University of the Pacific continues to rise in national rankings

University of the Pacific is among the top private and public colleges and universities in California as it climbs prestigious national college standings, including the 2019 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings.

Of the 10 private institutions in California in the same category, Pacific is No. 7 based on the rank assigned by U.S. News and World report. Pacific is No. 13 out of the 22 private and public colleges and universities on the list. Overall, Pacific was tied at No. 106 in the nation in the magazine's 2019 "Best National Universities" category, which includes such institutions as Princeton, Harvard and Columbia, up from No. 110 a year ago.

"Continuing to do well and climb in the rankings in the annual U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges reflects the quality of education and student success that defines Pacific," said Pacific President Pamela A. Eibeck. "Nearly 93 percent of our 2017 graduates were employed, accepted to graduate schools or in post-graduate internships, or working for service organizations within six months of graduating. Those wonderful achievements speak directly to the quality of a Pacific education."

Pacific also moved up eight positions to No. 45 in the ranking's "Best Value Schools" category, which compares a school's academic quality with the net cost to students who are receiving the average need-based financial aid. Pacific remained at a strong No. 68 in the "Best Colleges for Veterans" ranking for top-ranked schools participating in initiatives helping veterans and active-duty service members to attain a degree.

Pacific is often recognized for serving diverse populations with programs to help first-generation and underserved students succeed, including Educational Equity Programs, a family of federal TRiO programs, and the Community Involvement Program, a need-based scholarship and retention program for first-generation college students from the Stockton area who have demonstrated the potential for sustainable leadership, community awareness, and involvement, among others.

The ranking's "Best National Universities" category is reserved for colleges and universities that offer a wide range of undergraduate majors and master's and doctoral degrees. Pacific was tied at No. 106 with such institutions as Temple University, University of Arizona, University of South Carolina, Saint Louis University, University of Tulsa, University of New Hampshire, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Pacific is known for its excellence in health sciences, including a three-year dentistry degree from the university's Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry on the San Francisco Campus, which also offers graduate programs in audiology, music therapy, and data science. Pacific's McGeorge School of Law on its Sacramento Campus recently launched an accelerated law degree program, and the School of Engineering and Computer Science on the Stockton Campus provides a co-op program where students spend a year gaining hands-on experience with an employer.­­

Overall, the current ranking provides data on 1,800 four-year colleges and universities with most of the information coming from an annual survey. The schools are evaluated on up to 16 metrics to measure academic excellence, including class size and average spending per student on such areas as instruction and student services. Student outcomes, such as student retention and graduate rates, are the most weighted in the U.S. News & World Report methodology.

"A university is not successful if it does not graduate its students, which is why the Best Colleges rankings place the greatest value on outcomes, including graduation and retention rates," Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News, said in a statement on the rankings. "By including social mobility indicators, U.S. News is further recognizing colleges that serve all of their students, regardless of economic status."

The U.S. News & World Report rankings come on the heels of strong showings for Pacific in two other rankings, the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings, which placed Pacific at No. 120 among 968 institutions nationwide and No. 18 among 145 institutions in the West, and Forbes Magazine, which placed Pacific at No. 241 on a list of its top 650 colleges and universities, up from No. 316 two years earlier.