Just a few weeks into the fall semester, San Jose State University earned a spot among the top ranked colleges in the nation, according to a major newspaper.
The Wall Street Journal scored a total of 500 colleges based on three factors: student outcomes, learning environment and diversity. The ranking placed San Jose State at number 16, just after Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and one slot ahead of the prestigious University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
Student outcomes were determined by salary impact, years to pay off the net price of attending that college and graduation rate impact. The evaluation of a school’s learning environment was based off five subcategories: learning opportunities, preparation for career, learning facilities, recommendation score and character score. A school’s diversity score was affected by inclusion of students with disabilities and students from low-income families.
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San Jose state placed 173rd in the Wall Street Journal’s “2024 Best Colleges in the U.S.” list — leading to a meteoric rise of 157 spots in the 2025 list. San Jose State was also ranked fourth-best public university in the U.S. and third-best public school in California according to the listings.
“San José State is a premier public university in the country, and we are thrilled this ranking highlights what many Spartans already know — SJSU prepares students to succeed as graduates and transform their lives,” SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson said in a statement. “We are the anchor institution of the Epicenter of the Future here in Silicon Valley, and our tremendous students, faculty, staff, alumni and community deserve the credit for making this university a world-class institution.”
Other Bay Area schools ranked highly in the list, as well. UC Berkeley ranked eighth, UC Davis earned 12th place, and UC Merced was ranked 18th. Santa Clara University made the list in the 38th spot. San Francisco State University placed in the ranking at 66 and University of San Francisco narrowly missed the top 25 percent of the list at No. 130.
As expected, Ivy League schools and other prestigious private universities topped the chart. Princeton University was listed as the top school in the country, according to the WSJ criteria, while Stanford University made third place, Yale came in fourth, MIT placed sixth and Harvard was listed as seventh by the Wall Street Journal.