Founded over half a century ago, the University of California, San Diego is a top-notch institution subjected to global rankings such as #19 in ARWU, #28 in the US News rankings, and #34 as per both CWUR and Times Higher Education. In the course of last 5 years, the University of California San Diego rankings position has reached above #60 for the first time in the QS Rankings 2024.

University of California, San Diego is an academically dominant university as a plethora of its courses have been placed among the top 20 courses in the world. Such subjects include ‘Biotechnology’, ‘Mechanical Engineering’, ‘Oceanography’, ‘Political Sciences, etc. Furthermore, it has been recognized as the sixth-best public school by US News.

Check Out: UCSD Ranking (Spanish)

University of California, San Diego Rankings: World Ranking Trends

Here’s a table demonstrating the overall ranking trends of the University of California, San Diego contributing to its reputation over the last 5 years:-

University of California, San Diego Rankings: World Ranking Trends

Ranking Body 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
QS Rankings #45 #54 #48 #53 #62
US News National University Rankings #19 #21 #21 #20
CWUR #27 #34 #34 #34
THE Rankings #31 #33 #34 #32 #34
Shanghai Rankings #18 #21 #19

University of California, San Diego Rankings: Engineering Rankings

The US News has recently placed University of California, San Diego among the top 20 institutions for undergraduate engineering programs. In addition to this, Shanghai Rankings have ranked 7 such courses below #50 rank in its current list. The precise rankings over the period of last 4 years is provided in the table below:-

Ranking Body Program Ranking 2024 Ranking 2023 Ranking 2022 Ranking 2021

QS World Subject Rankings

Computer Science and Information Systems #44 #41 #53
Chemical Engineering #87 #85 #101-150
Civil and Structural Engineering #51-100 #51-100 #51-100
Mechanical Engineering #74 #68 #91
Electrical and Electronic Engineering #29 #30 #41
Engineering and Technology #45 #61 #60

Shanghai Rankings

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology #51-75 #51-75 #51-75
Biotechnology #11 #6 #6
Computer Science and Engineering #51-75 #51-75 #51-75
Biomedical Engineering #44 #33 #25
Materials Science and Engineering #45 #28 #24
Telecommunication Engineering #49 #37 #151-200
Environmental Science and Technology #101-150 #101-150 #101-150
Instrument Science and Technology #201-300 #101-150 #51-75
Mechanical Engineering #17 #8 #8
Chemical Engineering #301-400 #301-400 #301-400
Automation and Control #29 #26 #24
Metallurgical Engineering #43 #51-75 #51-75
Electrical and Electronic Engineering #101-150 #39 #34

THE Rankings

Computer Science and Engineering #36 #33 #33 #37
Engineering and Technology #41 #37 #31 #40

University of California, San Diego Rankings: Natural Science Courses

University of California, San Diego is a premier institute for Natural Science as a number of its courses occupy the topmost positions in the leading ranking lists. For instance, Shanghai Rankings has crowned the university first among other institutions offering Oceanography courses. For more details, refer to the table below:-

Ranking Body Program Ranking 2024 Ranking 2023 Ranking 2022 Ranking 2021

Shanghai Rankings

Earth Sciences #6 #5 #5
Geography #201-300 #151-200 #201-300
Physics #51-75 #76-100 #76-100
Atmospheric Sciences #11 #11 #10
Oceanography #1 #1 #2
Ecology #151-200 #151-200 #151-200
Chemistry #38 #33 #28
Mathematics #45 #31 #43

QS World Subject Rankings

Biological Sciences #9 #8 #10
Psychology #44 #50 #50
Geology #18 #12 #15
Physics and Astronomy #55 #50 #53
Natural Science #33 #36 #34
Environmental Sciences #83 #78 #101-150
Chemistry #31 #36 #51
Earth and Marine Sciences #19 #12 #17

THE Rankings

Psychology #39 #33 #32 #36
Physical Sciences #39 #33 #38 #42
Life Sciences #24 #15 #17 #15

University of California, San Diego Rankings: Medical Science Rankings

The US news has ranked University of California, San Diego’s ‘Biomedical Science’ program at #8 in its recent rankings. Furthermore, its ‘Pharmacy and Pharmacology’ courses have been maintaining a position between #10-20 in QS World Subject Rankings since 2021.

Ranking Body Program Ranking 2024 Ranking 2023 Ranking 2022 Ranking 2021

QS World Subject Rankings

Medicine #20 #22 #26
Pharmacy and Pharmacology #13 #10 #20

Shanghai Rankings

Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences #29 #5 #3
Medical Technology #39 #32 #24
Clinical Medicine #51-75 #51-75 #50
Public Health #37 #51-75 #51-75
THE Rankings Clinical, pre-clinical, and health #27 #29 #31 #30

University of California, San Diego Rankings: Business Courses

University of California, San Diego’s b-schools caters to various top-ranked business-related programs including ‘Economics’ which have been ranked at #19 in QS World Subject Rankings and at #16 in Shanghai Rankings. Similar courses and their corresponding ranking trends featured in the top ranking lists are given as follows:-

Ranking Body Program Ranking 2024 Ranking 2023 Ranking 2022 Ranking 2021

QS World Subject Rankings

Business and Management Studies #201-250 #201-250 #201-250
Accounting and Finance #101-150 #101-150 #151-200
Economics and Econometrics #19 #19 #20
THE Rankings Business and Economics #33 #31 #32 #27

Shanghai Rankings

Management #201-300 #201-300 #201-300
Finance #76-100 #101-150
Economics #16 #17 #18

University of California, San Diego Rankings: Humanities Courses

The University of California, San Diego is highly renowned for academic programs across the stream of humanities. Some of its top courses include ‘Political Science’, ‘Education’, and many more such as:-

Ranking Body Program Ranking 2024 Ranking 2023 Ranking 2022 Ranking 2021

Shanghai Rankings

Education #49 #101-150 #101-150
Political Sciences #12 #11 #12
Communication #201-300 #201-300 #201-300
Sociology #101-150 #76-100 #51-75
Law #101-150 #76-100 #101-150

QS World Subject Rankings

Modern Languages #101-150 #94 #101-150
Sociology #101-150 #91 #101-150
Communication and Media Studies #101-150 #101-150 #101-150
Arts and Design #101-150 #101-150 #101-150
Education and Training #101-150 #101-150 #101-150
Politics #22 #23 #16
Social Sciences and Management #86 #95 #95
Arts and Humanities #93 #104 #88
Philosophy #101-150 #51-100 #51-100
Linguistics #36 #41 #41
English Language and Literature #101-150 #84 #78

THE Rankings

Education #46 #59 #80 #84
Social Sciences #48 #45 #41 #38
Arts and Humanities #70 #69 #69 #58

US News Subject Rankings

The following table caters to the latest ranking of the University of California, San Diego’s subjects as per the US News:-

Subject Rankings 2022-23
Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs #19
Biomedical Science #8
Artificial Intelligence #11
Biotechnology #2
Data Science #11
Computer Science #11

University of California, San Diego Rankings: Miscellaneous

University of California, San Diego has proved its mettle in various sectors of education which is evident from the following miscellaneous rankings:-

Ranking Body Parameter Ranking 2022-23

QS WUR

Sustainability Ranking #349
QS WUR By Subject #101-150

US News

National Universities #28
Top Public Schools #6
Best Value Schools #182
Best Colleges for Veterans #12
Most Innovative Schools #58
Top Performers on Social Mobility #31

THE World University Rankings

World University Rankings #34
World Reputation Rankings 2022 #29
US Rankings 2022 #43

CWUR

National Rank #22
Employability Rank #1620
Research Rank #19
Education Rank #118
Faculty Rank #13

As per the Forbe’s list, University of California, San Diego ranks at #21 among the top colleges and at #19 among the research institutions. On the other hand, Niche rankings have placed it among the top 20 IT colleges, pubic universities and universities for ‘public health’ in the USA.