16 California Colleges Ranked Among Top 100

CALIFORNIA – A new report has ranked 500 colleges nationwide — including 54 in California — as high schoolers scramble to sign up for SAT exams and fill out college applications.

The personal finance website WalletHub unveiled its 2019 college and university rankings this week. The top schools in America won't shock you (the usual suspects are all there) and the authors say the best university in California is none other than California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, beating out Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, for bragging rights.

California Institute of Technology ranked highly in student selectivity, faculty resources, and educational and career outcomes, according to the authors.

The study compared 951 higher-education institutions across the country based on 30 metrics. The metrics range from student-faculty ratio to graduation rate to post-attendance median salary. WalletHub then organized the results by ranking each college in seven categories: student selectivity, cost and financing, faculty resources, campus safety, campus experience, educational outcomes and career outcomes.

See how California colleges ranked, from best to worst, below. National rankings are in parenthesis.

1. California Institute of Technology (5)
2. Stanford University (10)
3. University of California-Berkeley (11)
4. University of California-Los Angeles (15)
5. Pomona College (19)
6. Harvey Mudd College (23)
7. University of California-San Diego (32)
8. Claremont McKenna College (35)
9. University of Southern California (37)
10. University of California-Irvine (40)
11. University of California-Santa Barbara (47)
12. University of California-Davis (60)
13. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo (64)
14. California State University-Long Beach (87)
15. University of California-Santa Cruz (90)
16. Scripps College (99)
17. Santa Clara University (102)
18. Pepperdine University (106)
19. Occidental College (109)
20. University of California-Riverside (118)
21. University of San Diego (126)
22. Loyola Marymount University (149)
23. San Diego State University (152)
24. University of the Pacific (158)
25. California State Polytechnic University-Pomona (171)
26. California State University-Fullerton (177)
27. California State University-Los Angeles (202)
28. Thomas Aquinas College (205)
29. University of California-Merced (208)
30. Chapman University (225)
31. Holy Names University (232)
32. Fresno Pacific University (233)
33. Azusa Pacific University (234)
34. California State University-Northridge (235)
35. University of San Francisco (237)
36. University of Redlands (257)
37. San Jose State University (261)
38. University of La Verne (268)
39. California Lutheran University (281)
40. St. Mary's College of California (302)
41. California State University-San Marcos (309)
42. Pacific Union College (316)
43. California State University-San Bernardino (318)
44. Biola University (326)
45. The Master's University and Seminary (330)
46. California State University-Fresno (332)
47. Point Loma Nazarene University (334)
48. California State University-Chico (350)
49. Vanguard University of Southern California (379)
50. San Francisco State University (389)
51. California State University-Sacramento (410)
52. Westmont College (457)
53. Woodbury University (461)
54. Mills College (491)

WalletHub scored each of the seven metrics out of 100 possible points, with a 100 being the best school performance and the most favorable conditions for undergraduate students while they're in school and after leaving. The authors then determined each school's weighted average across each metric to calculate the overall score and used that to rank them. Public four-year and above schools were included as well as private, not-for-profit, four-year and above schools.

Student selectivity and educational outcomes received the most weight of all the categories in WalletHub's rankings, accounting for 25 and 20 points, respectively. Student selectivity was largely based on net cost while educational outcomes looked mostly at a college's graduation rate and retention rate.

You'll recognize most, if not all, of the top schools in America. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT, boasted the top overall ranking with a total score of 80.1. Princeton, Yale, Harvard and California Institute of Technology rounded out the top five.

Here are the top 10 schools and overall scores for each. All were in the 99th percentile.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Overall rank: 1
• Total score: 80.1/100 points

Princeton University

• Overall rank: 2
• Total score: 79.5/100 points

Yale University

• Overall rank: 3
• Total score:78.86/100 points

Harvard University

• Overall rank: 4
• Total score: 78.58/100 points

California Institute of Technology

• Overall rank: 5
• Total score: 77.73/100 points

Duke University

• Overall rank: 6
• Total score: 76.15/100 points

University of Pennsylvania

• Overall rank: 7
• Total score: 76.1/100 points

Columbia University

• Overall rank: 8
• Total score: 75.89/100 points

Rice University

• Overall rank: 9
• Total score: 75.67/100 points

Stanford University

• Overall rank: 10
• Total score: 75.32/100 points

WalletHub used data collected from National Center for Education Statistics, Council for Community and Economic Research, U.S. Department of Education, COLLEGEdata and PayScale.

Click here to view the complete rankings and read the full report. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news from your California neighborhood. Also, download the free Patch iPhone app or free Patch Android app. Also, be sure to follow your local Patch on Facebook!)

ALSO SEE:

• Best & Worst Places To Raise A Family In CA
• These CA Cities Ranked Among The Best Big Cities To Live In
• California Is Most Fun State In America: Study
• California Cities Ranked Happiest In U.S.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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