The 25 Most Desirable Small Schools

Cooper Union may be a small college--its campus spans just a few city blocks in New York's East Village and serves only 920 undergraduates--but its list of accolades is not. This highly selective arts college is No. 7 on Newsweek's list of most desirable schools, the fifth most desirable urban college and tops the list of most desirable small schools.  
 
This coveted institution of higher learning for students pursuing architecture, art or engineering not only offers a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio, but grants every student a full-tuition scholarship, as it has done since its founding in 1859.  
 
For the fortunate 9 percent of applicants who are accepted, and therefore given a free ride, the college, as per its mission statement, "provides close contact with a distinguished, creative faculty and fosters rigorous, humanistic learning that is enhanced by the process of design and augmented by the urban setting."