List of Top 10 Dream Colleges

Top 10 Dream Colleges: Students Want Stanford

March 26, 2009

While those of us in the professional world are experiencing a resurgence of college spirit through March Madness, high school seniors are rushing to the mailbox and frantically checking email to find out where they've been accepted. According to a Princeton Review survey of college applicants and parents, almost seven of 10 respondents say the economic downturn has affected their college application decisions. Nine out of 10 respondents say financial aid will be essential. So what schools do students consider "dream colleges"?

Stanford
Harvard
Columbia
Princeton
New York University
Yale
University of California, Los Angeles
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Southern California
University of California, Berkeley

To see the schools most named by parents as their "dream colleges," read more.

Harvard
Stanford
Princeton
University of Notre Dame
Yale
New York University
University of California, Los Angeles
Duke
University of Southern California
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

What do you think is the number one dream school in the US?

Source

Education Colleges

30 Comments

MissMariaK 2 years

Harvard University!! I just HAVE TO go to this college!! I want it too bad... My dream college! I hope one day I'll be there...

3 years

The guy who just bashed on USC and Berkeley is probably mentally incapacitated. If he happens to go to UCLA, he is additional proof that UCLA students are more thickheaded than the students of Berkeley and USC- just look at his worse-than elementary spelling. Actually you know what, he probably doesn't even go to UCLA because the amount of his dimness shining through his comment is so great and potent that UCLA would instantly reject his a$$. Lol.

3 years

The guy who just bashed on USC and Berkeley is probably mentally incapacitated. If he happens to go to UCLA, he is additional proof that UCLA students are stupider than the students of Berkeley and USC- just read his worse-than elementary spelling. Actually you know what, he probably doesn't even go to UCLA because the amount of his stupidity shining through his comment is so great and potent that UCLA would instantly reject his a$$. Lol.

3 years

UCLA is the awesome! I love it, we're amazing! I had to choose between UCLA and Berkeley and chose Ucla. Proud to be a Bruin where we have a tradition of being the best! Berkeley was a dream school for me until I realized how much greater Ucla is, a lot more people than you think are starting to pick LA over Berk. Bruins on the rise, academics and sports :)

3 years

Ucla is the best school, amazing campus and beautiful woman everywhere. Usc are terrible scum of the earth. Berkeley is awesome if you love having no life watching hippies smoke weed in trees for 24 hours a day and also I have never seen an attractive female go to Berkeley, please God just let one girl be attractive.

3 years

Vincetastic is obviously just a kid who just got denied from USC, or worse- a Bruin! USC is amazing! Fight On!

3 years

Correction! Stanford actually tops both student and parent dream-school lists (http://bit.ly/cxjUgs). Go Cardinal!

3 years

Havrad, Princeton, Yale, UC Berkely, Duke, Columbia, UPenn, MIT, UMich, Stanford, Cornell

cotedazur 4 years

I went to Duke, and I'm surprised it didn't make the students' dream college list! It definitely had its drawbacks, but the opportunities offered in a school with so many resources were unequalled.

Meike 4 years

Before going to college MIT was my dream school because of their CSEE program but Stanford definitely was great overall. My cousin is currently attending there also.

minxa25 4 years

I went to my dream college USF ( University of San Francisco) best years of my life great education with Social Justice in minds in beautiful City by the Bay : Educating Hearts & Minds.

rosy878 4 years

I got into berkeley but there was no way I was going to a school with 20,000+ students. and I didn't even bother applying to USC. I went with something better--Wellesley.

Colleeninator 4 years

I'm a UT student and I LOVE it. It's the only place I applied because it's the only place I wanted to go, and was guaranteed admission. Also, it might not be one of the "top" schools in the nation, but I'm a CS major and our CS program outranks most of the schools on that list.

aka emilicious 4 years

I was the strange one of my high school. I was the only one who chose the school that offered me the most money. That way I had fewer loans to pay off later!

margokhal 4 years

Wildegurl: I'm from Texas and the Longhorns are my favorite Texas team! Hook 'em indeed! :D That said, I didn't mean to imply that all big-name schools are diploma mills. But from what I've seen, from students that have graduated from those institutions that I've had to work and collaborate with and friends who strongly desired those schools, their education, experience and knowledge seems impersonal. It could be because of the simple largeness of the school, but some of these schools are fairly small, and are decidedly elitist - which doesn't help, either. Though I wouldn't recommend my undergrad right now at the moment, I believe I made the best decision for myself and got an education that is at least on par [and at best, more well-rounded] with a big-name school. I still think it's pretty ridiculous to choose schools to attend based on name only. Sometimes it's important [if you need connections to get where you want to go later on], but obsessing about it only stiffens the competition at those schools and ignores schools that may be better for a particular applicant simply because their names aren't nationally recognized. That's what I meant to say. Slightly-off-topic comment: As much as I wish I could have gone to UT Austin [I did get in, which is a miracle for Texas residents who aren't in the top 10% of their high school graduating class!], a big-name school, I realize now that if I had, I wouldn't have been able to make any sort of impact or rise above the competition to stand out there, at least in my field(s).

pennylela 4 years

I applied to the 'dream' art schools, but I doubt any kids' parents would dream for their child to go to an art college...even if it's prestigious, ha ha ha.

vincetastic 4 years

USC, really? You just have to have enough money to get in. I'm surprised more parents wouldn't choose more Ivy League Schools, I would think that they would dominate the whole list. This is a really great top ten list, anyone can post their own to our site http://www.toptentopten.com/. The coolest feature is you can let other people vote on the rankings of your list.

Spectra 4 years

I was my high school's valedictorian and lots of people assumed I was going to go to one of those schools. However, after I found out how much the tuition was, I decided that I didn't want to be $200,000 in debt starting out in life. I went to UW-Madison and it was a fantastic experience for me. I got a wonderful education and I met my husband as well, so I'm not going to complain. Plus, Big Ten football games are some of the best out there...go Badgers!!!

wildegurl 4 years

margokhal: i can see where you are coming from when you make the comment about big-name colleges but the professors and instructors for most of my classes were just as passionate about teaching and connecting with the student body than at a smaller school. Going to UT Austin definitely made me feel like a small fish in a big pond (I had freshman classes of about 200), however once you get into your smaller core classes (class sizes of 5-9 students) it didn't feel so overwhelming. It may feel like students at big campuses are just cranked out every year like widgets in an assembly line, but it's unfair to say that just because you were at a smaller campus you received a better education. And here's an obligatory "Hook Em!"

divinelight 4 years

University of Texas at Austin all the way! I didn't apply to any "dream" schools, I just fell in love with Austin and UT on my first visit and I've never looked back.

margokhal 4 years

I didn't apply to ANY of these for undergrad! I went to smaller, more unknown school for my undergrad. I'm fairly sure I wouldn't have gotten as great an education at a big-name college where they care a lot more about results than developing people and future leaders/workers and whatnot.

POPSUGAR Pets 4 years

I'm from the East Coast where people often said, "Wait, you're going to StaMford... like in Connecticut?" Regardless, Stanford was pretty idyllic and definitely the best choice for me.

Carrie Sue 4 years

I'm not a big school person. I'd rather stick to a smaller college. I suppose that's my dream school :)

bibliophile 4 years

I've attended one of the dream schools, and I have to say that it is, in fact, pretty dreamy. One of the best experiences of my life.

runningesq 4 years

Amen, Pinklizzie. Your dream school should be the best fit for you --- not the school that will impress your parents' friends ! I went to Univ of MD College Park and loved it ! Met my husband there, too :)

Link Love

30 Comments