List Fest: Top colleges

c/o The Christian Science Monitor

I didn't enjoy my college experience nearly as much as I would have liked.  A combination of too much work, not enough play and an overall dissatisfaction with certain factors beyond my control, commingled with an apparent inability to focus and power my way through, is why a considerable chunk of my fondest college memories occurred while visiting friends who were away at other schools.

If you've read any of my previous posts that center upon college-themed topics (1, 2), then you know that I have occasionally daydreamed about what it would be like to have graduated from, or at least attended, a university for which I bear a lasting sense of affinity.  I have a great deal of respect for those who made the most of their college years, especially at a school that stands out like those listed below, which is why the following is of such personal interest to me.

As a tribute of sorts to our esteemed institutions of higher learning, Forbes has devised a five-point percentage-based method of ranking the cream of the academic crop.  Overall three of the top eight are found in Massachusetts and over half (13) are located in the northeastern region of the country, although not every Ivy League school is ranked among the top 25.  Have a look:

1) Williams College (pictured) – Williamstown, Massachusetts

2) Princeton University – Princeton, New Jersey

3) United States Military Academy – West Point, New York

4) Amherst College – Amherst, Massachusetts

5) Stanford University – Palo Alto, California

6) Harvard University – Cambridge, Massachusetts

7) Haverford College – Haverford, Pennsylvania

8) University of Chicago – Chicago, Illinois

9) Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Cambridge, Massachusetts

10) United States Air Force Academy – Colorado Springs, Colorado

11) Northwestern University – Evanston, Illinois

12) Claremont McKenna College – Claremont, California

13) California Institute of Technology – Pasadena, California

14) Yale University – New Haven, Connecticut

15) Carleton College – Northfield, Minnesota

16) Swarthmore College – Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

17) United States Naval Academy – Annapolis, Maryland

18) University of Notre Dame – South Bend, Indiana

19) Wellesley College – Wellesley, Massachusetts

20) Colby College – Waterville, Maine

21) Brown University – Providence, Rhode Island

22) Duke University – Durham, North Carolina

23) Pomona College – Claremont, California

24) Vassar College – Poughkeepsie, New York

25) Washington & Lee University – Lexington, Virginia