I offer for your consideration:

– Stanford

– UCLA

– USC

– Cal Tech

– Cal Arts

– Otis School of Art & Design

– Claremont McKenna

– Pomona College

– Harvey Mudd

– UC Berkeley

There are some very fine schools in California. These are just a few, to get you started.

The State run systems are University of California, and

California State University. They have several campuses all across the state. The most famous are probably UCB and UCLA, but fame is not the most important factor. You should take some time to find out what you want to study and which schools have the best programs to meet your needs.

UC focuses more on research, and tends to be at the top of the pile for graduate studies. But one can get excellent undergraduate and graduate education from CSU as well, where class conditions aren’t as crowded as UC. (I went to a CSU school for undergrad, and had some class sizes as small as 20-30 people. That is unheard of at the larger UC campuses.)

It really depends on what you want to study, and what environment, so I won’t bother to shotgun a list for you.

The community college system throughout the state is very good as well, providing affordable access to education. Lots of students start at community college and then transfer to CSU, UC, or private uni later. If you go this course, be sure to talk with admissions about what credits transfer.

Also, there’s Stanford, which is one of the best schools in the country.