Cal Poly lands on Forbes list of America’s Top Colleges. Here’s how it ranked
Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo ranked high in an annual list published by Forbes magazine.
Out of 600 universities in the United States, Cal Poly ranked 58th for the best college. That’s out of both public and private universities, according to Forbes’ 2021 America’s Best Colleges list.
Forbes’ methodology “counts low-income student outcomes and adds a giant federal database” for its rankings, according to its website.
The rankings “give extra credit to schools that educate the greatest number of students from the broadest range of backgrounds,” Forbes said in an explanation of its methodology.
Cal Poly is the whitest public university in California in terms of its student body, and one of the most expensive state schools after accounting for financial aid received by students.
Forbes’ methodology examined these variables: alumni salary (20%); student debt (15%); return on investment (15%); graduation rate (15%); Forbes American Leaders List, an assessment of the leadership and entrepreneurship of a school’s graduates (15%); retention rate (10%) and academic success (10%), according to a news release by Cal Poly.
UC Berkeley took the top spot on America’s Best Colleges list, followed by Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and UCLA.
Cal Poly ranked 20th out of all public institutions Forbes ranked in the United States.
It also ranked seventh for public institutions in California, according to Forbes’ list.
Cal Poly ranked 12th out of public and private institutions in the United States, according to Forbes’ list.
The San Luis Obispo university also ranked 578th out of 600 universities in the United States for average grant aid received by students.
