Stanford Tops List of College Applicants’ Dream Schools

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Memorial Church at Stanford University

Lonely Planet / Getty

The Ivy League stalwarts have been upended by universities on the left coast. We’re chalking this one up to the weather (just a hunch).

Princeton Review surveyed more than 8,000 high schoolers engrossed in the college search. They posed the ever-famous question: “What school would you attend if acceptance or cost weren’t issues?”

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Stanford, in Palo Alto, Calif., took the top spot, and other California schools appeared lower down. Los Angeles schools USC and UCLA, as well as the University of California-Berkeley were favored. All are logical choices, considering the prestige of the universities, and – well, the weather doesn’t suck. Four years of East Coast winters, especially if this past season is any prediction, sounds less than thrilling to an incoming freshman.

The Ivy League still made a strong showing, with Harvard appearing as the second best “dream school,” though probably not an accolade they’d want to promote. Princeton, Yale and the University of Pennsylvania also came up in the top 10.

For good measure, the organization also polled nearly 4,000 parents. Though we imagine the question read more like “To which school would you rather give all your money – and perhaps an arm, leg or kidney?” Their top choice – Harvard.

(More on TIME.com: Are parents too involved in the college admissions process?)