[Flycatcher]

Deep Springs College is basically free -- IF you're selected to attend. It's an all-male college that requires you to write an essay if you wish to enroll. You can't enroll unless you're selected, and there are only 26 students at the campus.

But you have to WORK for that $50,000 tuition they provide to you. At the ranch wherein sits this remote college.

I know this because my wife and I discovered this remote tiny college on a road trip over the eastern Sierra into Nevada. Out in the middle of the high-desert nowhere -- I repeat, nowhere! -- we stumbled upon a little paved road that veered off the main one into what looked like a ranch. But the sign said "Deep Springs College." So we took the road less traveled and checked it out. I stopped at the center of the ranch and this teenage kid came by and I questioned him. That's how I learned all this. I thought it was an interesting concept, but I had no idea that it was known across the nation.

Just one negative for the young male wishing to attend: There are NO GIRLS here. The nearest city is Bishop, California, and that's probably an hour and a half drive away over the windy roads of the White Mountains.

This is a very lonely place, but I suppose that may make it conducive to study. Interesting choice for Number One.

[Flycatcher]

Ping.

I'll bet you know of Deep Springs College. Odd choice for Number One, though.

[HokieMom]

Is that the Montessori college?

[GrootheWanderer]

The trustees of Deep Springs voted last year to take it coed. That decision, I think, is now in court with the trustees on the losing end of the vote and some alumni suing to block it. They say school’s founding documents require it to be single sex and the trustees have no legal power to change that.

[tbw2]

The nearly free aspect and lack of distractions is probably why it rated so high.