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 "2025 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

California Institute of Technology

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

California Institute of the Arts

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

Azusa Pacific University

  • Azusa, CA
  • •
  • 4,485 Full-Time Enrollment

Pitzer College

  • Claremont, CA
  • •
  • 1,242 Full-Time Enrollment

Pomona College

  • Claremont, CA
  • •
  • 1,761 Full-Time Enrollment

Scripps College

  • Claremont, CA
  • •
  • 1,117 Full-Time Enrollment

Claremont McKenna College

  • Claremont, CA
  • •
  • 1,390 Full-Time Enrollment

Harvey Mudd College

  • Claremont, CA
  • •
  • 915 Full-Time Enrollment

University of La Verne

  • La Verne, CA
  • •
  • 2,414 Full-Time Enrollment

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

  • Pomona, CA
  • •
  • 25,255 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—San Diego

  • La Jolla, CA
  • •
  • 33,792 Full-Time Enrollment

University of San Diego

  • San Diego, CA
  • •
  • 5,851 Full-Time Enrollment

San Diego State University

  • San Diego, CA
  • •
  • 34,637 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Redlands

  • Redlands, CA
  • •
  • 2,159 Full-Time Enrollment

California State University, San Bernardino

  • San Bernardino, CA
  • •
  • 15,785 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Riverside

  • Riverside, CA
  • •
  • 22,599 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Irvine

  • Irvine, CA
  • •
  • 30,204 Full-Time Enrollment

Chapman University

  • Orange, CA
  • •
  • 7,874 Full-Time Enrollment

Thomas Aquinas College (CA)

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

University of California—Santa Barbara

  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • •
  • 23,232 Full-Time Enrollment

Menlo College

  • Atherton, CA
  • •
  • 777 Full-Time Enrollment

University of San Francisco

  • San Francisco, CA
  • •
  • 5,729 Full-Time Enrollment

Stanford University

  • Stanford, CA
  • •
  • 8,054 Full-Time Enrollment

California State University, East Bay

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

Saint Mary's College of California

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

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