Ivy League institutions dominate the top spots of this year's Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings. But when it comes to rankings for diversity alone, public universities lead the way.
The eight private universities traditionally known as the Ivy League are all among the top 15 schools overall. The rankings are based on 15 factors in four categories: 40 percent of the score is tied to student outcomes; 30 percent to academic resources; 20 percent to student engagement; and 10 percent to the learning environment, including diversity of the student body and academic staff. (Find overall rankings here.)
To evaluate the learning environment specifically, WSJ/THE analyzed colleges' percentage of Pell Grant recipients, the racial and ethnic diversity of students and staff, and the proportion of students who come from abroad.
The following schools received the highest scores for diversity. The list includes several ties:
1. La Sierra University (Riverside, Calif.)
2. University of California, Irvine
California State University, Northridge
3. California State University, Long Beach
4. University of Massachusetts, Boston
Rutgers University, Newark
San Francisco State University
5. California State University, East Bay
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
CUNY City College of New York
New York Institute of Technology
San Jose (Calif.) State University
6. University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Davis
University of Illinois at Chicago
CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College (New York)
California State University, Fresno
7. University of California, San Diego
University of San Francisco
CUNY Hunter College (New York)
California State University, Fullerton
University of Houston-Downtown
8. California College of the Arts (San Francisco and Oakland)
California State University, Bakersfield
California State University, Monterey Bay
9. University of California, Riverside
California State University, San Marcos
10. Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago)
Stony Brook (N.Y.) University
University of St. Thomas (Houston)
CUNY Queens College (New York)
NOVA Southeastern University (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
California State University, Sacramento
Other key takeaways from the WSJ/THE analysis:
- Only two of the schools ranked in the top 10 for environment are private.
- Harvard University came in No. 1 in the overall ranking and at No. 120 on environment.
- La Sierra came in No. 1 for environment but does not fall among the top 400 on outcomes, which measures things like graduation rates, earnings and student debt levels.