<ol>
<li>Massachusetts (Harvard, MIT, Boston College, etc.)</li>
<li>California (Stanford, UCLA, Berkley, Claremounts, etc.) </li>
</ol>
<p>Any others?</p>
<ol>
<li>New York (Cornell, Columbia, NYU, Colgate)</li>
</ol>
<p>Illinois (Northwestern, University of Chicago, Purdue, Urbana-Champaign, etc.)
Virginia (University of Virginia, College of William and Mary, etc.)
North Carolina (UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, Wake Forest)
California (Claremonts, UCs, Stanford)</p>
<p>Pennsylvania (Penn State, Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Haverford, Swarthmore, Villanova, Lehigh, Penn)</p>
<p>Illinois has some fine colleges and universities, but Purdue isn’t one of them. It’s in West Lafayette, Indiana.</p>
<p>Vassar also is a pretty good school in New York.</p>
<p>Pennsylvania: Penn, Swarthmore, Haverford, CMU, Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall, Dickinson, Penn State, Pitt</p>
<ol>
<li>California (Stanford, Caltech, Pomona, UCB, UCLA, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, UCSD, Scripps, Occidental, Pitzer, UCD, UCSB, UCI)</li>
<li>Massachusetts (Harvard, MIT, Williams, Amherst, Brandeis, Tufts, Wellesley, Boston College, Smith, Mount Holyoke College, College of the Holy Cross and Whitman)</li>
<li>New York (Columbia, Cornell, NYU, Vassar, United States Military Academy, Hamilton, Rochester, Colgate, RPI, Skidmore, Yeshiva and Union)</li>
<li>Pennsylvania (Penn, Swarthmore, Carnegie Mellon, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Lehigh, Bucknell, Lafayette, Penn State, F&M, Dickinson and Gettysburg)</li>
</ol>
<p>These 4 states are the clear leader in American higher education IMHO.</p>
<p>Also:</p>
<p>North Carolina: Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, Davidson, Elon.</p>
<p>Illinois: UChicago, Northwestern, UIUC.</p>
<p>Virginia: UVA, William & Mary, Washington & Lee, Richmond, Va Tech</p>
<ol>
<li>Mass (Harvard, Tufts, Wellesley, College of the Holy Cross, MIT, Worcester PolyTech, Boston College.)</li>
<li>New York (Columbia, Cornell, NYU, Fordham, Juliard.)</li>
<li>California (Stanford, Cal Tech, USC, UCLA, UC-berkely)</li>
<li>Pennsylvania (U Penn, Swarthmore, Villanova, Haverford, U Pitt)</li>
<li>North Carolina (Duke, Wake Forest, UNC)</li>
</ol>
<p>California has something for almost everyone (in terms of majors, locations, and selectivity) in its two state university systems and community colleges. However, budget cuts are making in-state costs more expensive every year, and community colleges often have overcrowded classes.</p>
<p>A decent selection of private schools like Stanford, Caltech, the Claremonts, and USC add to the choices in California.</p>
<p>(Does the OP mean “best” in terms of schools for the Ivy League hopefuls that are often assumed here, or in terms of having something for the entire range of university bound students?)</p>
<p>^^^^ Whitman College is not in Massachusetts. It’s in Walla Walla, WA.</p>
<p>I meant which states have the best academic schools</p>
<p>Virginia/DC: Virginia Tech, JMU, William and Mary, American, Georgetown, George Mason, UVA, George Washington U</p>
<p>Connecticut, given its small size and lack of any REAL cities (no, Hartford/Bridgeport/New Haven, you don’t count), has a decent amount of excellent schools. Yale, Wesleyan, Connecticut College, Trinity College, the Hartt School of Music (at U. of Hartford).</p>
<p>OP, if you’re just asking about the best colleges for in a state (regardless of cost), it’ll be a very long list for many of the bigger states such as California.</p>
<p>To help you narrow it down a bit I’ll name the top public and the top private according to the areas or the sections of the state they’re located in since the state is so huge.</p>
<p><em>Disclaimer</em></p>
<p>North Cal area:
Public - UC Berkeley
Private - Stanford</p>
<p>So Cal area:
LA; Public - UCLA
LA; Private - Caltech </p>
<p>OC; Public - UCI
OC; Private - Chapman</p>
<p>SD; Public - UCSD
SD; Private - USD</p>
<p>There are others that are very good as well such as USC and the top LAC’s and the top CSU’s.</p>
<p>Massachusetts-Harvard,Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, Holy Cross, Tufts, Brandeis, Olin, Smith, Wellesley,MIT -top state.</p>