Talk to your high school college advisor or counselor. They will provide you with the information you need on entrance requirements to the best colleges. Discuss your college goals and wishes. Your advisor can then help you with an education plan to achieve those goals. After some discussion, the two of you can decide if attending a top ten college is right for you. If so, your school will most likely have a top 10 list of colleges.
Ask relatives and friends about their top 10 college experiences. Talk to a student currently attending one of these colleges to get real first hand experience about college and college admissions. This may help you determine if this is the correct route for you.
Visit the library and checkout books pertaining to college. Some books may list the top ten colleges. They may be a bit outdated, but the best colleges in the U.S. do not change often. Also be on the lookout for SAT and ACT reference books as well as college entrance books. All of these books should be grouped together within the library.
Purchase magazines which publish their own yearly top ten list of colleges (see References). Magazines rank the best national universities, the best liberal arts colleges, the best regional colleges, and more. Additionally, tuition and other informative tips may be found within the magazines.
Visit an online search engine and type in "top ten colleges". If researching colleges online, be careful of the legitimacy of certain websites. You will also find information about foreign colleges and how top ten American colleges rank against these international colleges.