HouseBeautiful selected Florida State as the most beautiful campus in America in 2015. One look at the majestic courtyard with the Westcott Fountain lit up at night shows why. (Getting dunked in it on your 21st birthday is a tradition.) Bright flowerbeds add color to the 475-acre campus. While you’ll find everything from historic buildings to state-of-the-art facilities at this educational mecca in Tallahassee, what you won’t see much of is on-site housing. About 80 percent of the roughly 33,000 undergraduates live off campus.

As might be expected at a large, public university, distance education programs abound. Standouts include criminology, education, business, nursing, computer science, and information technology. FSU has received national recognition for its efforts to help veterans complete degrees through online programs.

The Seminoles compete in the NCAA Division I Athletic Coast Conference. Football attracts huge crowds, and the team rarely disappoints. FSU captured national titles in 1993, 1999, and 2013. The baseball team likewise is a perennial powerhouse, but it has one honor missing from its history – a College World Series championship. The women’s soccer team has been doing its part to add to the university’s athletic glory. Since 2003, it has advanced to the College Cup nine times – the most by any team in the nation during the stretch.

FSU’s 16 colleges offer more than 320 undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. Some of the most notable include criminology, interior design, school library media, digital librarianship, and community health. The university also has been recognized for its outstanding study abroad opportunities (50 programs in more than 20 locations) and for its commitment to educating traditionally underrepresented students.