CSULB Among Best Regional Schools: New U.S. News Rankings

LONG BEACH, CA — California State University Long Beach was among the highest-ranked Regional Universities — West on U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 best colleges list.

California State University Long Beach was ranked 20th in Regional Universities West, 12th in Best Undergraduate Teaching and 7th in Top Performers on Social Mobility.

The 2020 rankings include the overall best national universities rankings, as well as rankings for the best liberal-arts colleges, the top public schools, the best value schools and more.

For the 2020 rankings, U.S. News made some changes to help prospective students with their college search. A new set of rankings looks at the top performers in social mobility, evaluating which schools best serve underrepresented students. The 2020 methodology also factors in which schools support first-generation college students through graduation.

A total of 1,400 colleges are included in the 2020 rankings.The publication says that 90 percent of those reading the best-colleges list are looking for schools outside the top 10. (You can read the full methodology here)

“For more than three decades, we’ve collected and analyzed data on thousands of colleges and universities across the country and helped put schools on the map,” Kim Castro, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News, said in a news release. “We’ve found the best institutions to be ones committed to academically and financially supporting their students through graduation. They draw in high-quality professors and set students up for postgraduate success.”

Here are the top five California schools that made the national university rankings:

• Stanford University, 6
• California Institute of Technology, 12
• University of California — Los Angeles, 20
• University of California — Berkeley, 22
• University of Southern California, 22

Here are the top five California schools that made the liberal arts colleges rankings:

• Pomona College, 5
• Claremont McKenna College, 7
• Harvey Mudd College, 23
• Soka University of America, 27
• Scripps College, 33

Here are the top five California schools that made the top public schools rankings:

• University of California — Los Angeles, 1
• University of California — Berkeley, 2
• University of California — Santa Barbara, 7
• University of California — Irvine, 9
• University of California — San Diego, 10

Overall, Princeton University once again stayed in the No.1 spot. Williams College was the top liberal-arts college and the University of California-Los Angeles was the No.1 public school.

Below are the top 5 national universities:

1. Princeton University (NJ)
2. Harvard University (MA)
3. Columbia University (NY) (tie)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (tie)
3. Yale University (CT) (tie)

Below are the top 3 liberal arts colleges:

1. Williams College (MA)
2. Amherst College (MA)
3. Swarthmore College (PA) (tie)
3. Wellesley College (MA) (tie)

Below are the top 3 public universities:

1. University of California—Los Angeles
2. University of California—Berkeley
3. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor