Hey, everyone loves a list, right? Especially those ranking institutions of higher learning. The yearly U.S. News & World Report list is out -- any wagers on how local schools did? And, really, how much would it affect your choices? We remember mulling the 1991 list saying "can't get in there, can't get in there, nope, not there either . . ." But it's still fun to see how stuff measures up, we suppose.

Unshockingly, Stanford University was high on the list, reaching No. 4 this year, undoubtedly driving the next generation of Azia Kims. Cal came in at No. 21 and was, in fact, the top public university. Yay Cal! U.C. Davis was No. 42 and U.C. Santa Cruz was ranked No. 79.

Top 3? Princeton, Harvard, Yale. Do we detect an East Coast prejudice? Oh, what the hell do we know; we attended No. 54 (one of them; there's a 3-way tie) when it was ranked much lower. Probably couldn't get in anymore. Or afford it. The costs are staggering these days, more so even than a few years ago -- the report has those measures as well, along with interesting stuff like economic diversity rankings and campus ethnic diversity.