Top 25 Most Beautiful D3 Campuses
A definitive list of D3's best looking schools
School is almost back in session.
Soon, D3 Fall athletes will return to campus for pre-season training and another year of life on college campuses will begin again.
In celebration of these places that D3 Athletes call home for four years, we set out to determine which D3 can lay claim to having the most beautiful school setting in America.
We sifted through a number of inconclusive internet lists based on mismatched criteria (none of which were D3 focused) to create a ranking that’s actually useful to D3 recruits.
These are the Top 25 most beautiful D3 Campuses…
How We Created Our List
We aggregated scores from college ranking sites (full source list below) by assigning points based on the school’s position in the list. If a campus was ranked in a Top 25 list, we assigned points by subtracting its ranking from 26.
Example: A school ranked #1 earns 25 pts, while one ranked #25 gets 1 pt
Note: The recent Architectural Digest list was not ranked, so all schools mentioned got 25 points
Because we value the input of our followers, we polled Twitter (X) for their take on the most beautiful D3 campuses. We assigned 5 points for each time a specific school was mentioned in the comments of this post (up to 25 points)
To ensure we’d scraped everything the web had to offer, we also asked ChatGPT to weigh in on the debate. If a campus was mentioned in ChatGPT’s output when asked about the most beautiful D3 colleges in America, we assigned 10 points.
A total of 45 schools registered points after we summed up all of the categories. The highest possible score is a 110 (1st on all three lists, mentioned on Twitter (X) 5x, and ChatGPT). Spoiler alert - no one scored a 110.
Finally, we narrowed it down to the Top 25 to create the definitive list of the most beautiful D3 College campuses.
Enjoy!
The Most Beautiful D3 Campuses
1 - University of the South (Sewanee)
Often referred to as Sewanee, the University of the South’s campus sits atop Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau and boasts stunning natural surroundings, Gothic architecture, and a sprawling 13,000-acre campus.
In many ways, Sewanee’s campus feels like it was carved straight out of a storybook with its grounds stitched together by winding trails, stone buildings, and wide open green spaces. The architecture, especially All Saints’ Chapel (pictured below) gives it an old-world, think Hogwarts, energy but it’s the natural setting that really steals the show in our opinion.
The sandstone bluffs, quiet lakes, filtered sunlight through tall hardwoods, and those unreal sunsets that make you stop what you were doing. It’s not manicured in a flashy way. It is wild, expansive, and serene, the kind of place where you breathe a little deeper without realizing it.
Final Score: 83
Image via Sewanee
T2 - Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr is elegant in a quiet, timeless way with its gray stone Gothic buildings, ivy-covered walls, and lantern-lit pathways that make it feel like a hidden European college tucked into Philadelphia’s Main Line.
The all-women college’s campus is intimate and walkable, with arched cloisters, green lawns, and that castle-like library (Thomas Great Hall) that gives it a lot of old-soul charm. It was one of two all-women’s colleges to make our list of most beautiful D3 college campuses.
Final Score: 62
Image via Bryn Mawr College Admissions
T2 - Berry College
Berry College, located in Mount Berry, Georgia, is often noted for its breathtaking campus, which is one of the largest contiguous college campuses in the world, spanning over 27,000 acres 🤯 The campus is a collection of diverse natural settings including rolling hills, forests, meadows, and streams, providing a serene and picturesque environment. Due to its vast size, the campus is home to a variety of wildlife (including a ton of deer) making it a haven for nature lovers.
Final Score: 62
4 - Kenyon College
Known for its Gothic Revival architecture, Kenyon's campus also features tree-lined paths and a number of new modern additions amidst a tranquil, rural setting.
Final Score: 54
T5 - Swarthmore College
Swarthmore features a stunning arboretum, a mix of historic and modern architecture, and beautifully manicured gardens - including the above Amphitheater which is used for graduation.
Final Score: 48
T5 - Salve Regina University
Final Score: 48
7 - Lewis & Clark College
Want to learn more about Lewis & Clark College? Hear directly from the L&C golf coach, Brad Breier, on our podcast - the Student-Athlete Sessions.
Final Score: 47
8 - Bard College
Final Score: 45
9 - Mount Holyoke College
Final Score: 44
10 - Wellesley College
Final Score: 42
Here’s how the rest of the Top 25 played out…
D3Direct’s Top 25 most beautiful D3 college campuses
Thanks for reading!
Let us know which school should have been ranked by emailing us or reaching out on X.
Stay tuned for our next D3-specific ranking!