Which state do you think has the best universities?

College Search & Selection
1

I would have to say California, IMO. What do you think?
California has:
Stanford
Caltech
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UCSD
UCSB
UCI
UCD
USC
Pomona College
Claremont Mckenna College
Santa Clara
Cal Poly SLO
etc…

2

Cali:
Caltech, Stanford, Berkeley, USC, UCLA, Pomona, Claremont McKenna

Massachusetts is second

3

Alabama:

University of Alabama
Auburn
UAH
UAB
Birmingham Southern

(Now donning fire retardant suit for the coming flames)…

4

What would be third? Texas?
Texas A&M
UT Austin
Rice
Baylor
TCU
Southern Methodist University

5

Alabama:

Auburn
Samford
University of Alabama
UAH
UAB

6

“Best” for what purpose?

7

best in general @ucbalumnus

8

New York has Columbia, Barnard, NYU, U of Rochester, Cornell, Hamilton, Colgate, RIT, Rensalaer Poly Tech, Vassar, Skidmore and more. I agree that California and MA have a lot, but also Pennsylvania

9

Anywhere besides Illinois. I think I’ll vote for Carolina.

10

Mine would go:

Massachusetts: Harvard, MIT, Williams, Amherst, Wellesley, Tufts, BC, BU, Northeastern, Smith, Brandeis
California: Stanford, CalTech, Pomona, CMC, UCB, UCLA, USC, UCSD, USC
New York: Columbia, Cornell, NYU, U of Rochester, Barnard, Hamilton, Colgate, Vassar

North Carolina: Duke, UNC, Davidson, Wake Forest, Elon
Pennsylvania: Penn, CMU, Swarthmore, Haverford, Villanova

11

Also in PA you have Bucknell, Bryn Mawr, Lehigh, Lafayette and Franklin and Marshall

12

If you take the rough justice (admittedly very rough) of the top 50 National Universities and the top 25 LACs in the US News rankings, California takes the total prize with 12 and Massachusetts is right behind with 11 (and way out in front per capita). NY is next with nine and Pennsylvania with seven. Here’s the list:

California: Stanford (4), Caltech (10), Berkeley (20), UCLA (23), USC (23), UC Santa Barbara (37), UC Irvine (39), UC San Diego (39), UC Davis (41); Pomona (4), Claremont-McKenna (9), Harvey Mudd (14)

Massachusetts: Harvard (2), MIT (7), Tufts (27), BC (30), Brandeis (34), BU (41), Northeastern (47); Williams (1), Amherst (2), Wellesley (4), Smith (14)

New York: Columbia (4), Cornell (15), NYU (32), U Rochester (33), RPI (41); Vassar (12), Hamilton (14), Colgate (19), West Point (22)

Pennsylvania: U Penn (9), Carnegie Mellon (23), Lehigh (47), Penn State (47); Swarthmore (3), Haverford (12), Bryn Mawr (25)

13

By Standardized Test Scores (from top 50 nationally)

  1. New York (7)

Columbia
Cornell
Vassar
RPI
Hamilton
Colgate
Cooper Union

  1. Massachusetts (7)

Harvard
MIT
Williams
Amherst
Tufts
Northeastern
Wellesley

  1. California (7)

Caltech
Harvey Mudd
Stanford
Pomona
Claremont McKenna
UCB
USC

  1. Pennsylvania (4)

Penn
Swarthmore
Carnegie Mellon
Haverford

(“610 Smartest Colleges” / Business Insider.)

14

Re # 13, Note that by the standardized scoring of its students, Washington & Lee would be the highest placing college in Virginia (37th when compared to all schools nationally).

15

Illinois has Northwestern, Chicago, UIUC, Hamburger U.