Long before country music became a staple here, Nashville was known for its genteel, refined and educated population. It was the first city in the South to establish a public education system. By the end of the 19th century, it was also home to several degree granting universities and notable private schools. Vanderbilt University, David Lipscomb College, Belmont University, Meharry Medical College, Fisk University, and Peabody College. St. Cecilia Academy and Montgomery Bell Academy were two noted and highly regarded private schools in Nashville. These are just a few of the learning institutions that still exist today in one form or another.
All this contributed to Nashville’s reputation as a center of learning just like ancient Athens. Hence, the nickname ‘the Athens of the South’. Because of this reputation, in 1897, when plans were being made for the Centennial Exposition, it was decided to build a replica of the Parthenon, the best known symbol of ancient Athens. While it was originally a temporary structure, it was rebuilt in the 1920s as a permanent fixture of the park (Centennial Park) that surrounds it. It is the only full-scale, complete replica of the ancient Parthenon and a major tourist destination in Nashville.
Today, Nashville is far better known as Music City. While most native Nashvillians are familiar with our reputation as the Athens of the South, the nickname is nowhere near as well known any more. Below are some of the colleges and universities in the Nashville area.
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Vanderbilt University is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of New York shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million endowment despite having never been to the South.
Vanderbilt is ranked number 12 among the Best Colleges in America.
Vanderbilt is ranked No. 1 in the “Their Students Love These Colleges” category in The Princeton Review’s 2020 Best Colleges rankings. The ranking is based on student ratings of their overall satisfaction with their schools.
The university also took the top spot in “Best Quality of Life,” based on students’ opinions of the beauty, safety and location of their campus, their campus residence halls and food, their ease in getting around campus and in dealing with the administration, as well as, the friendliness of fellow students and interactions among different types of students on campus, and their overall happiness.
Vanderbilt University is on a 330 Acre Campus on the west side of Nashville Tennessee. See Campus Map below and click on photo for larger version.
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Aspiring business owners need to look no further, as Nashville’s Belmont University offers one of the best programs in the country for those who want to study entrepreneurship, according to a recent ranking from The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine. The education services company named Belmont No. 20 on its list of “
Top 50 Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship of 2020
.”
Belmont represented the only school in Tennessee, and one of only six colleges in the Southeast, to be named to the list. Belmont’s prime location in Nashville makes it even more attractive for budding entrepreneurs as the city was recently
ranked by Inc. as the nation’s fourth best city to start a business
, rating it high in job creation.
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Today, Tennessee State University is divided into eight schools and colleges and has seen steady growth since its inception. It remains the only public university in Nashville and its health science program is the largest in the state and one of the largest in the nation.
The 500 acres main
campus
has more than 65 buildings, and is located in a residential setting at 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd in
Nashville, Tennessee
. Tennessee State's main campus has the most acres of any college campus in Nashville.
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Lipscomb University is a private Christian liberal arts university in Nashville, Tennessee. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The campus of 83 acres is located in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, between Belmont Boulevard to the west and Granny White Pike on the east. Student enrollment for the fall 2016 semester was 4,632, which included 2,986 undergraduate students and 1,646 graduate students.
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Middle Tennessee State University was founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university is composed of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together offering more than 80 majors/degree programs through more than 35 departments. MTSU is most prominently known for its Recording Industry, Aerospace, Music and Concrete Industry Management programs. The university has partnered in research endeavors with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the United States Army, and the United States Marine Corps. In 2009, Middle Tennessee State University was ranked among the nation's top 100 public universities by Forbes magazine.
Middle Tennessee State University has a 500 acre campus in
Murfreesboro
,
Tennessee
; 20 miles southeast of Nashville.
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Founded in 1866, shortly after the end of the Civil War, Fisk University is a historically black university and is the oldest institution of higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee. Fisk’s outstanding faculty and students continue to enhance the University’s national reputation for academic excellence, which is validated year after year by the leading third-party reviewers, as well as, by the pool of talented applicants and the large percentage of alumni who complete graduate or professional degrees and become leaders and scholars in their fields.
Fisk
University is located on a 40 acre campus in north Nashville.
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Austin Peay State University is a public institution that was founded in 1927. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 9,871, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 169 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Austin Peay State University's ranking in the 2020 edition of Best Colleges is Regional Universities South, #58.
Austin Peay State University
is located on a 182 acre campus in Clarksville Tennessee 30 miles north Nashville.
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Trevecca has a 90+ acre campus in an urban neighborhood environment, located about one mile from downtown Nashville.
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The U.S. News & World Report has ranked Aquinas College as 14th in Best Regional Colleges in the South in its 2015 rankings. The college is on an 83 acre campus in Nashville.
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Welch College, formerly the Free Will Baptist Bible College, is a private four-year college in Gallatin, Tennessee, founded in 1942. It is one of several higher learning institutions associated with the National Association of Free Will Baptists. Welch College serves 431 students as of 2019.
The college is on an 66 acre campus in Gallatin TN 20 miles east of Nashville.
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Homes For Sale in Nashville Suburban Counties
See Homes in Every Price Range
Click the Photo for Many More Homes to See
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Benefits of Using a Real Estate Agent to Purchase a Home
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DIY projects are in vogue. And why not? People like to save a buck or two by doing a full range of work themselves. But sometimes, DIY is not worth the effort or the savings. Purchasing a home is an activity that is best navigated with a professional leading the helm.
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One-Story Versus Two-Story Homes
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Prospective homebuyers will get more bang for their buck on a two-story home, but one-story houses definitely have their advantages. What works best for your family? Take a look at the pros and cons of each.
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