Cal Poly again named best master’s-level public university in the West by U.S. News
Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo has once again earned top rankings from the U.S. News & World Report in its annual evaluation of thousands of colleges and universities around the nation.
The online guide ranked Cal Poly the best master’s-level public university in the West out of 66 universities that offer “a full range of undergraduate programs and some master’s programs but few doctoral programs,” according to U.S. News. It beat out California State University Long Beach and Pomona, which placed second and third, respectively.
It’s the 29th straight year Cal Poly has earned that ranking.
Including private schools, Cal Poly ranked No. 2 overall best master’s-level university in the West. Coming in at No. 1 was Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
The report, released Monday, is intended to guide students and parents when choosing colleges.
“The comparisons are useful for crafting a shortlist of institutions to examine more closely and may also highlight new options,” U.S. News says on its website.
To rank colleges, U.S. News & World Report grouped schools into categories based on academic missions, then scored the schools based on outcomes (graduation, retention and social mobility), faculty resources (class size, faculty salary), expert opinion (peer assessments), financial resources and student excellence, according to its explanation of methodology.
“Cal Poly’s lasting success in this prestigious publication further illustrates what we know from our graduates’ accomplishments: Our Learn by Doing education gives Cal Poly alumni the tools they need to hit the ground running in their careers and prepares them to use cross-disciplinary thinking and hands-on experience to address the problems our world needs solved,” said Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong in a news release. “Rankings such as these also are a celebration of Cal Poly’s dedicated faculty and staff, who work tirelessly to help our students reach their goals.”
Here’s how Cal Poly ranked in other categories:
- No. 7 for its undergraduate engineering programs out of 239 schools total. It tied with Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in the ranking. Last year, Cal Poly placed 8th for its engineering programs out of 220 schools.
- No. 1 for best colleges for veterans out of 36 schools. This category is based on colleges that participate in federal initiatives helping veterans and active-duty service members pay for their degrees.
- No. 3 for undergraduate teaching out of 24 schools. “In a survey conducted in spring and summer 2021, the schools on these lists received the most votes from top college administrators for putting a particular focus on undergraduate teaching,” U.S. News says on its website.
- No. 32 out of 41 colleges and universities named as “best value schools” in the West. This category ranks schools based on academic program quality and net cost of attendance for an out-of-state student who received the average level of need-based financial aid.
- No. 1 out of 9 colleges and universities in the West for most innovative school. This category is based on nominations by top college officials for schools that were making “innovative improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology or facilities,” according to U.S. News.
- No. 24 out of 122 schools for “top performers on social mobility” in the West. This category ranks schools based on how they “advance social mobility” by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students who received Pell Grants, according to U.S. News.
- No. 46 out of 56 schools for undergraduate research and creative projects. “In spring and summer 2021, we invited college presidents, chief academic officers, deans of students and deans of admissions from more than 1,500 schools to nominate up to 15 institutions with stellar examples of undergraduate research/creative projects,” U.S. News’ website says. “Colleges and universities that received 10 or more nominations are ranked here.”
