Top Five-Star Ranking on Best Colleges List
Money magazine used six rankings — from two to five stars — to identify the 745 schools across the nation “where your tuition (and time) is likely to pay off.”
Cal Poly has received Money magazine’s top five-star ranking in its 2024-25 Best Colleges in America list that is designed to help students and their parents select a school in terms of value.
The personal finance website used six rankings — from two to five stars — to identify the 745 schools across the nation “where your tuition (and time) is likely to pay off.” Cal Poly achieved the top rating along with 53 other schools, including Ivy League universities as Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia.
While Cal Poly is a highly selective school, with an acceptance rate of 30 percent for students with an average 4.0 grade point average, it enjoys a graduation rate of 84 percent (taking an average of 4.3 years) — or tied for 19th among the 94 Best Public Colleges in the U.S.
Cal Poly also scored well postgraduation. Nine in 10 graduates (91%) are working full time or in graduate schools within a year, the magazine cited. Students go on to earn median salaries of over $85,000 in their early careers, a premium over similar schools, according to Money’s analysis.
The 54 colleges that earned Money’s five-star rating — up from 34 on the 2023-24 list — include public universities, Ivy League schools, liberal arts colleges, a work college and an East Coast maritime academy. Alongside some of the most prestigious universities in the world, Money says, are schools where a wider variety of students can actually get in and afford to attend.
Cal Poly was among 15 public and private California colleges and universities to receive five-star recognition.