These Are California's Best Colleges for 2026

These are California's best colleges for 2026

UCLA and UC Berkeley were ranked the nation's top two public schools in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges list.

UC Merced gains ground on 2026 U.S. News Best Colleges report. See how Valley universities ranked

Reading Time: 2 minutes UC Merced‘s Bobcats can take pride in the latest U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges Report, as the university continues to make progress in key rankings. The 20-year-old campus is now ranked No. 57 among universities in the nation, climbing up a spot from last year’s overall rankings, and three spots from the No. 60 ranking in 2023. Additionally, this year UC Merced scored: No. 3 in the nation in the category of so…