiple students that say Brandeis is a horrible campus and fairly ugly. And the sad part is they try to mix a contemporary smorgasbord in with a castle! That does not work. And…oh my, a cottage. A demolished cottage with another cottage in the background. So Brandeis is: A modern, contemporary, medival, country college campus. If you’re as confused as I am…
©Southern Connecticut State
3. Southern Connecticut State- Yeah, I don’t want to hear it. Sure, they’re doing construction, making it look nice, but it’s still as ugly as ever to me. It has a complete lack of visual interest and is currently dirty and filthy. More gross brick composes basically all of campus, and don’t even get me started on the dorms. And New Haven? Dull. I mean, how can Southern Connecticut State even compete with Yale in the same neighborhood? At least Yale tried to make their buildings architecturally interesting by pouring acid all over them. Southern Connecticut State’s campus = pathetic.
©University of Massachusetts
2. University of Massachusetts-Amherst-The UMass dorms look like the projects, says a student. Another poster says they’d vomit touring the UMass campus in March/April without the snow covering it up. The hideous buildings make up somewhat of an industrial park. The buildings are old and faded, lack originality, and are all around not worthy of a higher institution of learning.
1. Drexel University- Won Ugliest Campus in the Country in 2002 and guess what? No one made any changes. They still have prison-like dorms (shocker) and massive orange, yes orange, brick buildings from the ’70’s. It’s small, sporadic, and basically Philadelphia’s urban dumpster called a higher place of learning. That’s embarrassing. The people of Drexel (the administrators, not the students) need to wake up and look around their filthy campus and shape it up.
Thanks to Campus Squeeze for letting us use the list and remember, don’t select your choice of school solely on looks, rather choose based around education and overall experience. Also remember to think of smart borrowing and exhaust all scholarships and grant before taking student loans .. no matter how ugly or beautiful your college is!
79 responses so far ↓
1 Mike // Jan 12, 2008 at 4:22 am
I did not attend Carnegie-Mellon, although I have lived in Pittsburgh for almost 15 years. The CMU campus may not be among the most beautiful, but certainly not among the ugliest. I’m curious, though, what “horrible things” you’ve heard about Pittsburgh. Keep in mind that I’m not a native; it is one of the most beautiful cities in the country with very friendly people, and once again ranked the #1 Most Livable City in America by Places Rated Almanac. Outsiders still have a drab perception of the city, but once they visit and see that it is on the cutting edge, most change their minds.
2 Scott // Jan 14, 2008 at 6:01 pm
How can you say Drexel hasn’t made any improvments? The school has spent $150 million dollars in capital expenditures in the past decade. As a student at Drexel I can say from first hand experience that the campus is improving, and there are a bunch of plans in the work to make it better. Oh, and by the way that building isn’t even on our campus…
3 asim // Jan 15, 2008 at 12:42 am
metropolitan state is the most disgusting college i have ever seen….dude i mean physical apperance sucks
4 rachael // Jan 16, 2008 at 5:04 am
i’m a student at southern, and yeah it’s under going construction but their new student center looks absolutely amazing!! the two pictures you have up there do not give this college any justice at all. the second picture, i have not even seen while being at southern. you need some new updated pictures. maybe then you can change your mind about putting southern as number 3 on your list. it doesn’t deserve to be there.
5 jame // Jan 17, 2008 at 12:53 am
southern is not bad to make number 3. those pictures are outside dorm buildings what do you want them to be? manors? the campus its self is nicer than most of the pictures you posted of other colleges. i agree with completely with rachel.
6 Class98 // Jan 17, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Drexel made #1?
Those of us who graduated from Drexel could have told you that we went to the ugliest school in the world. But that’s not the worst of it. We have to cross very busy roads just to get anywhere and usually a few of us get hit every term. The air conditioning didn’t work properly in most of the buildings I had classes in (we have classes in the summer), and didn’t work at all in the building that didn’t have windows. Yes, I’m serious, we had classes in a building called Commonwealth which had no windows and no air conditioning and we could not get the room changed. Most of us would have loved to leave the school and transfer out but our credits could not be accepted because a term for us is 10 weeks instead of the normal 16 anywhere else. The good side? If you hire a Drexel graduate you know that person can handle the worst corporate America can throw at them.
7 Donald // Jan 18, 2008 at 5:25 am
Northern Kentucky University.
It was cloned from a cement penitentiary and the Montreal Olympic village, which was turned into a penitentiary after 1976. The campus architecture is 100% poured concrete with windows. Every building, staircase and commons. Talk about nasty.
8 Matt // Jan 18, 2008 at 6:21 am
Wow, totally agree with you about NC State. All I see on the way to class are bricks, bricks, and more bricks. We DO, however, have ONE nice looking spot on campus… but you have to look hard to find it. My dorm (Lee Hall) reminds me of the projects every time I walk outside at night.
9 Jason // Jan 21, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I agree with a few of the campuses on the list based on the picture given, if it’s an accurate picture, which I’m doubting based on the picture used for Drexel. Otherwise, I think lists like these should be left to someone who has at least some sense of good architectural design. The “I’m the one making the list” comment doesn’t make it ok. And if your going to trash the buildings of a campus, University of Massachusetts for example, then don’t show a picture with beautiful buildings in it. Just doesn’t make sense.
10 Lamont // Jan 22, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Yeah i agree Southern is a dump…. nothing nice at all…plus the neighborhood it is in is horrible…..Homicide is up 70% in the community surrounding Southern so thats just an added bonus…..SCSU Second Chance State University…You dont go there you end up there
11 Katie // Jan 29, 2008 at 6:09 am
was putting up the suny buffalo picture with snow really necessary?
we get it, it snows in buffalo, i’m from buffalo, i get it, but seriously…
was it really needed?
12 brad // Jan 29, 2008 at 7:49 pm
If you think these colleges are bad you have to seee Missouri State University. It’s small, filthy, and the buildings look like they are going to crumble in 10 mph wind. The dorms seriously appear to have been constructed in the 1940’s, and the student recreation field seems to have been filled with landmines.
13 Ellen // Feb 4, 2008 at 4:00 am
I visited Northeastern this past fall and I found it absolutely beautiful! It’s just about the only college in Boston that has a real campus and it’s buildings are really modern and clean looking. That picture does not do NEU justice.
14 Mike // Feb 4, 2008 at 4:26 am
Have you been to Northeastern since they constructed West Village? Or since they remodeled somewhere around 1970? I’ll admit, Northeastern isn’t as pretty as Harvard, but for a city campus it is not bad at all. (I would say Boston University is the ugliest campus, but I’m not sure if Commonwealth Ave. counts as a campus)
15 Mel // Feb 4, 2008 at 11:20 pm
As a Drexl Grad I am well aware of what the campus looks like and the lack of green. However, it’s a city school, plain and simple. My question though is WHY use a picture of a building located next to campus, but not a part of campus? Makes no sense to me.
16 FrederickRandolphPhD // Feb 7, 2008 at 6:11 am
I’m so glad NC State made the list! LOL, I go to Duke and also spend a lot of time on UNC’s campus (which is BEAUTIFUL). But I went to NC State for the first time a couple weeks ago to attend a lecture…. what can I say, it surely earns its place on this list!!
17 FrederickRandolphPhD // Feb 7, 2008 at 6:14 am
UMass (#2 on the list) looks beautiful in the picture. What are they talking about. Either the campus is great or they got a “bad” picture. Maybe they intentionally took it on a cloudy day to further their point….
18 dan // Feb 10, 2008 at 4:32 am
This is the worst assessment of architecture ever.
First, you show partial pictures of only 1 or 2 of potentially dozens of buildings of a campus.
Second, the buildings you pick aren’t even worth considering. Most of them are large complexes like athletic buildings and mass-housing. Schools arent going to make their athletic venues with expensive gothic and colonial style architecture, its not worth it.
Also, you have picked some of the nicest campuses ever. Northeastern!?!?! thats a beautiful campus right in the heart of boston.
Also, I actually find many of the structures pretty nice. I go to RIT, and I absolutely hate that campus, it looks like a prison. But the rest of them!?!?! The majority of the comments on here disagree with you as well.
Also, what is the sample size of your observations? Have you considered all the small no-name places that probably cant afford to have Ivy leagues architecture.
Youre an idiot, whoever you are.
19 rus // Feb 10, 2008 at 10:53 am
how is it that UCSD made this list…
You’re an idiot, whoever you are.
20 JB // Feb 14, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I’ve learned that people who knock Pittsburgh have never been there. Its slightly different than the movie Gung-Ho. So I can pretty much ignore you opinion of CMU, although Wean Hall(which is in your photo), could conceivably be the ugliest building in the history of mankind. Totally devoid of life and warmth.
Unfortunately, there have been numerous new buildings built in the last 5 years, and the campus actually looks really nice.
21 Mike B. // Feb 14, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Woo-ho! I’ve been to two of these schools! That must give me something like an honorary degree in ugly architecture. Interesting ugly facts about these places: The architectural style which dominates the older Harvey Mudd buildings is known as “neo-brutalism”. It’s an attractive campus despite most of it’s buildings. The central space on the NC State campus is called, wait for it… The Brickyard! One upon a time, it used to be grass….
22 Katie // Feb 15, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Haha, that’s not what Northeastern looks like. Is that even a Northeastern building? It might have been ugly 30 years ago when it was a commuter school, but it’s a pretty nice campus now.
23 Steven // Feb 15, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I’m a 99 Drexel Grad and would have agreed that when I went to school there, they were THE ugliest school in the country…and the worst administration in the country as rated in US News and other publications. Hey, that’s where “Drexel shaft” came from. But, I have to admit, I went to the school a few years back for my grad program and the school is entirely different. There are numerous new buildings that are gorgeous and the surrounding area has been Giuliani cleaned up. Much better. Also, that picture is of some abandoned coal power plant that isn’t even on the campus.
24 student // Feb 15, 2008 at 7:45 pm
UCSD is actually a very nice campus
25 CourtneyT // Feb 15, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Is it so bad that you have nothing better to do with your lives than rate what a college looks like? They’re schools. People learn at them, not rate their fashion sense. If you think it’s so bad, why don’t you raise money to help improve these schools?
26 0mo // Feb 15, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Well…..I knew Umass would make it on the list. Some of the buildings are actually beautiful, but you have to go to the outskirts of campus to see that. The picture you have there is of the dorms and Orchard hill and Central, but I bet the school is prettier than many other schools I have been to. The new dormitories/suite style apartments are really nice. Altho some of the buildings in the school are older than Methuselah and look very scary!!!lol…I miss Umass!!!!!!!!!!!
27 gppintx // Feb 15, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Drexel may be an ugly school, but I’d hire one of their engineering grads over those from any of the other schools on the list.
28 Duncan // Feb 18, 2008 at 6:12 am
I clicked through figuring UMass Amherst (my alma mater) would be on the list. And yeah, Frederick and Jason, parts of the campus, like the one in the picture, are quite pretty, as is the surrounding countryside. The problem isn’t really that the buildings are old.. the Old Chapel is one of the older buildings on campus, and it’s attractive.
The problem is all of the newer buildings they put up in the 60s and 70s- they’re not just ugly, they’re really tall. There’s something a bit odd about 22 story towers out in the middle of nowhere (Amherst is a very small town, and the University is on its periphery). The Graduate Research Center (the LGRC) is really ugly, and really out of place. The Student Union is a monstrosity. And the library… well, the library has a big fence around it to keep people from getting close to it because it sheds bricks. You have to walk under this weird bunker-like canopy just to get inside. And it only has books on about half the floors- I’m told that this is because 23 story libraries are a bad idea given how much books weigh. So the school has to maintain a couple of other specialist libraries that the new library was intended to incorporate, but there are offices of various campus departments on a lot of the floors. And a lot of things are like that- they kept “deferring” maintenance through the late 80s and 90s, so eventually what started as hundred dollar problems became hundred thousand dollar problems.
But there are some nice things on campus too- there’s a lot of lawn, and a nice duckpond. And I hear the new Computer Science building is really nice. I worked in the old CS offices in the Lederle low-rise, and.. well, it was a bit depressing.
29 CourtneyT // Feb 19, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I really hope to go to Drexel, and I honestly don’t care what it looks like. I come from an ugly high school, so what’s the difference? Maybe the students should get active redecorating their buildings. Either way, it shouldn’t determine some of the school’s credibility. Besides, who rates these schools anyway?
30 josh // Feb 19, 2008 at 9:14 pm
RIT should be the ugliest school on this list, but that is the point of this campus. They don’t care about how the school looks, since the quarter system will leave you studying 8 hours everyday. You won’t even make it outside to see the buildings, so why waste the money. This school makes the rest on this list look like community colleges, including drexel, I would know as I received my BA in engineering there.
31 Jillian // Feb 19, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Drexel may not be a beautiful campus, but what can you expect from a city? I think for the most part it has cleaned itself up. Our campus is starting to look better. How about stop bashing on our school and help us keep it safe, because we all know that safety is a bigger issue than what our campus looks like.
And if you are going to complain about Drexel, take a look inside, because it is for sure uglier. Papadakis decided to buy an virtual island which cost somewhere in the 5 digit area which means no money is going towards fixing up our classrooms or renovating a dorm that is falling apart. As for the staff? The professors are good, but we do have some really bad seeds. As for our advisers, my experience with them has sucked. I regret going to school here. I have received a great education, but the experience has not been thrilling.
32 Nick // Feb 22, 2008 at 2:03 am
It has been stated before, but it’s worth noting again: this article really trust tried to give a synopsis of campuses with one picture of an ugly building on its campus. If you go to any school in America, I guarantee that you can identify at least one truly “ugly” building on its campus. As a Pittsburgh native and a CMU student I am frankly teed off that you listed CMU as one of the ugliest campuses.
First off, the original campus was designed from 1900-1910 by renowned architect Henry Hornbostel. Over a dozen of his buildings comprised the campus (academic buildings, a gym, and residences). I will admit however that our school has an eclectic mixture of styles that were generated in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. Where Hornbostel had a Beaux-Arts background, these new buildings were nearly all modern. If you just can’t stand modern buildings then, by all means, about a third of our campus is ugly then. I’m not a fan, but I can stomach it. Two of them however are beyond me and deserve to be ranked among the ugliest buildings in the world and that would be Wean Hall (what you have pictured) and the residence Donner Hall. One or two ugly buildings do not an ugly campus make. I feel that this assessment is a nice try, but really doesn’t get into the heart of the matter about what truly defines not ugly buildings but an ugly CAMPUS.
Pittsburgh has some bad and run down sections, like every metro area in the county. The city is certainly not ugly. As a matter of fact I think it has some of the most interesting skyscrapers next to Chicago. Obviously, you need to do some more research.
33 Jack // Feb 22, 2008 at 3:12 am
I toured U of Maryland last year and remember it being rather nice (I don’t even recognize where that picture was taken).
34 Asmi Joshi // Feb 23, 2008 at 12:15 am
I can’t believe College Park is on this list.
35 Frank // Feb 23, 2008 at 1:59 am
University of Maryland has the largest mall in the country surrounded by cherry blossoms and 19th century building architecture that is consistent. Architectural exceptions are at least a quarter of a mile from the center of the campus, and include the state of the art basketball arena and a few new physics/engineering buildings. Maryland has been featured in at least two notable movies. However, you didn’t even knock Maryland for what is on its campus. If you want devaluate the school because it is in a poor urban setting then I suggest you broaden the scope of this study to find schools that have poor campus achitecture and poor surroundings. You wrote, “Much controversy over this one”- gee, I wonder why?
36 Kyle // Feb 28, 2008 at 2:35 am
Carnegie Mellons Main quad is built by famous architects McKim, Mead and White. It is one of the few campuses on this earth with neoclassial architecture, similar to that of Columbia University.
37 Leo // Feb 28, 2008 at 2:54 pm
that building isnt even on northeastern main campus, its a random satellite campus that the majority of students never see because its for administration and such. i only know about it because i live in the area and have drove past it.
northeastern facilites have won top architectural awards, look up west village northeastern and youll see why
38 ARCHgirl // Feb 29, 2008 at 5:23 pm
With some respect for modern architecture (both classic and contemporary) Illinois Institute of Technology is in my consideration quite beautiful . . . they’ve used their technological expertise in creating a campuses that embraces innovative use of new materials and construction methods.
What other campus can boast, Mies van der Rohe, Rem Koolhaas (his campus center is one of my favorite buildings in the US) AND Helmut Jahn.
The campus is on the national registrar of historic places thanks to Mies. The reason you think the building in your photograph resembles an office park is because he was so popular that office parks are essentially poor copies of poorer copies of his originally great masterpieces.
I don’t advocate judging a building by its designer label, all architecture is open to interpretation, but in this case these starchitects have created something beautiful.
http://www.iit.edu/about/history/architects/
. . . and no I’m not an alumn
39 KL // Feb 29, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Have to say, I’m really surprised that Drew University is on the list! Some of the residence halls aren’t much to look at, but the main buildings where classes are are nice, and the campus as a whole is really pretty, especially in the spring when the trees are flowering and the flowers are blooming…I haven’t been back since I graduated (6 years ago), but I believe they’ve built a new student center, also…
40 emily // Mar 5, 2008 at 6:13 am
that building isn’t even on NC State’s main campus….
41 anon // Mar 7, 2008 at 6:43 pm
lol i like how you picked the ugliest building on UCSD as the photo
42 girl // Mar 10, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I don’t agree with about 90% of these.
Don’t judge the looks of a school based on a couple of photos.
43 Holly // Mar 14, 2008 at 11:59 pm
You were right about UMASS… except for the Amherst part.
Of all the colleges, UMASS Dartmouth is absolutely horrendous. Everything is all made of concrete and is very lackluster.
44 David William Larkin // Mar 16, 2008 at 11:46 am
As a Umass Amherst alum, I can truly say that any architect who designed any of the buildings on campus must have been truly demented. Every piece of matter that exists on that campus is revolting. I remember, as a freshman living in southwest, I would keel over and vomit whenever I made the journey over to central to visit friends, those colonial brick buildings, the grassy hill and the surrounding trees, it all made me sick……….seriously, how is Umass on the list?? compare it to ANY urban campus and tell me with a straight face which is better looking. To the reviewer, however inadequate of a human being you may be, did it ever occur to you to VISIT any of these campuses?? Did you ever consider speculating that that might be the first step on the list in order to review them???????
45 Pam // Mar 18, 2008 at 2:59 am
I am extremely unimpressed with the architecture at Brandeis, ugly and shoddy buildings from the 60’s. Also, I don’t
think the campus is well maintained. It does not
leave you with a good impression.
Northeastern isn’t that horrendous in spite of
being an urban school.
46 Frank // Mar 21, 2008 at 3:14 pm
This has to be the dumbest article ever. Look at the setting of UMASS. It’s really pretty countryside. Who cares about the buildings anyway? I think Brandeis and Northeastern aren’t bad. Why not pick on Harvard? Some of those buildings are ancient. Hope you didn’t actually get paid for writing this garbage.
47 eric // Mar 24, 2008 at 6:30 am
The photo used for Northeastern isn’t even on Northeastern’s campus! At least the main (Boston) campus. It’s actually pretty beautiful.
48 John // Apr 1, 2008 at 3:42 am
The building which you have pictured in UTD is actually not that bad looking as is its campus!…..UTD’s campus is really small…and it sucks so much being a student here!.
49 Sal // May 1, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Umm…you’re a freakin MORON!!! At least half of these schools are GEORGEOUS!!!! And you just picked out the ugliest building you could find…what an idiot, do you even go to school anywhere?? And how many really pretty BUILDINGS have you ever seen anyway?? They’re buildings!!! They arent meant to be that great…I would have to say you just made MY list of the DUMBEST IDIOTS IN THE NATION…and I know some pretty dumb people…
50 JES // May 2, 2008 at 5:03 pm
The University of Tennessee is very UGLY!! There are barely no trees, and the campus is extremely hilly. The neighborhoods around the campus are very run down as well as the campus buildings themselves. There is no scenic spot on the campus, just buildings, more buildings, and pavements.
51 Robert // May 4, 2008 at 3:53 am
This is a nice compilation, but did anyone ever care to look at the University of Illinois Campus. The campus was made in the “brutalist” style of architecture (pure cement and steel). the east campus was constructed in the 60s, and there are myths that its supposed to be riot proof, for example, the buildings have super slim windows, made so students wouldn’t throw chair or anything big out the windows…i think that the architect was famous for constructing prisons around the country…if you saw this school, you would know what ugly is
52 Student Loan Guru // May 5, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Umm, hey Sal, your list of the DUMBEST IDIOTS IN THE NATION should probably include the guy who spelled gorgeous “GEORGEOUS”.
Please let us know what school you attend so we can add it to our list of the Top 10 worst schools for spelling.
53 Ithaca College // May 6, 2008 at 6:06 am
As a student of Ithaca College I bow my head in shame; I don’t think anyone knows what the phuk they’re doing around here. The view FROM campus is amazing: an entire valley, lake, and miles upon miles of rolling hills. The view OF campus, though-HA! I believe it was Ratatouille’s brother who said, “once you get past the gag reflex its really not that bad.”
54 SELGAE // May 6, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I currently go to drexel and I do not understand why it is ranked so low. The main building is gorgeous; they had the 2008 democratic presidential debate and a Hillary Clinton rally there. The building featured in that Drexel picture isnt even a part of Drexel nor is it any where near Drexel. The idiot who wrote this list deserves to be kicked in the face. Drexel has made significant changes to the campus, maybe the author should do some research before making these assumptions.
55 wow // May 9, 2008 at 6:28 am
have you ever been to ucsd? it is probably one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. most of the campus has views of the pacific ocean and there are forests throughout most of the campus. i dont know about you, but waking up everyday freshman year and looking out my window and seeing the ocean sounds pretty appealing.
take a look at geisel library and tell me that isnt a legit ass building. the best weather in the world, most beautiful ladies, and money location…..
youre a dumbass
56 Brian // May 13, 2008 at 12:22 am
Your analysis of Rutgers-New Brunswick showed that you’ve never been there. There are 4/5 campuses in the area all of which look very different from each other. Some are not so nice but others, like Cook and Douglas, have (mostly) nice classic collegiate architecture and lots of greenery. If you asked students who go there, they would probably say the Livingston Campus is the ugliest, a jumble of identical cement buildings all slapped up at the same time circa 1980 on a former military base, mostly as an afterthought.
57 Dayna // Jun 23, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I was just wondering why Lincon is not on the list? I visited Lincoln University while in philadelphia and i was horrified. They need some serious improvement. Plus there next to some farm, that makes the place smell horrific most of the year.
58 Derek // Jun 28, 2008 at 9:58 pm
You are smoking rocks if you think that the Univeristy of Maryland is in the top 20 ugliest schools. I do not go there and am not a fan of the school so I am not biased. However, I have been there and I can name at least ten schools that you do not have on your list that are uglier than any of those schools. Have you ever heard of Ball State, Purdue, Temple, or Michigan State? They are all way more disgusting than these schools. Please do not write any reviews ever again. Thanks!
59 Sam // Jul 1, 2008 at 1:56 pm
The #18 Texas A&M campus is not only ugly, but he people that go there have an ugly attitude, which makes it even worse. It looks like a prison, which makes sense.
60 Jake // Jul 1, 2008 at 2:56 pm
The Texas A&M campus is ugly but the students are beautiful!
61 Steve // Jul 1, 2008 at 6:40 pm
This dummy does not know jack!!!!!!!!!! A&M’s a beautiful campus!!!!!!!
62 hornet // Jul 1, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Texas Tech = ugggglyyy!
63 Ed // Jul 2, 2008 at 12:21 am
ROFLMAO - I graduated from Drexel in the late 1960s…what was said here was said then…so don’t get your hopes up.
64 Motorcadence // Jul 16, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Binghamton is a publicly funded school, and one of the best in the country. Students who go there don’t expect Ritz-Carlton level design and comfort . They expect an outstanding education at a great price. Going to class in an uninspiring, utility-driven brick building is a small sacrifice for annual tuition of $4,350 for state residents.
65 Good Ag // Jul 17, 2008 at 3:05 am
Texas A&M is not an ugly campus, every campus has they’re own style of buildings and A&M’s is beige I’m sorry if you don’t like that color. You forgot to mention the huge trees and the quad.
66 UniqueD // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I cannot believe Drew University is on the list! You’re an idiot whoever you are!
One of the reasons I chose to go there is because of the campus, and it’s in north Jersey, a train ride away from NYC! Idiot.
67 holladay // Jul 22, 2008 at 4:31 am
This list is total bunk but I have laughed my ass off reading most of the responses. Cheers!
68 Mike // Aug 2, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I don’t even know how Northeastern is on this list….have you ever been there whoever made this? Because if so, you’d remember that Northeastern has added in the West Village, which has won awards for it’s beautiful architecture. And besides West Village, the campus is in the heart of Boston and still is beautiful. In no way would I say Northeastern was an ugly campus.
69 RR // Aug 14, 2008 at 6:19 pm
UMass Amherst has a rep for having an ugly campus, but to be honest? I think it’s really pretty. Just don’t drive onto campus through the Southwest dorms and the parking lots. Drive in through the main entrance, past the duck pond, the chapel, the library - which is actually stunning.
And as someone else said, people aren’t picking Binghamton and UMass Amherst due to their prettiness, anyway. They are picking them because they are top 100 ranked unis and, if you’re in-state, they are a steal.
70 erik // Aug 20, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I am a native of pittsburgh, i have a good job and this place sucks. High taxes, horrible politicians and an irrelavent city as we go into the future. I can not wait to leave here AGAIN!!!
71 john // Aug 20, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I am a graduate of Drexel University and Drexel University College of Medicine. After spending nearly a decade of my life at those institutions, i have come to the conclusion that Drexel Admin care for one thing only —- their BOTTOM LINE.
Albiet, I do beleive I received a first rate education, but for anything else you had to run to neighboring schools for.
All I want to say, listen to your students Taki!!
72 Tom J. // Aug 21, 2008 at 2:09 pm
As a former VP at Drexel University, I must admit that campus was an ugly place. Since Taki took over as President, the university has spent over $300 million in capital improvements. The university is still spending money to continue campus improvements. I must say it’s not fair to use a picture of an abandoned coal plant that belongs to Amtrak and not the university. Why not use pictures of the many new dorms, Law School, Research Building or any other campus owned building? Although Drexel is an urban campus, they are doing what they can to improve the campus.
73 Sam // Aug 24, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I’m a student at Northeastern and was disgusted to find my school on this list. Located in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, NU has a beautiful campus with unique architecture and urban appeal. And what’s worse, the building pictured does not exist on our campus. I did some research and found that the building is on the Dunham, MA campus, a small satellite of NU. Do your homework, or maybe even (gasp) visit these schools?!
74 Moose // Sep 13, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Almost any college that has engineering as its main academic agenda is going to have an ugly campus. Nearly every college you mentioned (and some not) have big engineering programs. Engineers as a whole are not creative and see buildings as functional and do not admire the beauty of many elegant older buildings. NC State, Texas A&M, Georgia Tech–all are ugly!
75 Boris // Sep 22, 2008 at 11:21 am
I agree with many of the comments. Young lady, your idea to make such a ranking makes sense but you clearly lack any serious criteria. Most of your criticisms are quite plain bs. Maybe you should make a ranking of the 20 most beautiful campuses, then we will know what you really like in the physical surroundings of a school that Texas A&M, UMass or Northeastern so sadly lack.
76 Daisy // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:26 am
SUNY Purchase College should be number one. It’s the ugliest campus ever. Lots of old calling apart bricks. Totally hideous.
77 Andrea // Sep 23, 2008 at 10:09 pm
North Carolina State Unv. haha “brick brick brick should be the school song” lol!!
78 noname // Sep 24, 2008 at 9:54 am
that picture of Northeastern is from the Dedham campus… the Boston campus looks nothing like that… at least get the information right if you’re gonna have such a strong opinion
79 Simone // Nov 12, 2008 at 10:48 pm
i’m an italian exchange student in college park, and love this place, trees, squirrels, sun, grass, paths, briks… u should appreciate them all…
we care about trees, green, etc! most of the world don’t have it (including europe).
appreciate, appreciate…
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