The U.S. News & World Report lifted USC up one spot to 27th out of over 1,700 colleges and universities when it released its 2027 Best College rankings this week. The university remains tied with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after both ranked 28th last year.
“I’m really happy that USC is moving up,” said Christa Kudaverdian, a senior studying health promotion and disease prevention studies. “I think it’s a great school. I would say it should go to No. 1.”
The university received an overall score of 81 out of 100, dropping three points from last year’s score of 84 and four points from 2025’s score of 85. Other California universities that ranked higher than USC include Stanford University, UCLA, University of California Berkeley and California Institute of Technology.
To determine its rankings, U.S. News & World Report weighs student outcomes, academic resources and expert opinions and scores colleges using up to 17 different academic metrics, according to its website. For the 2027 rankings, the publisher also measured college graduates’ earnings by major and included a new category, “best value schools.” This category weighed how well public institutions served students from their home states in terms of academics and affordability. USC came in at 101 in this category.
Annenberg Media reached out to the university for comment on the “best value schools” ranking, but USC did not reply in time for publication.
Will Tran, a sophomore studying international relations, said he wasn’t surprised about the ranking.
“Considering we’re one of the most expensive, or probably the most expensive school[s] in the U.S., I just think that the school should really just cut down costs, increase more scholarships or just pour more back into the school,” Tran said. “That would make more sense for all students.”
Nicole Kushyar, a sophomore studying computer engineering and computer science, said she thinks major, school and department rankings matter more than overall university status. USC ranked 32nd in best undergraduate engineering programs and 24th in computer science. Kushyar said she does not think the university should boast its new ranking.
“We have so much more money than the [University of California schools], and they’re ranked higher than us. It’s kind of embarrassing,” Kushyar said.
One category where USC excelled was post-graduate earnings. According to U.S. News & World Report, USC graduates have a median salary of $74,461 six years post graduation.
“I think the biggest reason why people come to USC besides the partying is the network,” Kudaverdian said. “You can get a lot out of your connections here, and most alumni are very successful and they like to give back to their school.”
Edited by Miranda Huang and Caitlin Roehmholdt.