As high school seniors begin the daunting task of applying to colleges, Newsweek compiled a list of the hottest colleges in America. So what is the hottest Ivy League school in the nation? What’s the hottest school for sports fans? Find out answers to those questions and more in Newsweek’s 2008 College Guide to the Nation’s 25 Hottest Schools.

Hottest Ivy League School: Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
For its world-class engineering college and top-flight liberal arts program, Cornell University out muscled other Ivy league giants for the top spot on Newsweek’s list.

Hottest for No SAT or ACT Needed: Bates College, Lewiston, Maine
Students at Bates College are never asked to submit their test scores and many do not. With an enrollment of 1,700 students, Bates ranks high on various college rankings.

Hottest for Science and Engineering: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
Admittance is extremely difficult at Caltech-- with only 17 percent of the students that apply getting in; those that do go on to fame and fortune.

Hottest Liberal Arts School You Never Heard Of: Centenary College Of Louisiana, Shreveport, La.
The smallest Division I school in the nation combines academic flexibility with big-time sports. Centenary has a solid reputation in various professions from performing arts to geology.

Hottest Sports School: University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
According to Newsweek, the hottest sports school resides in Gainesville, Fla. After winning back-to-back titles on the basketball court and claiming football’s top prize, the University of Florida is boasting a 15 percent increase in enrollment.

Hottest Men’s College: Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga.
The nation’s largest men’s college is also the nation’s hottest. Martin Luther King Jr., Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson are only a few of the famous graduates that catapulted Morehouse College to the top of single-sex educators.

Hottest for Rejecting You: Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Harvard barely edged out Columbia University for having the stingiest of entrance requirements. Harvard rejected 91.03 percent of the applicants to the class of 2011.

Hottest for Election Year: Claremont, McKenna College, Claremont, Calif.
Two of every three CMC students major in government/ international relations; most of the other students major in politics. Few colleges in America have the ideological balance among students and facility that Claremont has.

Hottest Big-City School: Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
Washington D.C.’s culture and place in American History keep Georgetown’s application rates booming.

Hottest for Pre-Meds: John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
The school’s world-class labs and computer facilities continue to be a huge draw for students interested in anatomy and physiology. Social life has picked up at the University located in the middle of Baltimore.

Hottest in the War in Terror: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, N.M.
Thanks to federal funding, New Mexico Tech has quietly constructed one of the prime research centers for fighting the War on Terror.

Hottest Small State School: State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, N.Y.
Only 90 minutes from the boroughs, the University is becoming a popular choice for first-generation college students.

Hottest for Liberal Arts: Princeton University, Princeton, N.J,
Princeton has recently focused efforts on affording academic opportunities to middle and lower class families. Fifty-four percent of incoming freshman receive an average of $31,000 in grants apiece.

Hottest for First-Generation Students: Queens College, Queens, N.Y.
Although families in Queens are becoming more affluent, Queens College remains a top choice for students whose parents never went to college.

Hottest for Living Outdoors: St. Mary’s College Of Maryland, St. Mary’s, Md.
This state school has all the advantages of a small liberal-arts school without budget-breaking tuition. Located on the southern shores of Maryland, St. Mary’s students can take advantage of any number of outdoor activities.

Hottest Woman’s College: Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
Just like the men, the top woman’s college in the nation is also the largest. Students who prefer a coed college change their minds when they see the cottage-style houses Smith students reside in.

Hottest Music School: Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N.Y.
Eastman is the perfect school for aspiring musicians who don’t want to sacrifice academics. Applications were up 10 percent this year.

Hottest for Saving America’s Schools: University of Texas-Austin, Austin, Texas.
Their ‘Teach for America’ program is soaring, with 62 recent graduates heading to inner-city classrooms to educate. UT recruits math and science majors to begin their teaching experience as early as freshman year.

Hottest Big-State School: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis.
This Midwestern school uses its size to give students endless opportunities. University of Wisconsin students can choose from 140 different undergraduate majors.

Hottest for International Students: University of Richmond, Richmond, Va.
The 3,000-student university has exchange agreements with more than 50 schools around the world.

Hottest for Business: Babson College, Babson Park, Mass.
No school does a better job than Babson on teaching students how to start their own business. This school is becoming a popular choice for America’s entrepreneurs.

Hottest on the Rebound: Tulane University, New Orleans, La.
Students had to abandon the campus while Hurricane Katrina ravaged most of New Orleans in 2005, but recent numbers show the school is bouncing back.

Hottest for Free Tuition: Copper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, N.Y.
One of the oddest, most selective colleges in the nation allows students to pick from architecture, art or engineering as their major of choice.

Hottest Mega-University: UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif.
Hundreds of undergrads do publishable research with senior faculty at one of the largest and most popular universities in the nation.

Hottest Catholic School: Fordham University, New York, N.Y.
A mid-size university, Fordham gives scholars the one-on-one attention they desire by capping classes at 25 students.