Top 5 Best West Coast Colleges

The East Coast has long had a reputation as the home of the country's most prestigious schools. But although it's hard to compete with Harvard, Princeton, etc. in terms of reputation and prestige, the West Coast probably has a more diverse array of top schools than any other part of the country. While Stanford competes with the best of the private Ivy League colleges, top state schools such as Berkeley and UCLA are without Eastern counterparts.

     1.    Stanford University

Stanford is one of the strongest and best-regarded universities in the world. In addition to a large, stately, and beautiful campus in Palo Alto (near San Francisco), Stanford has top-flight academics across a wide range of disciplines, as well as a number of national powerhouse sports teams. Also, unlike many of its Ivy League counterparts, Stanford houses elite professional programs in law and business.

     2.    California Institute of Technology

"Caltech's" closest rival is probably MIT, about 3000 miles away. This elite college attracts the very best minds in science, technology, and related fields. Its tiny size and stringent admissions standards give Caltech the highest average SAT scores in the country.

     3.   University of California at Berkeley

Berkeley is the jewel of the public University of California system. Very liberal - Berkeley had a role as a hotspot during the turbulent 1960s - this big university also attracts some of the best and brightest minds from throughout the country. The pretty campus overlooks the San Francisco Bay.

     4.   Pomona College

Pomona College, located near Los Angeles, is the most prestigious of the Claremont Colleges and easily rivals its East Coast counterparts such as Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore. Students' access to the other Claremont Colleges and the great weather (smog notwithstanding) give those lucky enough to be considering top liberal arts schools a reason to visit California.

     5.   University of California at Los Angeles

UCLA's Beverly Hills location houses one of the strongest public schools anywhere in the country. While known for media-related fields such as film, drama, and journalism, UCLA has a powerful reputation across a broad array of disciplines, and is filled with some of the brightest minds the West Coast (as well as the rest of the country) has to offer. While admissions at UCLA isn't quite as difficult as at Berkeley, those applying to UCLA need top grades and test scores to be considered.