In terms of reputation, nothing beats Stanford in California. Following closely would be CalTech, USC, UC Berkeley, and UCLA. However, there are some outstanding liberal arts colleges with amazing academics that are by no means unknown but do not have the same prestige as Stanford. They are Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd College, Scripps College, and Pitzer College.
@smsstudent It’s true that they don’t have the same prestige as Stanford (I mean, how many schools do? Maybe Harvard, that’s it), but does it matter? One could make a case for Pomona being a better school than Stanford given their small courses, better balance and integration of tech/non-tech students, professor accessibility, nurturing vibe, and exclusive undergraduate focus. One could make a case for Stanford being better than Pomona given their prestige, athletics program, diversity of program offerings, and strength of faculty and overall resources. It’s all about what you want to get out of your education. Also, in elite circles like graduate school and post-grad fellowships, the best Claremont Colleges seem to be better regarded than places like USC and UCLA.
I do not disagree with you, but it is a fact that Stanford is more prestigious, and the OP was asking for schools with extreme prestige. The Claremonts are excellent and can probably give a better undergraduate education to a student than any other CA school could in most regards.
Okay, but the Claremonts are extremely prestigious. They are all top 40 LACs. That means they are prestigious.
@Derpthulu I think everybody wants to know the total amount your parents can afford each year for school.
Up to $40K was mentioned in another thread, along with a 1320 on the SAT. Unfortunately, I think that’s going to make most schools mentioned in this thread out of reach.
Forget UCs then. Could apply to a couple of the others as reaches just in case - but prestigious CA colleges seem unlikely.
why are you guys always coming with my 1320? is it like unchangable thing? i have so many months ahead…
No one means it in a critical way. I think people are just trying to come up with realistic suggestions for you and the only thing we have to work off of are your present stats as well as your ability to pay for said schools. Your current score provides a baseline of where you are now. You can take it again and you may be able to raise your score, but to see someone raise it from a 1320 to where it would likely need to be in order to have a realistic shot at most of the schools listed would be rare (but not impossible).
The “best” schools for every student are the ones they can both afford and get accepted to. The UCs are out because they would not be affordable. Santa Clara University might be worth considering. I don’t think they are known for being overly generous with FA, but not overly stingy either. Perhaps they’d offer enough to make it affordable. It may not have the national or international prestige you are looking for, but USNWR ranked it #2 for regional universities in the Western Region and it is very highly regarded in the San Francisco Bay Area with an extremely strong local alumni network. For people who want to end up in Silicon Valley, it’s a great option IMO.
Wishing you the best of luck.
@1Dreamer thank you, im sending applications to other states too of course, but california is priority.