The 14 best US colleges in the West are dominated by California - here's who makes the cut

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University of Southern California

University of Southern California/Facebook

The University of Southern California is one of the best colleges in the country.

Stanford University once again claimed a top spot on Business Insider's annual ranking of the best colleges in America, coming it at No. 4 for 2016. Referred to as the Ivy of the West, Stanford earned a top spot for a number of reasons: it provides a quality education and graduates students on time, it sets graduates up to earn well-paying jobs early in their career, and it creates a memorable and enjoyable campus experience. (You can read about the methodology in detail here.)

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Stanford is the best college in the American West, but it isn't the only school in the region to make the list. In fact, when we expanded our ranking to the top 100 schools in the country, 14 of the best colleges in the US are located in the West. What's more, California is home to 13 of those schools (the other is in Washington state), including several private universities and four University of California (UC) schools.

Read on for the full list of the best colleges in the West.