Located near Los Angeles in Pasadena, the California Institute of Technology ranks behind only Harvard, Princeton, and Yale on the "US News and World Report" list. Founded in 1919, Caltech has continued its mission of investigating "the most challenging fundamental problems in science and technology," the magazine notes. The school boasts 32 Nobel Prizes between its faculty and alumni, and runs such prestigious off-campus facilities as the Palomar Observatory, the Keck Observatory, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
California Institute of Technology
1200 E. California Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91125
626-395-6341
caltech.edu
Located between San Francisco and San Jose in Northern California, Stanford ties Caltech for the fourth spot in the "US News" rankings. Stanford, however, offers a wider range of disciplines than Caltech, with courses in the humanities and social sciences in addition to engineering and other sciences. As of May 2010, Stanford professors count 16 Nobel and four Pulitzers prizes among them.
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305
650-723-2091
stanford.edu
UC-Berkeley, at 21st, is the highest-ranked public university in California. Founded in 1868 on the east side of San Francisco Bay, the university offers academic disciplines from sciences to humanities to the arts, and boasted 25,151 undergraduates as of May 2010.
University of California-Berkeley
110 Sproul Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-5800
510-642-3175
berkeley.edu
Taking 24th on the "US News" list, UCLA offers 130 majors and 3,000 undergraduate courses. Beyond academics, the school has a vibrant student life with more that 880 student organizations; its Westwood campus is located in the heart of Los Angeles' cultural and social activities.
University of California-Los Angeles
405 Hillgard Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90095
310-825-3101
ucla.edu