Pepperdine Ranked Among U.S. News’ 2022-2023 Best Colleges

MALIBU, CA — Pepperdine took the No. 55 spot on U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 ranking of the best colleges across the country.

The ranking of U.S. colleges and universities were released Monday and included 107 California institutions. Notably, the University of California, Los Angeles shared the number 1 spot for public national universities with U.C. Berkeley.

U.S. News has been publishing the respected guide for prospective students and families for nearly 40 years. Methodology has changed over the years to reflect changes in higher education, Kim Castro, editor and chief content officer at U.S. News, said in a news release.

U.S. News touts its ranking for providing millions of parents with “useful data and information to help with one of life’s biggest decisions,” Castro said.

U.S. News ranked 1,500 colleges and universities across 17 academic measures. To rank colleges, U.S. News first places each school into a category based on its mission and, in some cases, its geographic location.

National universities, which focus on research and offer several doctoral programs, are ranked separately from liberal arts colleges.
California landed 107 schools on the list, including 15 schools in Los Angeles County.

In California, Stanford University ranked No. 3 for national universities, and in Los Angeles County Pomona College ranked No. 3 for national liberal arts colleges.

Pepperdine University, located at 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, ranked No. 55 in the national universities category, trailing behind USC but beating out Loyola Marymount University and California State University, Long Beach.

The Malibu school tied with Florida State University; Santa Clara University, Rutgers University - New Brunswick; University of Miami; University of Maryland, College Park; and University of Washington.

Pepperdine ranked #27 in best colleges for veterans and #26 in best undergraduate teaching.

Check out how Los Angeles County fared:

National Universities:

• California Institute of Technology, #9
• University of California, Los Angeles, #20
• University of Southern California, #25
• Pepperdine University, #55
• Loyola Marymount University, #77
• California State University, Long Beach, #137
• Biola University, #194
• Azusa Pacific University, #263

National Liberal Arts Colleges:

• Pomona College, #3
• Claremont Mckenna College, #9
• Harvey Mudd College, #29
• Pitzer College, #33
• Scripps College, #33
• Occidental College, #37
• Whittier College, #107

Absent from this year's ranking is Columbia University, which decided against submitting data after Mathematics Professor Michael Thaddeus questioned the school's rise from 18th place in 1988, to 2nd place in 2021. The university acknowledged submitting incorrect information.

U.S. News Chief Data Strategist Robert Morse told CNN that schools report most of the information for their Best Colleges rankings directly to U.S. News,"U.S. News, a founding member of the Common Data Set initiative, incorporates questions from the CDS and proprietary questions on this survey. U.S. News relies on schools to accurately report their data."

To compile the rankings, U.S. News focuses on academic quality and places emphasis on outcome measures, including graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness and social mobility. Graduation rates and other outcomes represent 40 percent of each school’s overall score.

U.S. News said it changed how it weights SAT and ACT scores because demand for the college entrance exams plummeted due to the pandemic, especially among students living in low-income households.

Part-time faculty members were considered in measures on faculty resources, reflecting a trend for more part-time instructors, U.S. News said. Previously, only full-time instructors were considered.

Read more about the methodology.