Top Ten Again

In its 2018 listing of the “Top 30 Public National Universities” in the country, U.S. News & World Report has ranked UC Santa Barbara No. 8.  Among the “Best National Universities” ranking, which includes both public and private institutions, UCSB placed No. 37.

UCSB’s College of Engineering ranked No. 20 among public universities on the U.S. News & World Report list of “Best Programs at Engineering Schools Whose Highest Degree is a Doctorate.” 

In addition, UCSB placed No. 14 among public universities in the “Least Debt” section of the magazine’s ranking of student debt load at graduation. Also among public universities, UCSB placed No. 13 on the “Best Ethnic Diversity” ranking.

The magazine has just released its annual college rankings online at usnews.com/colleges. The “Best Colleges 2018” guidebook goes on sale today.

To rank colleges and universities for the Best Colleges 2018 guidebook, U.S. News & World Report assigned institutions to categories developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. UCSB’s category of national universities includes only institutions that emphasize faculty research and offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s degrees and doctoral programs.

UCSB, which this year experienced the most competitive admissions process in campus history, continues to attract the best of the best. Among prospective freshmen and undergraduate transfer students, academic qualifications and the diversity remain exceptionally high. For the 2017-18 academic year, the average high school grade-point average of applicants admitted is 4.25, and the average total score achieved on the required SATR test is 1996 out of a possible 2400.

The unprecedented academic qualifications and diversity of applicants made fall 2017 admissions the most selective in campus history. With 11 national centers and institutes, and more than 100 research units, UCSB offers unparalleled learning opportunities for undergraduate students. The world-class faculty includes six Nobel laureates, two Academy and Emmy Award winners, and recipients of a Millennium Technology Prize, a National Medal of Technology and Innovation and a Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

The rankings in the Best Colleges 2018 guidebook are based on data U.S. News & World Report collects directly from colleges and universities, as well as from other sources. This year, the magazine reported that 92 percent of the 1,389 colleges and universities it surveyed responded to its request for statistical information.

Additional data was obtained from the American Association of University Professors, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Council for Aid to Education and the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. The magazine evaluates and analyzes data on various indicators of academic quality and assigns a weight to each factor based on its relative importance. It then tabulates composite scores and ranks institutions against others in the same peer group.

Complete U.S. News & World Report rankings are available at https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges.

UCSB has performed exceptionally well in a variety of other recent national and rankings. The third annual College Access Index published by The New York Times, ranked UCSB No. 2 for its commitment to economic diversity. On the Peace Corps’ annual list of Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities, UCSB placed No. 18 among large schools. Also, in College Raptor’s 2018 rankings, UCSB was named No. 14 in list of the 25 best public colleges, No. 9 among the 25 best colleges in the southwest, and No. 1 among the 25 best Hispanic Serving Institutions.

To learn more about UCSB and the application process for fall 2018, visit the Office of Admissions at https://admissions.sa.ucsb.edu.