Santa Clara ranked among nation's best
In its annual ranking, "America's Best Colleges 2011," U.S. News & World Report ranked Santa Clara University second overall among 115 master's universities in the West. SCU's average undergraduate graduation rate, 85 percent, was the third highest in the country among 572 national master's level universities.
Additionally, Santa Clara's School of Engineering was ranked number 17 among U.S. engineering schools where the highest degree awarded is a bachelor's or master's.Last year, the School of Engineering was ranked number 19. Other engineering schools in the top 20 are Harvey Mudd College (Calif.), The United States Air Force Academy (Colo.), and Franklin Olin College of Engineering (Mass.).
The survey compared Santa Clara with other similarly comprehensive universities offering a full range of undergraduate programs and master's degrees but few doctoral programs. The Western region includes master's level colleges and universities from Colorado to the West Coast, including Texas. Other schools in the top ten master's universities in the West are Gonzaga University, Seattle University, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
The magazine's rankings were based on academic reputation, graduation rates, class size, percent of full-time faculty, student/faculty ratios, retention of students, student test scores and grades, student selectivity, financial resource, and alumni giving.
The "Best Colleges" rankings can be found on the U.S. News website: www.usnews.com.