U.S. News Ranks CPP Engineering Among Best in Nation

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Students celebrating during the College of Engineering 2018 graduation.
Students celebrating during the College of Engineering 2018 graduation.

U.S. News has ranked Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Engineering No. 11 among the “Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs” in its “2021 Best College Rankings.” Pomona tied for No. 11 with the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, among the 220 schools where the highest engineering degree offered is a bachelor’s or master’s.

Rankings for Cal Poly Pomona’s individual engineering programs:

  • No. 2 Industrial / Manufacturing
  • No. 3 in Aerospace / Aeronautical / Astronautical
  • No. 4 in Computer (tie)
  • No. 6 Civil
  • No. 8 Mechanical (rising from No. 12 the year in last year’s ranking)
  • No. 8 in Electrical /Electronic / Communication (tie)

According to U.S. News, “the undergraduate engineering program rankings were based solely on peer assessment surveys from dean and senior faculty at peer institutions. Two peer assessment surveys were sent to each Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology-accredited engineering program.

CPP’s College of Engineering offers 11 undergraduate programs and seven graduate programs, and awards more than 1,200 bachelor’s degrees and over 130 master’s degrees each year.

The senior capstone projects add to the hands-on experience students have in many classes. Highlights of 2020 projects include an aerospace engineering student winning first in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 2019-20 Space Systems Design Competition; and a civil engineering student placing first in seismic performance at the international Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) seismic design competition.

U.S. News rated Cal Poly Pomona as a whole No. 2 among “Top Public Schools Regional Universities – West” and tied for No. 10 in the “2021 Best Regional Universities – West,” rising from No. 14.

The university was also noted as one of the “Most Innovative Schools,” at No. 3, and was listed at No. 5 as a “Top Performer on Social Mobility” and tied for No. 8  in the region for “Best Undergraduate Teaching” and among “Top Performers on Social Mobility.”

This year’s U.S. News & World Report formula for “Top Public Schools” in the west is based 35 percent on outcomes and social mobility, 20 percent on undergraduate academic reputation, and 20 percent on faculty resources, which examined class size, student-faculty ratio, faculty salary and percentage of faculty with a terminal degree. Also included in the analysis were financial resources per student (10 percent), student excellence and selectivity (7 percent), graduate debt (5 percent) and average alumni giving (3 percent).