Hey guys, lets start a list for the top colleges in California!
Stanford
Caltech
Deep Springs
Berkeley
Pomona
Mudd
Claremont-McKenna
UCLA
UCSD
USC
In some order.
Roughly:
- Caltech, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, Stanford
- UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC
- Occidental, Pitzer, Scripps, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSB
It’s hard to rank them more precisely than that.
Someone admitted to all 14, with enough money for any of them, might prefer a college below my top 5.
It really depends on what you want in a college (major(s), size, academic and social atmosphere, etc.)
My own most important criteria would be measurable factors that I think influence or reflect undergraduate academic quality (such as faculty strength, class sizes, student selectivity, financial resources, facilities, post-graduate student outcomes). However, even those factors are hard to measure precisely, accurately, and appropriately. Even if you could do so, weighing them against each other would be a matter of judgement.
If I had to pick a #1 for quality of undergraduate liberal arts education, I’d pick Pomona.
Caltech, Claremont McKenna, and Harvey Mudd are more narrowly focused.
Stanford’s focus on undergraduates isn’t as strong.
But then, if you’re a prospective engineering or business major, Pomona wouldn’t meet your needs at all.
No Deep Springs, @tk21769 ?
Caltech, Stanford
Harvey Mudd, Berkeley
UCLA, USC
Pomona, UCSD
Cal Poly, UCSB
@tk21769 That’s a lotta UCs to omit SD
In terms of prestige or “wow” factor, school name recognition, opportunities of graduates, alumni support and quality of instruction, I’d rank them this way:
Stanford
UC Berkeley
Caltech
The Claremont colleges
USC, UCLA
UCSD
UCSB
Occidental, Santa Clara
Errbody sleepin on Springs.
Maybe they’re not including it because it’s a two-year college?
I’d put Deep Springs at or near the top, given how unique it is. And you’d get a very high quality education absolutely free!
Rankings between the various colleges named are not too meaningful. Once you get outside the class of large comprehensive universities (the UCs and USC and maybe Stanford even though it is not that large), the smaller ones are different enough from each other that rankings between them (and relative to the large comprehensive universities) must really be individualized to the student in question.
- Stanford
- Caltech
- Pomona
- Claremont McKenna
- UC Berkeley
- USC
- UCLA
- UCSD
- UCSB
- Santa Clara.
Harvey Mudd would be top 5 for engineers. This is strictly a prestige ranking by the way.
Hmm.
From my perspective as a Californian, I’d probably order them as follows:
Stanford
Caltech
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Berkeley
UCLA
Claremont McKenna
USC
UCSD
UCSB
Obviously, it also depends on what you want to study, your finances, etc.
And yes, rankings are silly, but that’s what we seem to do around here
I would imagine that the 72% of Mudd students who are not engineering majors would take exception to this comment. I think it does belong on the list.
When I hear of 2 year college I think of CC. So I guess that is why Deep Springs isn’t popular even though it really is selective.
I would expect if ratings were linked to quality, then major would have to be considered.
Checking in here as another Californian. Ranking California schools by rep, at least in my area, would probably go as follows:
Stanford
Caltech
Pomona
Cal
Mudd
LA
USC
Claremont McKenna
UCSD
UCSB
Obviously there’s plenty of quibbling; once you get past Stanford/Caltech/Pomona (which are seen as pretty equivalent, but for very different types of people), pretty much everything down to SD is up in the air. Plenty of kids from my school pick LA over Cal, SD over USC, and so on regularly. A lot of it also comes down to major; Cal EECS, for example, is seen as very comparable to Stanford/Caltech/MIT engineering.
@marvin100 okay, Deep Springs has my vote. I have only heard of it in passing, so I had to look it up. Wow, what a truly amazing place. I can’t begin to imagine there is a more interesting and unique college in the country.
If we are only talking about academic rankings (not alumni giving involved)
Stanford – A high reach to everyone
Caltech / Mudd / Claremont-McKenna / Pomona – A reach to everyone
Berkeley – For great students
UCLA / UCSD / USC – for top students who didn’t get lucky to get into the above schools
UCSB/UCD – for good students
Overall undergraduate quality:
- Stanford, Pomona
- Berkeley, Caltech
- CMC, UCLA, USC, Mudd
- Occidental, UCSD
(Rounding out a Sweet 16 would be UCSB, UCD, UCI, Scripps, Pitzer and Santa Clara)
Do you think I should choose Berkeley over Cornell?
@prezbucky , I am almost certainly sure you not are from Cali…or new to Cali.
Caltech undergraduates trumps Berkeley like any day any time…(not necessarily graduate level)
Mudd / Caltech / CMC are in the same league in any rightful mind…
and USC in 5? Occidental and UCSD same? I am very confused about how you rank for undergraduate…USC is ranked here is only because it got a spot in endorsement from the rich parents…look at ANY meaningful rankings (even in US news global ranking (we all know us news national ranking is garbage))…USC is no where near any of the above mentioned schools…
looking at the school you picked…I think most of the people from California (born and bred) would rank as such:
- Stanford,
- Pomona, Caltech, CMC, Mudd
- Berkeley
- UCLA / UCSD
- USC 10 UCSB / ?? Occidental..??