POMONA - College-bound high school students ranked Cal Poly Pomona third among the West's top universities, according to a national market research survey.

The university jumped 29 places in the Project Connect 2003 survey compared to its ranking with the latest U.S. News & World Report survey.

"Our goal was not to take on the rankings," said Elizabeth Scarborough, vice president of strategic marketing services for Carnegie Communications. "There are enough rankings out there."

The higher education market research firm wanted to find out what college-bound students look for in a college or university and what schools rank the highest among the students. Nearly 4,000 students were surveyed by e-mail, Scarborough said.

Project Connect 2003 found that the way the popular and prestigious U.S. News & World Report grades campuses is not how students and parents value colleges.

For instance, the U.S. News & World Report gauges alumni contributions to be 5 percent of how colleges are ranked. But, Carnegie Communications found that high school students really don't care about alumni contributions and are more concerned with other factors such as student-teacher ratios.

The survey determined that Cal Poly is the most underrated university because it took the largest jump in rankings compared to its standing in U.S. News & World Report.

"Cal Poly Pomona is really the best-kept secret in the CSU system," said Tomas Morales, provost and vice president of academic affairs.

Cal Poly Pomona ranked second in the quality of entering students in the CSU system this past fall, Morales said. The CSU compiles grade-point averages, SAT and ACT scores and the quality of high school curriculum of the entering students to gauge the quality of students attending the universities, Morales said.

The university's College of Engineering also ranks high among engineering departments in U.S. News & World Report, he said.

Cal Poly has continued to increase the quality of students while also increasing the amount of diversity on campus, he said.

"We are a polytechnic that supports pedagogy that is committed to learn by doing," he said.

Morales said he is obviously pleased with the Carnegie Communications survey. It must resonate with college-bound students that the university is a student-centered institution, he said.

Carnegie Communications paid for the survey and is offering its findings to its long list of college and university clients as a way of gauging student perception of campuses, Scarborough said.

Often college administrators spend too many resources trying to better ratings that are based on factors that don't matter to parents and students, Scarborough said.

"Students and parents buy the magazines and the books and they live by the rankings," Scarborough said. "But, what's more important is to judge if the campus fits."