THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Many of you will have seen the "America's Best Colleges" issue of U.S. News and World Report, published on August 30.  I enclose two tables that reflect the University of California's rankings in that survey.

Table 1 shows that, among public universities, UC ranks very high.  All eight of our general campuses are among the top 50 national public universities in the country.  Like last year, UC Berkeley is again #1, and six UC campuses are within the top 16 in the nation.

Table 2 reflects the rankings for all universities, public and private.  As you will note, UC does far less well.  Because of the weightings U.S. News and World Report uses to rank colleges and universities, private universities consistently fare better than public ones.  For example, UC Berkeley, which is #1 among public universities, is ranked #20 among all universities nationally.  The top public universities compare well to the top privates in terms of academic reputation and student selectivity, two factors in the USNWR ranking model.  However, public institutions in general do less well than the privates on four other factors used by USNWR– financial resources, faculty resources, retention, and alumni giving rates.  Compared with private institutions, public universities have fewer financial resources per student, higher student-faculty ratios, larger undergraduate classes, lower six-year graduation rates, and lower rates of alumni giving.  These differences account for the lower rankings public universities tend to receive in this survey.

Finally, a comment about the decline of UC Irvine's ranking from #36 to #49 among all universities.  This drop is primarily the result of a change in a single data element.  UCI correctly reported to U.S. News that 90 percent of the entering freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their high school class, but also stated that  0 percent of the freshmen submitted their rank in class to the campus.  USNWR consequently used their own significantly lower estimate of that percent in their ranking model, lowering UC Irvine's overall ranking.  Clearly, this will be rectified in next year's report, but I wanted you to know the reason for this change in UCI's rank on the survey.

Yours truly,

Richard C. Atkinson
President

Enclosures

cc: Chancellors

Table 1
 
 

Top National Public Universities
U.S. News and World Report Rankings for the Year 2000
America's Best Colleges
	1.	University of California–Berkeley		28.	Colorado School of Mines
	2.	University of Virginia		28.	Ohio State University–Columbus
	3.	Univ. of California–Los Angeles		28.	Virginia Tech
	3.	University of Michigan–Ann Arbor		31.	Indiana University–Bloomington
	5.	U. of North Carolina–Chapel Hill		31.	Michigan State University
	6.	College of William and Mary (VA)		31.	Ohio University
	7.	Univ. of California–San Diego		31.	Univ. of California–Riverside
	8.	U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign		31.	Univ. of California–Santa Cruz
	8.	Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison		31.	University of Colorado–Boulder
	10.	Georgia Institute of Technology		31.	University of Connecticut
	10.	Pennsylvania State Univ.		38.	Auburn University (AL)
	12.	University of California–Davis		38.	Clemson University (SC)
	13.	Univ. of California–Santa Barbara		38.	Iowa State University
	13.	University of Texas–Austin		38.	North Carolina State U.–Raleigh
	13.	University of Washington		38.	University of Kansas
	16.	University of California–Irvine		38.	University of Pittsburgh
	16.	University of Florida		38.	University of Vermont
	18.	Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)		45.	Florida State University
	18.	Texas A&M Univ.–College Station		45.	University of New Hampshire
	18.	Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities		45.	Univ. of Tennessee–Knoxville
	21.	University of Iowa		48.	Michigan Technological University
	22.	Miami University–Oxford (OH)		48.	University of Arizona
	22.	Rutgers–New Brunswick (NJ)		48.	Univ. of Massachusetts–Amherst
	22.	SUNY–Binghamton		48.	Univ. of Missouri–Columbia
	22.	University of Delaware
	22.	University of Georgia
	22.	Univ. of Maryland–College Park

Table 2
 

Top National Universities
U.S. News and World Report Rankings for the Year 2000
America's Best Colleges
	1.	California Institute of Technology		27.	Univ. of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
	2.	Harvard University (MA)		28.	Wake Forest University (NC)
	3.	Massachusetts Inst. of Technology		29.	College of William and Mary (VA)
	4.	Princeton University (NJ)		29.	Tufts University (MA)
	4.	Yale University (CT)		31.	Brandeis University (MA)
	6.	Stanford University (CA)		32.	University of California–San Diego
	7.	Duke University (NC)		32.	University of Rochester (NY)
	7.	Johns Hopkins University (MD)		34.	Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH)
	7.	University of Pennsylvania		34.	Lehigh University (PA)
	10.	Columbia University (NY)		34.	New York University
	11.	Cornell University (NY)		34.	Univ. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
	11.	Dartmouth College (NH)		34.	University of Wisconsin–Madison
	13.	University of Chicago		39.	Boston College
	14.	Brown University (RI)		40.	Georgia Institute of Technology
	14.	Northwestern University (IL)		40.	Pennsylvania State University
	14.	Rice University (TX)		42.	University of California–Davis
	17.	Washington University (MO)		42.	University of Southern California
	18.	Emory University (GA)		44.	Tulane University (LA)
	19.	University of Notre Dame (IN)		44.	Univ. of California–Santa Barbara
	20.	University of California–Berkeley		44.	University of Texas–Austin
	20.	Vanderbilt University (TN)		44.	University of Washington
	22.	University of Virginia		44.	Yeshiva University (NY)
	23.	Carnegie Mellon University (PA)		49.	University of California–Irvine
	23.	Georgetown University (DC)		49.	University of Florida
	25.	University of California–Los Angeles
	25.	University of Michigan–Ann Arbor