American universities dominated the 2014 Academic Ranking of World Universities, with UC Berkeley coming in first among public universities, followed closely by UCLA, UC San Diego and UC San Francisco.
UC’s mix of academic excellence, research prowess and its commitment to social mobility propel its campuses to the top of many college ranking lists.
About 42 percent of UC undergraduates are the first in their families to attend college, and about 40 percent are eligible for Pell Grants, the federal financial aid program for students from families with annual incomes of $55,000 or less. Other selective public universities average 22 percent low-income students, and selective private universities average 16 percent, according to UC’s annual Accountability Report, which was released in July.
Many of those students are contributing to the five inventions a day that UC produces and to the research that helped launch 70 startup California companies in 2014.
