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Forbes' List Of America's Top Colleges Snubs Most Local Schools

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Forbes has released its annual list of America's Top Colleges and Southland schools – except for one – aren't at the top of the list.

"Our annual ranking of the 650 best undergraduate institutions focuses on the things that matter the most to students: quality of teaching, great career prospects, graduation rates and low levels of debt," Michael Noer writes for Forbes.com. "Unlike other lists, we pointedly ignore ephemeral measures such as school "reputation" and ill-conceived metrics that reward wasteful spending. We try and evaluate the college purchase as a consumer would: Is it worth spending as much as a quarter of a million dollars for this degree?"

Forbes ranked Claremont McKenna College an impressive 12th. Caltech in Pasadena follows close on its heels at No. 13.

The University of Southern California, which came in a 23 on U.S. News & World Report's annual list of National University Rankings, came in at a shocking 165 on Forbes' list. The University of California, Los Angeles fared better at 55, but slipped 30 spots from its top-25 position on U.S. News & World Report's list.

To see the complete list of schools, visit Forbes.

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