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UC Davis first in the world in veterinary medicine
1st nationally in agriculture
2nd nationally among Affordable Elite Colleges
UC Davis is ranked 5th among public universities in the United States
9th among U.S. institutions granting undergraduate degrees to students of color
11th Among U.S. universities in the number of international scholars

High Achievements and Top Programs

UC Davis is highly ranked in the nation and the world, according to influential university ranking publications like U.S. News & World Report (national and global), QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and The Princeton Review.

The Wall Street Journal recognized UC Davis as the fifth-best public university in the United States in its Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Ranking (2018).

Washington Monthly magazine ranked UC Davis second nationally among Affordable Elite Colleges in 2019. 

Interested in rankings by graduate program? Browse the list below.

Graduate academic program rankings

Agriculture

Animal behavior

Biological sciences

  • Anatomy and physiology
    • 28th (QS World University Rankings 2017)
  • Biological sciences
  • Biology and biochemistry
    • 34th (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)
  • Ecology/evolutionary biology
    • 7th (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities” )
  • Molecular biology and genetics
    • 48th (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)

Business and economics

Chemistry

  • Chemistry
    • 32nd (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

Composition

  • Among the top 50 universities for writing across the disciplines (U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 “America’s Best Colleges”)

Earth sciences

  • 24th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)
  • 29th in earth and marine sciences (QS World University Rankings 2018)

Education

  • 36th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Engineering

  • 33rd best College of Engineering (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)
  • Aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical 
    • 26th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools 2016”)
  • Biological/agricultural
    • 7th in biological/agricultural (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)
  • Biomedical/bioengineering
    • 22nd (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)
  • Chemical engineering
    • 30th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)
  • Civil engineering
  • Computer engineering
    • 33th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)
  • Computer science
    • 37th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)
    • 48th (U.S. News & World Reports “2015 Best Global Universities”)
  • Electrical
    • 41st tied in electrical/electronic/communications (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016
  • Environmental engineering
  • Materials science
    • 28th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)
  • Mechanical
    • 35th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)

English

  • 20th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Environmental sciences

  • 7th in environment/ecology (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)
  • 13th (QS World University Rankings 2018)

Fine arts

  • 27th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

History

  • 32nd (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)
    • 9th in U.S. colonial history

Law

  • 25th best School of Law according to national law school deans and faculty
  • 31st of almost 200 American Bar Association-approved law schools (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)
  • 37th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Mathematics

  • 34th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

Medicine

  • 10th in primary care (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)
  • 26th in the nation for research funding from the National Institutes of Health (Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research 2018)
  • 39th in research (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2017)

Nursing

  • Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing
    • 46th among master's degree nursing leadership programs (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

Physics

Plant science

Political science

  • 17th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)
  • Comparative politics  
    • 15th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2014)
  • Political methodology
    • 17th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Psychology

  • 26th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)
  • Psychiatry/psychology
    • 40th (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)

Sociology

  • 30th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Statistics

  • 31st (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

Veterinary medicine

Two goats nibbling at a veterinarian in scrubs

About Some Important Rankings

QS World University Rankings

In 2019, QS World University Rankings ranked UC Davis 104th among 1,001 of the world’s elite institutions. Among U.S. universities, UC Davis kept its spots as 31st overall and 13th among public universities.

Besides being first in veterinary science and second in agriculture and forestry, subject rankings included environmental sciences, 15th; biological sciences, 42nd; and earth and marine sciences, 36th. 

U.S. News and World Report National and Global Rankings

In its 2019 rankings of the nation's best colleges, U.S. News and World Report placed UC Davis 10th among public national universities and 38th among all national universities. In addition, UC Davis ranked:

  • 4th in biological and agricultural programs among schools with the highest degree is a doctorate
  • 24th for best undergraduate teaching
  • 32nd in the nation among undergraduate engineering programs whose highest degree is a doctorate
  • 40th for best undergraduate education by high school guidance counselors.

Learn about the methodology used to calculate the rankings.

U.S. News and World Report also issues an annual ranking of the best global universities, which uses a different methodology. In 2019, UC Davis ranked 60th in the world.

Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Ranking

In its second year of rankings (2018) of the nation’s best colleges, the Wall Street Journal placed UC Davis 5th among public universities, 41st among all universities. The university scored 78.2 points out of a possible 100 overall in four general categories, including graduation outcomes, teaching resources, student engagement and campus environment.

The ranking took into consideration data from several sources and a survey of 200,000 students.

In 2019, the Times Higher Education (THE) ranked UC Davis 25th among U.S. universities, and 11th among the nation’s public universities. THE’s Reputation Rank placed UC Davis 48th among universities around the world. THE employs the “world’s largest invitation-only academic opinion survey to produce its Top 100 most powerful global university brands, based on the judgment of senior academics.”

Washington Monthly Affordable Elite Colleges

Washington Monthly magazine ranked UC Davis second nationally among Affordable Elite Colleges in 2019. The campus also ranked No. 11 among public and private universities in the national university rankings, came in third among public universities, and was the third-ranked university in California.

Forbes Top 25 Public Colleges

In 2019, Forbes Magazine ranked UC Davis 88th among U.S. universities, and 22nd among the nation's public colleges for the best education for $30,000 or less. 

More than 5 million students attend the public colleges that make America's Top Colleges List. The average in-state cost of attendance for the public colleges on the America’s Top Colleges list is nearly $30,000 a year less than private colleges on the list: $25,759 compared to $57,128.

Money Magazine Best Colleges Ranking

In 2019, Money Magazine placed UC Davis fourth among public universities nationally, and fifth overall, among the 744 schools the magazine examines. The publication uses 26 factors in determining its ranking among three categories: quality of education, affordability and outcomes.

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