Sure it's only a starting point, but here's a list of schools that have perennially ranked high in the U.S. News and World Report "Best Colleges" issue:
Looking for a liberal arts college? Try Williams College or Amherst College in Massachusetts or Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.
Going for the undergraduate business degree? High in the ranks is the University of Pennsylvania, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Also highly ranked: the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
If you're going for your doctorate and looking for the best value, the magazine gives consistently high marks to the California Institute of Technology, Princeton University in New Jersey and Harvard University in Massachusetts.