31 Most Beautiful College Campuses in the U.S.

Did you know...

• Teaching is a hard job, and when compared to other industrialized nations, American teacher pay is middle-of-the-pack. Maybe that’s what explains a University of Pennsylvania study that found a third of teachers quit the profession within the first 3 years. When you extend the time frame to five years, 46% leave.
• The oldest continually operating higher ed institution in the world is the University of al-Qarawiyyin. It was established in Fez, Morocco, in the year 859. That makes it over 1,160 years old! It was founded by a woman, Fatima al-Fihri, and became one of the leading spiritual and educational centers in the Muslim world. It joined the modern Morocco university system in 1963.
• Competition among the country's top universities is so fierce that they are forced to turn away high-performing prospective students. Harvard and Stanford, for instance, turned away a full half of their applicants who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT. You don't have to worry about them, though. They got in elsewhere.
• Boston has the highest concentration of higher ed institutions in the nation. There are over 100 colleges and universities in the Greater Boston area. It also has seven R1 "very high research activity" universities: Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Brandeis, Boston College, Northeastern, and Tufts. This R1 concentration, too, is a record.
• Finland has some of the highest performing schools in the world. They often lead world rankings in education. Even so, primary school isn't compulsory until the age of seven. There are no national tests, no rankings, no inspections, and very few private schools. Finish students also report some of the highest satisfaction levels and lowest anxiety levels.