The University of California, Davis, took the No. 11 spot among public universities and No. 26 among all 438 national universities in the Washington Monthly 2024 College Rankings released Sunday (Aug. 25).

UC Davis was also recognized as 28th, or 21st among public universities, on the Best Bang for the Buck list for the West.

In a new ranking for the best and worst schools for women in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, UC Davis was 14th in civil engineering.

Among public universities in the overall national universities category, UC Davis was in good company with sister campuses: No. 2 UC Berkeley, No. 7 UCLA and No. 9 UC San Diego.

The rankings have three equally weighted categories: social mobility, research, and community and national service. “This means that top-ranked colleges needed to be excellent across the full breadth of our measures, rather than excelling in just one measure,” the editors wrote in an explanation of the methodology.

Princeton Review rankings

In other rankings, UC Davis was recognized in Princeton Review’s The Best 390 Colleges — 2025 Edition, released today. Among public universities, the campus was:

• seventh in the Top 20 Best Schools for Making an Impact
• 27th among the Top 50 Best Value Colleges 
• 15th for the Top 20 Best Career Placement 

UC Davis also made unranked lists for Best Value Colleges, Green Colleges and Best West Colleges.

UC Davis and rankings

A world-class university, UC Davis is highly ranked for how it transforms students’ lives, the impact of its research, the excellence of its academic programs, sustainability and more. The university performs self-evaluations and appreciates the value of third-party assessments. However, ranking methods vary, change over time and can be subjective. UC Davis focuses on those rankings that most closely align with its mission and values — including serving the public good, inclusiveness and equity, and social mobility — and in national rankings looks most closely at its standing among public universities. UC Davis encourages prospective students and their families to weigh rankings among other factors in their college decision, talk with counselors and UC Davis admissions advisors, and, if possible, visit the campus.