Salve Ranked 7th 'Most Beautiful Coastal Campus' in Country

Thanks to its impressive architecture, charming atmosphere and breathtaking waterfront scenery, Salve Regina University is among the most beautiful coastal college campuses in the country, according to Best Value Schools, a website that studies and ranks colleges and universities across the country on a number of levels.

Founded in 1947 by the Sisters of Mercy, Salve Regina is ranked seventh on the list, of 30 campuses across the country. The website notes the waterfront location and the historic charm of its host city, but says the main attraction is the Salve campus, itself.

“As if ’waterfront’ and ’National Historic District’ weren’t charmingly cool enough, the university also boasts a surprisingly large (if not chilly) surf scene,” the website reads. “But the true gems of Salve Regina are certainly on its 80-acre campus, and include the impressive chateau that is Ochre Court, the Romanesque Revival McAuley Hall, and the mock-Elizabethan Wakehurst manor house.”

Salve isn’t the only Rhode Island institution on the list. The University of Rhode Island was ranked third on the list, owing to its mix of New England traditional and modern architecture on the main campus in Kingston, the Narragansett Bay Campus and specifically the value in URI’s School of Oceanography, and the Alton Jones Campus in West Greenwich adding ”pristine forests, streams, ponds and a lake” to the mix.

Salve Regina ranked 7th on the list, just behind the New College of Florida in Sarasota, FL, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. URI ranked third on the list, just behind Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA, and the University of San Diego.

The colleges in the list were chosen and ranked based on the following criteria:

• Location: Each campus on the list is located on the coast and within easy access to beaches.
• Awards & Recognition: Whether a national award or an honor bestowed by a group or organization, any recognition a campus has received played a large part in its placement on this list. Generally speaking, the larger and more recent the honor, the higher the college was placed.
• Student Enjoyment: Those campuses with features that can be physically enjoyed by the school’s student body (such as botanical gardens) were given higher priority.
• Number of Notable Features: Campuses with more than one significant or celebrated building or feature were ranked higher than those with a single notable feature. Local and privately owned beaches were included in this category.
• Other: Those campuses with other notable characteristics, such as historical significance or environmental friendliness, were also considered.