(KRON) — U.S. News & World Report released its 2025 “Best National University Rankings” on Tuesday. The publication ranked two Bay Area universities in its top 20: Stanford and UC Berkeley.
No surprise, Stanford University is once again viewed as one of the most prestigious colleges in the country. U.S. News ranked Stanford fourth overall. UC Berkeley ranked 17th and second among all public universities nationwide. UCLA edged out the East Bay school with a 15th-place ranking.
The next Bay Area institution on the national list was Santa Clara University at 63rd. University of San Francisco ranked 109th. San Francisco State University ranked 204th and Cal State East Bay ranked 273rd.
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U.S. News: Best National University Rankings (2025)
Rank
School
1
Princeton University
2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
3
Harvard University
4
Stanford University
5
Yale University
6 (tie)
California Institute of Technology
6 (tie)
Duke University
6 (tie)
Johns Hopkins University
6 (tie)
Northwestern University
10
University of Pennsylvania
A general view of the campus of Stanford University including Hoover Tower as seen from Stanford Stadium on the day of a Pac-12 college football game between the USC Trojans and the Stanford Cardinal played on Sept. 10, 2022. (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images)
The U.S. News list was published after Forbes and Wall Street Journal released their respective rankings earlier this month. Both publications had Stanford and Berkeley in the top 10 overall.
U.S. News did not have San Jose State in its ranking. On the other hand, Wall Street Journal had SJSU at 16th. Forbes had the South Bay school at 235th.
The national rankings did not include liberal arts colleges that “emphasize undergraduate education,” according to U.S. News. A separate ranking for liberal arts colleges was published by U.S. News.
Close-up of metalwork on Sather Gate, the iconic entrance gate to the campus of UC Berkeley in downtown Berkeley, California, October 9, 2018. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Methodology
U.S. News weighed 19 different factors to compile each college’s overall score. Those factors include first-year retention rates, “college grads earning more than a high school grad,” borrower debt and “financial resources per student.”
The factors that carried the most weight were “peer assessment” (20%), graduation rates (16%) and “graduation rate performance” (10%). All other factors weighed less than 10% of the school’s overall score.
U.S. News’ full college rankings list can be viewed here. Information on the ranking’s methodology can be viewed here.
Founded in 1948, U.S. News has been a longtime publisher of rankings, consumer advice and analysis. It publishes rankings for cars, hospitals and other consumers’ interests.
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