Cal Poly named one of the 34 best universities in the nation, ranking with the Ivy Leagues
Cal Poly was named one of the 34 best public or private universities in the nation, according to Money magazine’s 2023 Best College rankings, landing it on a list that’s a veritable who’s who of top American campuses.
“The personal finance website analyzed dozens of data points including graduation rates, cost of attendance, financial aid and alumni salaries, to find colleges that combine quality and affordability,” Cal Poly shared in a news release Friday.
The magazine’s methodology considered 26 factors in three categories: quality of education, affordability and outcomes. Those categories included measures such as graduation rates, student-to-faculty ratios, price of a degree, average debt and graduates’ earnings.
It then translated that data to create six rankings — from 2.5 to 5 stars, instead of numbered rankings used in previous years — to identify the 736 schools “where your tuition (and time) is likely to pay off.”
The rankings were released in late June, and Money’s new list names no single “best college.”
The 34 best-ranked schools received the highest five-star ranking and included Ivy League universities like Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia; UC campuses in Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego and Irvine; and other top institutions like Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.
Cal Poly was one of seven universities from the West to receive five stars and one of only 13 public universities that received the honor. It was also the only California State University named to the list.
According to Money’s analysis, more than 90% of Cal Poly graduates are working full time or in graduate schools within a year. Students go on to earn median salaries of just over $85,000 in their early careers, a premium over similar schools.
“The new system recognizes that there are numerous ways for a school to provide value,” Cal Poly said in the news release. “It encourages students and families to look beyond the most sought-after big-name institutions of higher learning.”
The accolade is the latest in a string of top rankings for Cal Poly.
The university was also named by U.S. News & World Report as the best public, master’s-level university in the West last fall, an honor Cal Poly has received for 30 years in a row.
The university was also named as the 40th best public university in the nation and among the top dozen in California, by Forbes last fall.
“Cal Poly continues to build on its reputation as a top-value university that regularly receives favorable rankings and has high demand for its graduates from industry,” Cal Poly said in the news release.
Here’s the full list of Money’s five-star universities:
Amherst College
Berea College
Brown University
California Institute of Technology
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Columbia University in the City of New York
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Georgetown University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, San Diego
University of Chicago
University of Florida
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Michigan
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Williams College
Yale University
