Cal Poly is being recognized again as California's best public-master's university in California by the annual Forbes list of top colleges.
The university also ranked in the top 25 public and private universities in the West.
Cal Poly rose to number 24 in the ranking, up from 37 last year.
Cal Poly ranked 115th overall among the 650 public and private universities in the United States ranked in the 12th annual America's Top College's list. The top five schools this year are Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT and Princeton.
Cal Poly ranked seventh among California public universities behind six University of California campuses.
Forbes listed also Cal Poly as the 28th best public university in the nation.
Forbes say the goal of their rankings is to measure quality of education, student experience, post-graduate success and financial well-being.
The magazine uses metrics such as student debt, retention and graduation rates, student satisfaction and graduate earning power.
According to Cal Poly, graduates earn an average starting salary of more than $65,000 per year. The university says that rises to an average of almost $120,000 for alumni who are more than 10 years into their career.