Best Overall in the West for Second Straight Year
For the second year in a row, Cal Poly was named best overall master's-level university in the West.
Cal Poly has been named best overall master’s-level university in the West for both public and private institutions for the second year in a row in the U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Colleges guidebook.
It’s the 32nd straight year the Learn by Doing university is ranked best public institution in the West and the second year running it has been ranked tops among all 118 public and private institutions in the region.
The 2025 U.S. News & World Report, the magazine’s 40th rankings edition, released Sept. 24 and evaluated over 1,800 institutions on as many as 17 areas, including statistics that pertain to measures reflecting academic quality and graduate outcomes — factors universally important to prospective students and their families.
Cal Poly was again named No. 1 in the West for Most Innovative Schools; several College of Engineering programs were ranked among the top five in the nation for masters-level educational institutions; and the university ranked for the fifth straight year as the top school in the West for veterans among public and private institutions that participate in federal initiatives helping veterans and active-duty service members pay for their degrees.
The Western regional rankings include public and private institutions in 15 states that provide “a full range of undergraduate and master’s-level programs but few doctoral programs.” (Universities that grant doctoral degrees, such as those in the University of California system, are listed in a separate category.)