Local Universities Land on U.S. News & World Report's "Best Of" List

For many sophomores, juniors and seniors in the who started school last week, it's time to start looking at college options. 

Southern California's weather certainly can't be beat, but how do the local colleges and universities measure up to other schools around the nation?

In a report recently released by the U.S. News & World Report, our local schools are among the best.

Loyola Marymount University was deemed the fourth-best regional university in the western United States on the ranking of colleges and universities released earlier this week. Chapman University in Orange placed eighth on the regional list, which was headed by Trinity University in San Antonio. Cal State Long Beach was listed 26th, and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, was 33rd, tied with Cal State Fullerton and and CSU Chico.

In the national university category, Caltech in Pasadena was ranked fifth -- tied with Stanford, MIT, the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. Harvard cliched the top spot, followed by Princeton, Yale and Columbia University.

Locally, USC placed 23rd, tied with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and UCLA was 25th.

In the national rankings of liberal arts colleges, Pomona College in Claremont was listed fourth-best in the nation, and Claremont McKenna College in Claremont placed ninth. Holding the number one spot in that category was Williams College in Williamstown, Ma.

To see a complete list of the rankings, click here.

-- City News Service contributed to this report.