UC Berkeley was ranked the second-best public university in the country by the U.S. News & World Report on Monday, defending its title for two consecutive years.
UC campuses excelled as a whole in U.S. News & World Report’s Top Public Schools: National Universities list for 2022, with all nine campuses ranking in the top 50. UC Berkeley ranked second behind UCLA and has held that title each year since 2020.
“UC Berkeley’s excellence has been recognized in college rankings for decades, and rightly so given our amazing research, teaching and public service mission,” said campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore.
In 2019, UC Berkeley initially ranked second on the list, but then became “unranked” after misreporting alumni donation rates since 2014, according to an updated ranking released by U.S. News & World Report. In 2018, it tied for first place with UCLA.
Seventeen factors are taken into account when creating the lists of rankings for 1,466 universities, both public and private, according to a press release from U.S. News & World Report. These factors include graduation and retention rates, accessibility to faculty, student excellence and alumni donations.
After all of the factors are calculated, universities get a score out of 100, according to the press release. This year, UC Berkeley got a score of 82.
UC Berkeley also ranked 22 out of 392 schools for U.S. News & World Report’s Best National University Rankings list for 2022, as well as seventh out of 154 schools for the 2022 Best Colleges for Veterans list, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking.
Six UC campuses joined UC Berkeley in the top 10 public universities in the country, including UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis and UC Irvine, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s rankings.
UC President Michael Drake said in a press statement that these rankings emphasize the “world-class” education through “access, affordability, and excellence” that the UC system offers.
“What’s particularly noteworthy about the new U.S. News & World Report’s rankings is that six UC campuses are among the top 10 public universities,” Gilmore said. “It is wonderful to see the great education across the UC system recognized.”
