Best Colleges in America by State

The screenplay for “Legally Blonde” was based on writer Amanda Brown’s experiences in Stanford’s law school.

Author Charles Webb began his semi-biographical novel The Graduate during his final year at William’s College. It went on to become a defining movie of the 60s generation.

Princeton’s historic campus makes it the perfect setting for Hollywood movies including “A Beautiful Mind,” “Across the Universe,” and “I.Q.”

Harvard student Ted Kaczyski, a mathematician, was identified as the “Unibomber,” who sent letter bombs to university professors resulting in three fatalities.

MIT has a tradition of “hacks,” or elaborate practical jokes the students play on the campus community. Some of the most famous include:

• Putting a police car on the roof of the Great Dome
• Transforming a campus tower into the world's largest volume meter during a Boston Pops concert
• Launching a giant "MIT" balloon from beneath the football field at a Harvard-Yale football game
• Replacing the Lobby 7 skylight with the Jurassic Park logo
• Transforming the Great Dome into an enormous R2D2

Yale’s underground society Skull & Bones is rumored to house the skull of Geronimo and maintains top secret traditions. Members are selected from those in the junior class who show influence and breeding. Famous members include John F. Kerry, FedEx Founder Frederick Wallace Smith, George W. Bush, Journalist Dana Milbank,

Pomona College students enjoy a tradition called “Ski-Beach Day,” where they spend the morning skiing at a resort and the afternoon relaxing on an Orange County beach.