Commitments to social mobility, public service and research have earned the University of California, Davis, the No. 8 spot among public universities and No. 21 among all 442 national universities in the Washington Monthly 2023 College Rankings released today (Aug. 28).

UC Davis was also recognized as 22nd among the Best Bang for the Buck Western Colleges.

Among public universities in the national universities category, UC Davis was in good company with sister campuses: No. 1 UC Berkeley, No. 4 UCLA and No. 7 UC San Diego.

The rankings have three equally weighted categories: social mobility, research, and community and national service. “This means that top-ranked colleges needed to be excellent across the full breadth of our measures, rather than excelling in just one measure,” the editors wrote in an explanation of the methodology.

In other rankings this month, UC Davis was recognized in Princeton Review’s The Best 389 Colleges — 2024 Edition. Among public universities, the campus was:

• eighth among the Top 20 Best Schools for Making an Impact
• 17th among the Top 50 Best Value Colleges
• 16th for the Top 20 Best Career Placement (Public Schools)

UC Davis also made unranked lists for Best Value Colleges, Green Colleges and Best West Colleges.

UC Davis and rankings

A world-class university, UC Davis is highly ranked for how it transforms students’ lives, the impact of its research, the excellence of its academic programs, sustainability and more. The university performs self-evaluations and also appreciates the value of third-party assessments. However, ranking methods vary, change over time and can be subjective. UC Davis focuses on those rankings that most closely align with its mission and values — including serving the public good, inclusiveness and equity, and social mobility — and in national rankings looks most closely at its standing among public universities. UC Davis encourages prospective students and their families to weigh rankings among other factors in their college decision, talk with counselors and UC Davis admissions advisors, and, if possible, visit the campus.