Cal Poly Earns 30th Consecutive Best in the West ranking

Cal Poly, the Golden State’s first public polytechnic school that launched its renowned Learn by Doing education in 1903, has been named the best public, master’s-level university in the West for the 30th straight year in U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Colleges guidebook.

The 2023 guide, released Sept. 12, assessed an all-time high 1,500 U.S. bachelor’s degree-granting institutions on 17 measures of academic quality. It lists Cal Poly as No. 2 overall in the West — the same as last year — and as the region’s top-ranked public master’s-level university.

In addition, Cal Poly was again named No. 1 in the West for Most Innovative Schools; several Cal Poly College of Engineering programs were ranked among the best in the nation for masters-level educational institutions; and the university was for the third straight year ranked 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.)

The U.S. News & World Report's ranking methodology focuses on academic excellence, with schools evaluated on hundreds of data points and measures of academic quality, such as graduation and first-year retention rates.