Club Z! has a long history of helping students with the college application process, and all that it entails - from getting the scores you need on the SAT and ACT, to getting your GPA where it needs to be in order to be competitive, and even acing the application and interview process. But even before you can really start working on getting "in," you have to know where you want to go. And with a stagnant job market making it increasingly difficult for recent graduates to find work, being selective about where you go to college has never been more important!   Take a look at Forbes' Top Colleges 2013 list for a breakdown of America's top post-secondary schools. Rankings take into effect everything from the cost of tuition and total student population to variety of coursework and types of degrees offered. But what is perhaps far more important to our readers is that the Forbes list is predominantly focused on what students will take away from college at the end of their journey - in other words, what type of ROI (return on investment) can students expect from attending these schools. For the 650 colleges that are named in Forbes' list, highest consideration was given to colleges that produced graduates in 4 years, those that offered interesting and relevant coursework to its students, and which schools were most likely to offer job opportunities to its graduates at the end of the day.   One of the biggest trends noted in this year's list is a movement toward West coast schools. With Stanford University taking the top spot, and Pomona College taking the second, two of the top three schools were based in California. The top ranking state school, University of California, Berkeley, is also based in the Golden State.   Wherever you find yourself in the college selection process, the Forbes list is a great resource for families, and certainly worth a read!   Article Courtesy of: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2013/07/24/americas-top-colleges-2013/