<p>I'm voting for Virginia. I know that mass. and cal are probably the two best, but I will also throw Virginia in the upper ranks. UVA, wash & lee, Will. and Mary, Hampden Sydney, Richmond, Va. Tech for certain programs, vmi, and a lot of other small schools. What other states would you put in the top 10?</p>
<p>Many states have multiple excellent universities. I'd say the top 5 or 6 states are probably the following:</p>
<p>CALIFORNIA:
California Institute of Technology
Claremont McKenna College
Harvey Mudd College
Pomona College
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of California-San Diego
University of Southern California</p>
<p>MASSACHUSETTS:
Amherst College
Boston College
Brandeis University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Smith College
Tufts University
Wellesley College
Williams College</p>
<p>NEW YORK:
Barnard College
Colgate University
Columbia University
Cornell University
New York University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of Rochester
Vassar College</p>
<p>PENNSYLVANIA:
Bryn Mawr College
Carnegie Mellon University
Haverford College
Lehigh University
Swarthmore College
University of Pennsylvania</p>
<p>NORTH CAROLINA:
Davidson College
Duke University
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Wake Forest University</p>
<p>ILLINOIS:
Northwestern University
University of Chicago
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign</p>
<p>Virginia would probably come in at #7 or #8 as a state.</p>
<p>Pennsylvania also has Bryn Mawr and Bucknell. New York also has Hamilton and West Point. California also has Occidental.</p>
<p>Top Three States are:</p>
<p>california - ny - massachusetts</p>
<p>I think Ohio is competitive with its combination of good publics (Ohio State, U of Miami, other state schools) and privates (Kenyon, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan, Wooster).</p>
<p>Erin's Dady, you forgot Oberlin and Case Western. OSU has many solid universities, but it doesn't have a heavy hitter, like Duke or Chicago or Stanford.</p>
<p>Virginia, because it was once the place where everyone from the South sent their children to meet the "right" people, still has a number of good, small schools, plus the University of Virginia and William and Mary. Hampden-Sydney and VMI, however, have student bodies with average SAT scores in the low 1100s. I wouldn't match those schools up with some of the ones from other states mentioned here.</p>
<p>Virginia does have the following well-respected schools with accompllished to very accomplished student bodies. (in no particular order)</p>
<p>William and Mary
University of Virginia
Washington and Lee (the only truly elite LAC in Virginia)
Richmond</p>
<p>There are also many schools that, I believe, offer fine liberal arts educations in small classroom environments. Most states have those, but perhaps not in the numbers Virginia possesses.</p>
<p>As for comparisons with other states, I would put California and Massachusetts a cut above other states (while noting that Mass. has built its rep on private schools and California relies fairly heavily on publics).</p>
<p>After that, as Alexandre has pointed out, Pennsylvania and New York are strong contenders. After that, I think it gets a little chancier because the issue of "depth" comes in. Illinois, for instance, has two wonderful private universities, a large research-oriented public school, and then not a whole lot of depth beyond that. Ohio has Kenyon and Oberlin, but its public universities are, IMO, not among the top ones. North Carolina looks a great deal like Virginia, except that Virginia doesn't have a real parallel to Duke.</p>
<p>Having said all that, if depth becomes an issue, Virginia has a great deal more depth, I think, than Illinois and Ohio, and slightly better depth than North Carolina (though that's debatable). There are a number of solid schools that aren't quite at the highest levels, such as Mary Washington, Virginia Tech, James Madison, RMWC (if they survive), Hollins, Sweet Briar, VMI, Hampden-Sydney, and many others I'm sure I've forgotten.</p>
<p>We Marylanders envy those of you in Virginia, especially since several of your most attractive colleges are state institutions, where you pay low in-state tuition.</p>
<p>"PENNSYLVANIA:
Bryn Mawr College
Carnegie Mellon University
Haverford College
Lehigh University
Swarthmore College
University of Pennsylvania"
where is University of pittsburgh?</p>
<p>Massachusetts-Harvard,MIT,Williams,Amherst,Holy Cross,Brandeis, Tufts, Mt.Holyoke, Smith,Wellesley.</p>
<p>I'm surprised no one has mentioned Connecticut yet... I'd say CT holds its own:</p>
<p>Connecticut College
Quinnipiac University
Trinity College
University of Connecticut
Wesleyan University
Yale University</p>
<p>Massachusetts or California, definitely.</p>
<p>smartalic:</p>
<p>You make a good point. Yale, Trinity, Wesleyan, and CC are all very fine schools. I don't think the University of Connecticut helps the case all that much, though. Definitely in the mix.</p>
<p>massachusetts or pennsylvania</p>
<p>the most most populated states are probably the ones that are all arguably the best, which makes sense except maybe a few that could be there (CT, MD)</p>
<p>population wise-
01 California<br>
02 Texas<br>
03 New York<br>
04 Florida<br>
05 Illinois<br>
06 Pennsylvania<br>
07 Ohio<br>
08 Michigan<br>
09 Georgia
10 North Carolina
11 New Jersey
12 Virginia
13 Massachusetts</p>
<p>NY also has Julliard, Eastman, the Culinary Institute of America, most of the best fashion schools, West Point as mentioned, Some other military academy (i think merchant marines).......</p>
<p>Also Syracuse</p>
<p>Stony Brook has been popping up on some rankings.</p>
<p>Add Lafayette and Franklin and Marchall to PA.</p>
<p>My problem with New York and Massachusetts is that neither has any great public schools. I would say that North Carolina and California have the best schools.</p>
<p>Clendenenator,</p>
<p>Yes, New York is the home to the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point.</p>
<p>id say alexandre's post is the best illustration :D and in that order too</p>