College of Engineering Also Earns High Marks in U.S. News 2015 Annual Best Colleges Guidebook 

SAN LUIS OBISPO - Cal Poly again has been rated the best public-master’s university in the West in the U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Colleges guidebook — the 22nd consecutive year the university has earned the badge of honor.

Cal Poly ranked 10th in the magazine’s overall list of the West’s best universities, which includes 120 public and private institutions in 15 states, that provide “a full range of undergraduate and master’s-level programs but few, if any, doctoral programs.”

U.S. News ranks colleges that grant doctoral degrees, such as those in the University of California system, in a separate category. The rankings were released Monday evening.

Among engineering programs, Cal Poly’s Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering was ranked the best in the nation. Students in these majors turning ideas into reality for such employers as Cisco Systems, Lockheed martin, Northrop Grumman, 3M and Sony.

“Cal Poly’s talented students and cutting-edge programs continue to be recognized and celebrated,” said Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong. “Our dedicated faculty and staff  — the people who provide the backbone for our Learn by Doing experience — work hard to give today’s students the tools and education they will need to becometomorrow’s innovators, inventors and community and industry leaders.

“This honor also belongs to our loyal alumni, whose generous financial and professional support continue to make a Cal Poly education one of the best in the nation.”

Cal Poly’s College of Engineering was named the seventh best master’s and bachelor’s engineering program in the country, behind three private universities — Harvey Mudd College in California, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., and the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Mass — as well as the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy.

A number of Cal Poly engineering programs  — including top-ranked Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering — also ranked high in the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs in their specialty categories. 

Electrical and Mechanical Engineering programs ranked No. 2 in their respective lists. Civil Engineering was third. Aerospace Engineering — with its patented CubeSat program that is helping create a new generation of cost-effective interplanetary space probes — and computer engineering programs ranked fourth in the nation on their respected lists.

The U.S. News rankings are available at www.usnews.com/colleges. The 2015 America’s Best Colleges Guidebook hits newsstands Sept. 23.