The 25 Most Desirable Suburban Schools

In terms of region, the out-and-out winner is  California. Stanford's at the top, and three of the top 10 schools--Pomona, Claremont McKenna, and Harvey Mudd--are part of the Claremont Colleges, near Los Angeles. A fourth, Scripps--an all-women's school--ranks among the top 25. Most surprising: the brand-new (founded in 2001), tiny (fewer than 400 undergrads) Soka University of America. What's it doing on this list? Well, it provides financial assistance to 90 percent of its students and, not surprisingly, it's in Southern California, mere miles from the beach.