Best West

Alaska (AK), California (CA), Hawaii (HI), Idaho (ID), Montana (MT), Nevada (NV), Oregon (OR), Utah (UT), Washington (WA), and Wyoming (WY)

For our "2026 Best Colleges: Region by Region" web feature, we salute 631 colleges in seven zones—Northeast, South, Southwest, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, West, and International (outside of the United States)—that we consider academically outstanding and well worth consideration in your college search.

Please note that these lists are not ranked. These lists appear in alphabetical order. Schools marked "featured" have paid a fee for that designation but not for inclusion in this list.


Showing 26 - 50 of 79 results

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Featured Our marketing partner institutions Near Me Sorted by distance from your search location Popularity Sorted by number of views Size Sorted by total enrollment Name Listed in alphabetical order

Whittier College

  • Whittier, CA
  • •
  • 832 Full-Time Enrollment

California Institute of Technology

  • Pasadena, CA
  • •
  • 987 Full-Time Enrollment

Biola University

  • La Mirada, CA
  • •
  • 3,481 Full-Time Enrollment

Occidental College

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • •
  • 1,822 Full-Time Enrollment

California State University, Long Beach

  • Long Beach, CA
  • •
  • 31,447 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Southern California

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • •
  • 21,023 Full-Time Enrollment

California Institute of the Arts

  • Valencia, CA
  • •
  • 888 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Los Angeles

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • •
  • 33,471 Full-Time Enrollment

Loyola Marymount University

  • Los Angeles, California
  • •
  • 7,187 Full-Time Enrollment

Otis College of Art and Design

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • •
  • 1,224 Full-Time Enrollment

Northwest Nazarene University

  • Nampa, ID
  • •
  • 1,043 Full-Time Enrollment

The College of Idaho

  • Caldwell, ID
  • •
  • 1,054 Full-Time Enrollment

Montana Technological University

  • Butte, MT
  • •
  • 2,224 Full-Time Enrollment

Pepperdine University

  • Malibu, CA
  • •
  • 3,553 Full-Time Enrollment

Thomas Aquinas College (CA)

  • Santa Paula, CA
  • •
  • 372 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Merced

  • Merced, CA
  • •
  • 8,251 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Santa Barbara

  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • •
  • 23,181 Full-Time Enrollment

California State University, Stanislaus

  • Turlock, CA
  • •
  • 8,455 Full-Time Enrollment

The University of Montana—Missoula

  • Missoula, MT
  • •
  • 7,714 Full-Time Enrollment

University of the Pacific

  • Stockton, CA
  • •
  • 3,249 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Davis

  • Davis, CA
  • •
  • 31,162 Full-Time Enrollment

Santa Clara University

  • Santa Clara, CA
  • •
  • 6,577 Full-Time Enrollment

California State University, East Bay

  • Hayward, CA
  • •
  • 10,582 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Santa Cruz

  • Santa Cruz, CA
  • •
  • 17,940 Full-Time Enrollment

Saint Mary's College of California

  • Moraga, CA
  • •
  • 2,044 Full-Time Enrollment

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