Cal State Long Beach Ranked Among Top 3 Public Universities in the West by U.S. News & World Report

For the second year in a row, California State University, Long Beach has been ranked one of the top three public master's universities in the west by U.S. News & World Report in its 2006 edition of America's Best Colleges Guide.

In addition to ranking third among the 64 western public master's universities ranked by the magazine, CSULB once again was included among the publication's first tier of rankings, placing the campus in the top 25 percent of a total of 123 public and private universities in its category in the region.

"The value of students' degrees is always based on the reputation of their academic institution," said Robert C. Maxson, university president. "I am so proud that U.S. News & World Report has recognized this campus for the quality education that students receive at Cal State Long Beach. It is especially satisfying because so much of the ranking is based on how we are perceived by our peers."

U.S. News & World Report also ranked CSULB's College of Engineering among the top 50 undergraduate programs nationally, and also noted Long Beach's programs for first-year students among "stellar examples" of "academic programs that are believed to lead to student success."

In U.S. News & World Report's survey methodology, colleges provide data for up to 15 indicators of academic excellence. Each factor is assigned a weight that reflects publication officials' judgment regarding how much a measure matters. Finally, the colleges in each category are ranked against their peers, based on their composite weighted score.

Among the indicators used to measure the academic quality of the colleges and universities were: peer assessment (weighted by 25 percent), retention (25 percent in master's colleges), faculty resources (20 percent), student selectivity (15 percent), financial resources (10 percent), and alumni giving rate (5 percent).

As defined by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, institutions in the universities-master's category provide a full range of undergraduate programs and some master's level programs. They also offer few, if any, doctoral programs.

With an anticipated fall enrollment exceeding 35,000 students, CSULB offers 85 bachelor's degrees, 67 master's degrees and two doctorates.