Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, the University of Virginia (UVA) is the #2 public university in the country, known for the cross-disciplinary programs between the sciences and humanities that Jefferson originally envisioned. The campus itself is designed to further this exchange, with a central Lawn anchored by the Rotunda and flanked by housing for both honored faculty and student leaders. In 1987, UVA and Jefferson’s other architectural triumph in Charlottesville, Monticello, were jointly named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Free tours of the Rotunda—a half-scale replica of Rome’s Pantheon that you’ll also see in the design of Monticello and the US Capitol—are offered daily, except during school breaks. You can also see Edgar Allen Poe’s room on the West Range of the Lawn.