Cal Poly moves up in Forbes ranking of best colleges in the nation. See where it landed

Cal Poly was again named one of the top colleges in the nation by Forbes Magazine, and it jumped 26 spots in this year’s ranking.

Overall, the San Luis Obispo university received six accolades in the magazine’s annual rankings published on Aug. 27, according to a news release Wednesday.

Cal Poly was ranked 57th best of 500 public and private universities in the nation, the release said. That’s an notable improvement from last year, when Cal Poly was ranked by Forbes as the 83rd best of 500 universities in the nation, the release said.

The top five universities on the list this year were Princeton, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale and UC Berkeley.

The magazine’s methodology considered numerous factors when ranking the universities, including retention rate, graduation rate, alumni salary and student debt.

Meanwhile, Cal Poly was listed as the best public university to get a master’s degree in California and the 14th best public or private university on the West Coast.

“This ranking illustrates how Cal Poly is succeeding in providing our students with a world-class education and preparing tomorrow’s leaders to meet the critical demands of our state, nation and world,” Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong said in the release. “Our students are attracted by our ‘Learn by Doing’ ethos, in which their classroom and lab experiences transform them into workers and entrepreneurs ready to succeed on day one in their careers and their communities.”

Forbes Magazine also classified Cal Poly as the seventh best public college in California, trailing only UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and UC Davis, as well as the 12th best overall university in the state, the release said.

This makes it the highest-ranked CSU in California.

Finally, Cal Poly was ranked as No. 18 of the 25 best public colleges in the nation.

“While prestigious private colleges — particularly the eight Ivies — get the lion’s share of media attention, it’s public colleges that educate a majority of America’s undergraduates,” Forbes Magazine wrote. “Three out of every five bachelor’s degree-seeking students in the United States attend a state school.”

Cal Poly “boasts high starting and mid-career median salaries for its graduates, who often go on to work in technology, engineering and business,” the magazine said. “Two years after graduating from a four-year program, Cal Poly alumni earn a median $72,358. Later on in their careers, 10 years after graduation, their median salaries hover around $148,600.”

This isn’t the only accolade Cal Poly won this summer.

In June, Money Magazine awarded Cal Poly a five-star ranking, the university said.

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