<p>The USNWR rankings that most posters talk about here are for undergraduate quality only. However, the USNWR academic “Peer Assessment” factor, which counts 22.5% for national universities and LACs, may be influenced by the graduate program reputations. If you took out this rather subjective factor, leaving only the more objective metrics, Berkeley’s ranking would be lower (worse, that is). In comparisons to highly-ranked private schools, the top public flagships tend to suffer due to larger average class size, lower retention and on-time graduation rates, lower student selectivity (measured by average test scores, etc.), and lower per-student spending.</p>
<p>Here is a ranking based only on SAT 75th percentile M+CR scores. Berkeley comes out at #42, the highest-ranked public university.
<a href=“USA University College Directory - U.S. University Directory - State Universities and College Rankings”>USA University College Directory - U.S. University Directory - State Universities and College Rankings;
<p>Cost is not factored into the USNWR rankings. Specific department rankings do not factor into the USNWR or any other major undergraduate ranking. Some of the most selective private universities do not even offer engineering programs.</p>
<p>[How</a> U.S. News Calculates the College Rankings - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/08/17/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings?PageNr=1]How”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/08/17/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings?PageNr=1)</p>
<p>The major “world rankings” tend to use very different methods than the USNWR undergraduate rankings. They are more oriented toward faculty research productivity.</p>