Here we present the California Universities in The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2015.
These rankings are based on reputation, rather than weighting performance in a set of criteria. They were based on surveying 10,507 experts in academic subjects, who then named no more than the top ten Universities in their fields. Their opinions on research and teaching were then weighted 2:1. The attached scores were then on their choice for the best in their field. That accounts for the fact that Harvard was scored 100.0, but UC Berkeley was rated 60.0 and UCLA 18.9. There is no other real way that Harvard could be equal to five UCLAs (my alma mater). In the first place score, the 50th rank University only had a score of 5.3. This is very much like the US football polls, where coaches vote points, as well as select their choice for the first place top team. Only one to three teams get any first place votes, whereas many teams get a lot of ranking points. Past the 50th ranking, Universities are only placed in groups of 10, down to the rank of 100, and no scores are given for these groups.
Here, we give a list of the top 10, and then just list the rankings and scores of the California Universities. The full list is at http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2015/reputation-ranking
| Reputation Rank | University | First Place Score |
| 1 | Harvard U. | 100.0 |
| 2 | U. of Cambridge (UK) | 84.3 |
| 3 | U. of Oxford (UK) | 80.4 |
| 4 | MIT | 77.8 |
| 5 | Stanford U. | 72.1 |
| 6 | UC Berkeley | 60.0 |
| 7 | Princeton U. | 35.0 |
| 8 | Yale U. | 33.1 |
| 9 | Caltech | 24.1 |
| 10 | Columbia U. | 21.0 |
| 13 | UCLA | 18.9 |
| 38 tie | UC San Francisco | 6.4 |
| 41 | UC San Diego | 6.3 |
| 44 | UC Davis | 6.0 |
| 61-70 group | UC Santa Barbara | |
| 61-70 group | USC |
While East Coast newspapers are writing many articles about their Ivy League Universities, and how tough it is to get into them, from a California perspective, we have 3 Universities in the top 10, and 9 Universities in the top 100 by reputation. 26 of the top 50 Universities are in the United States, and 43 of the top 100. Next in line in countries is the United Kingdom with 12 out of the top 100. Stanford University and UC Berkeley have high status with Harvard among first choice votes scores. Caltech and UCLA also show up significantly in first place votes in the various fields.
While UC Irvine did not show up in the reputation rankings, it has a distinct position in The Times Top 100 Universities Under 50 years old. In the 2014 rankings, UC Irvine ranked 7th worldwide, and 1st in the United States. UC Santa Cruz was 11th worldwide, and 2nd in the United States. So with California’s 9 Universities in the top 100 by reputation, you could include 2 more young UCs. UC Irvine ranked tied for 88th in the 2014-15 Times World University Rankings, which are objectively based on performance indicators.
California Universities welcome out-of-state students. (In my opinion, we have much better weather any time of year than the East Coast Universities. If you like snow, we have much higher mountains to ski down.)
