University of California-Davis was established in 1905. It was originally founded as a farm school for UC-Berkeley and it is one of 10 schools in the University of California (UC) system. University of California Davis offers a wide range of academic options within its UG, PG, and other professional programs through it's schools, colleges. The University of California Davis is considered one of the best institutions to study in the USA. UC-Davis has very impressive national and international rankings competing with other top-notch institutions.

  • University of California Davis has ranked 67th in global universities ranking 2022 conducted by Times Higher Education.
  • US news also placed the University of California Davis at 67th position in International Universities rankings 2022. UC Davis has the International Research Reputation ranking of 44th among all global universities, according to US news.
  • In QS World University Rankings 2023, the University of California Davis is placed at 102th position.
  • US News also highlighted UC Davis at rank 16 among the “Top performers on social mobility” in the US.⁸

University of California - Davis: Ranking Highlights

Various ranking agencies consider different factors while ranking of the universities. Some major factors include quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty and research performance. Rankings allotted to University of California Davis by some major ranking agencies include:

Ranking agency Ranks
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Rankings 2023 102
US news & World report 2022 67
Times Higher Education 2022 67
ARWU 2021 100
CWUR 2022 52
Webometrics 2022 36

Other Major Rankings

  • About 20 graduate schools from University of California Davis are placed in the Top 50 graduate schools all over the United States.
  • University of California Davis has a Regional research reputation ranking of 34 and secured 44th rank in Global research reputation ranking conducted by US news.
  • It is ranked 48th as Best business school in US and 39th in Best educational school. In THE world reputation rankings, UC Davis placed at 48th rank in teaching and research in 2019 among all global universities.

University of California Davis: QS Rankings 2023

For the year 2023, QS World University Rankings placed the University of California Davis at 102th rank with an overall score of 58.2. The Global University rank has been increased by 6 places from 2022 as it was ranked 108th in QS Global rankings 2022.

The criteria for QS 2023 ranking are as follows:

Criteria Score
Academic reputation 64.8
Employer reputation 51
Faculty student 27.1
Citations per faculty 68.7
International faculty 84.7
International students 70.2
Overall score 58.2

University of California Davis ranked No. 2 in Veterinary Sciences and Agriculture & Forestry globally, according to QS WUR Subject Ranking for 2022. Graduate Employability Rank ranging between 171-180 consistently for 4 years in a row, from 2019 up to 2022.

University of California Davis Rankings: Times Higher Education 2022

University of California Davis has ranked 67th in Global universities ranking 2022 conducted by Times Higher Education. UC Davis has THE Global score of 67.9 for 2022 in global rankings. Here, University of California Davis dipped down by 3 positions as in 2021, it had the World University ranking of 64.

University of California Davis had 47th position in THE World Reputation Rank 2021.

The parameters on which the ranks are allotted are:

Parameters Score
Teaching 58.8
Research 64.6
Citations 81.5
Industry income 50.7
International outlook 68.9
Overall score 67.9

University of California Davis : US news Rankings 2022

US News & World report placed University of California Davis at 67th position with an overall score of 74 in US news Global Universities Rankings 2022.

UC Davis has the Global Research Reputation ranking at 44th position among all global universities, according to the US news & World report.

13 indicators were used to calculate the University of California Davis's overall Best Global Universities rank:

Ranking indicators Rank Weightage
Global research reputation 44 12.5%
Regional research reputation 34 12.5%
Publications 62 10%
Books 93 2.5%
Global research reputation Conferences 235 2.5%
Normalized citation impact 342 10%
Total citations 61 7.5%
Number of publications that are among the 10% most cited 59 12.5%
Percentage of total publications that are among the 10% most cited 239 10%
International collaboration – relative to country 227 5%
International collaboration 781 5%
Number of highly cited papers that are among the top 1% most cited in their respective field 77 5%
Percentage of total publications that are among the top 1% most highly cited papers 388 5%
Global score 74 ---

The actual numbers have shown UC Davis students as a whole graduate, at a higher rate than its models predict; “Students have an 87% six-year graduation rate, compared to US News’ predicted rate of 80%.” According to US news, These students also rank as some of the most ethnically diverse in the nation and are among those with the least federal student loan debt at graduation.⁸

University of California Davis : CWUR Rankings 2022

Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) placed University of California Davis at the 52nd World rank with an overall score of 84.5.

CWUR uses seven objective and robust indicators to rank the world's universities:

Parameters Rank
Quality of Education rank 97
Alumni Employment rank 567
Quality of faculty rank 65
Research performance rank 46
Overall score 84.5
National Rank 31
World Rank 52

University of California Davis: Webometrics 2022 Rankings

In Webometrics Rankings for 2022, University of California Davis secured the World rank of 36.

The various indicators followed by Webometrics while ranking the University of California Davis are:

Criteria Rank
Excellence 63
Impact 36
Openness 31
Continental Rank 30
World Rank 36

Webometrics is an international ranking agency. It is continuously researching for improving the ranking, changing or evolving the indicators and the weighting model to provide a better classification.

University of California Davis : National Rankings

According to Times Higher Education's US Universities rankings 2022, UC Davis has secured 40th position with the overall score of 77.1.

  • In QS Top Universities rankings 2021, University of California Davis is ranked 34th Best university in USA with an overall score of 58.7
  • US news & World report placed University of California Davis at 38th rank in National University Rankings 2022.
  • It has an overall score of 74 out of 100 in US news National Universities Rankings. It is ranked 10th among all public universities in the USA.

National Rankings proposed by various ranking agencies for University of California Davis are as:

Ranking agencies Rank
QS National Rankings 2021 34
Times Higher Education US Rankings 2022 40
US news & World report National Rankings 2022 38
CWUR National Rankings 2022 31
ARWU National Rankings 2021 40
Webometrics US Rankings 2022 28

University of California Davis : Subject Rankings

University of California Davis has very good International rankings in various subjects. About 20 programs offered by University of California Davis are placed in the top 100 in US news global subject-specific rankings 2021.

US News & World report predicted subject-wise global rankings for 2022 and UC Davis excelled in various subjects by securing global ranks such as:

Subjects Rank
Plant & Animal Science 1
Agricultural sciences 7
Environment and Ecology 21
Psychiatry and Psychology 25
Biotechnology and Applied microbiology 31
Microbiology 31
Biology and Biochemistry 33
Molecular Biology and Genetics 49
Space science 61
Civil engineering 66

University of California Davis is the best institution in the world to study Veterinary Sciences as it has the QS World subject-wise ranking at #2 in Veterinary Sciences and US news subject-wise international ranking at 1st position in Animal and Plant Sciences.

Apart from outstanding global subject rankings, various graduate schools of University of California Davis have impressive national rankings in the USA. These rankings were taken by US news and some graduate schools from UC Davis performed as:

Graduate schools Rank
Veterinary medicine 1
Ecology / Evolutionary biology 2
Biological / Agricultural engineering 2
Family medicine 7
Medical school for Primary care 8
Fine arts programs 15
Biological science 17
Public health 19
English 20
Political Science 28

About 20 graduate schools from University of California Davis are placed in Top 50 graduate schools all over the United States.

University of California Davis : Comparison with the Other Universities

Represented below is the comparison of the University of California Davis with Boston University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Parameter University of California Davis Boston University Georgia Institute of Technology
Global Rank 67 65 58
National Rank 38 42 38
School type Public Private Public
Average Alumni starting salary $57,600 $57,500 $70,100
Total undergraduate enrollment 30,982 17,983 15,964
4 year Graduation rate 63% 84% 46%
Tuition fees $44,407 US $58,072 US $33,794 US
Setting City Urban Urban

With acceptance rate is 41% making it easier to get admission at University of California Davis compared with other top-notch institutions. The university is named as the only institution to earn the Platinum Institutional Award for Global Learning, Research and Engagement 2020 from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU).

As the highest honor from APLU’s Commission on International Initiatives, the award recognizes University of California Davis institutional achievement in developing and implementing comprehensive and inclusive strategies across global learning, research and engagement. Chancellor of UC Davis, Mr. Gary S. May said that, “Our students make UC Davis a better place in many ways, and these accolades reinforce what we already know about their drive and intelligence.”