California Colleges

Posted by Alan Sanders on Mar 17, 2011 in Telegram Past News

 

When nearing the end of their high school careers, students at Dixon High need to start thinking about if, and where they want to attend college.  The United States is full of well respected schools that rank well among others around the globe.  California hosts many colleges that rank high on the list of not only the top schools in the country but also of those around the world.

When considering what college you want to attend, it is important to think about the costs that you will face if accepted.  Going to a college in state can significantly reduce these costs, and if you want to receive this discount, you will not have to settle for a worse school to stay in state.  The top California schools rank among the best of all of the schools in the nation.  Before we take into consideration their rankings against out of state schools, first we have to see how colleges in California are ranked.  The top ten schools in California, on a list from http://www.4icu.org/us/California.htm, go in this order:

1. Stanford University
2. University of California, Berkeley
3. California Institute of Technology
4. University of Southern California
5. University of California, Los Angeles
6. University of California, San Diego
7. University of California, Davis
8. University of California, Irvine
9. University of California, Santa Barbara
10. University of California, Riverside

 

You are probably already familiar with these colleges and you are sure to know that UC Davis is just ten minutes from Dixon.  That’s right; one of the top schools in the state is just a short drive from our town.  Even the top schools like Stanford and UC Berkeley are just a few hours drive from here.  The point is, you don’t have to look far to find some of the best schools in the state when thinking about colleges.

Now that we know how the schools rank against each other, we need to see how they rank against others in the country.  The list of the top ten schools in the country, from http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities, is in this order:

1. Harvard University
2. Princeton University
3. Yale University
4. Columbia University
5. Stanford University
6. California Institute of Technology
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8. Dartmouth College
9. Duke University
10. University of Chicago

 

Stanford University and California Institute of Technology were both high on the top ten list for the state and, as you can see, they also rank extraordinarily well against the top schools in the country.  Also, UC Berkeley, which ranked number two in the state, is ranked at number twenty two in the country.  Different websites have different opinions on these rankings, but this can still serve as proof that you can receive a top tier education in California that rivals universities like Harvard and Princeton.

Now the only thing that’s left is to see where they are on the list of the top schools in the world.  First of all, six of the top ten universities in the world are in the United States.  You have to go down to number eighteen on the list to find a school that’s not in either the United States or the United Kingdom.  As for California Colleges, Stanford is ranked as the thirteenth best school in the world on http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities/articles/2010/09/21/worlds-best-universities-top-400-.  That means that if you want one of the best educations you could get in the world, look no further than Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. 

When considering where to go to college after high school, be sure to consider some of the phenomenal options that can be found not too far from home.