This marked the third straight year Fresno State has appeared in the magazine's top 25. It's a different type of list. One which looked not just at academics but also public service, educational value, and impact on low-income families.
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When it comes to educational value, Fresno State is regarded as one of the best colleges in the country.
Harvard, Stanford, and MIT topped the Washington Monthly list but Fresno State was ranked 24th - behind Dartmouth and ahead of Michigan. The magazine considered social mobility, research, and public service.
Senior Hannah Washburn was not surprised by her school's ranking. Washburn said, "I like it because all my professors are really willing to help me and prompt me to do more research and see what I'm interested in and do all the things that I actually want to do."
University President Joseph Castro called the ranking a great point of pride. Fresno State was the only CSU campus to make the list.
Castro said, "The company that we're in is really amazing. Most of those universities charge a lot more money to attend their institution."
Seventy percent of the students at Fresno State are the first in their families to attend college.
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The ranking criteria also included community service such as volunteer work done by the Mu Chi Omega fraternity.
Ag Business Major Adrian Reyes said, "We help out the community of Latinos, try to make immigrants become successful members of society so we do a couple of events and go help out kids."
Castro believed the consistent ranking has helped raise the school's profile. This semester about 6,000 students was accepted out of a record 29,000-plus applications.
He explained, "I think these rankings are good signals. They don't tell the whole story but they tell an important part of the story and for us, the story is we really are focused on the success of all students from all different backgrounds."
Fresno State ranked 17th on the Washington Monthly list last year. This year schools like North Carolina and UC Irvine moved into the top 20.