August 25, 2003 :: No. 25

Cal State Fullerton Moves Up in Rankings Among Top Public Universities

California State University, Fullerton, which launches fall semester classes Monday, has moved up in the 2004 “America’s Best Colleges” rankings, announced today by U.S. News and World Report.

Cal State Fullerton tied for 8th — up from 10th — in the magazine’s annual “Top Public Universities—Master’s” in the West listing, alongside San Jose State and Utah’s Weber State University. This segment of the rankings is devoted to public institutions that award master’s and bachelor’s degrees, but few, if any, doctorates. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo tops the list, which includes eight CSU campuses.

The ranking is part of a series of such tallies published under the heading “America’s Best Colleges” and is based on the following characteristics: peer assessment among academics, graduation and freshman retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

Cal State Fullerton also made the magazine’s list of the nation’s universities with the highest levels of campus diversity, as well as its online list of those with the highest graduation rates among universities in the West that award primarily bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

A separate online listing of the nation’s “Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs” at campuses without doctoral programs ranks Cal State Fullerton 60th. Fullerton shares that ranking with 13 other universities, including Cal State campuses in Chico and Fresno.

The magazine’s much-publicized list of the nation’s top 50 colleges includes only those with doctoral programs. The latest list ranks Harvard and Princeton at the top, sharing the No. 1 spot, with Yale at No. 3.