<p>UCSD is a better school than USC. Infact, in the general ratings, all public schools get shafted. The reason is very simple. Some of the factors that are used in the methodology for US News rankings skew the results toward private schools. The greatest example of this is the annual giving rates. Public Universities are ALWAYS far behind in this realm than private universities. If you throw out the category, then the public schools rise in comparision. Also, on that point, USC is having a large giving campaign right now, like UCSD. However, at private schools, the alumni base is a much larger source of private support than public schools. Therefore, their recent campaign is pushing USC up in the rankings where UCSD’s isn’t quite the same way. It’s just a bias in the system.</p>