QS ranking profile
University of California, Davis
This page presents clearly labeled QS ranking data for orientation. It does not verify programs, supervisors, funding, admission requirements, or the university's website.
- QS 2026 rank
- #114
- Up 16 places since 2025
- QS 2025 rank
- #130
- Overall score
- 66.3
Explore opportunities at University of California, Davis
Browse active research positions, doctoral fellowships, and university funding calls indexed from official faculties and verified sources.
QS indicators
Reported ranking indicators
Each indicator is scored out of 100 in the same QS snapshot as the summary above.
#125 worldwide
#146 worldwide
#675 worldwide
#237 worldwide
#250 worldwide
#327 worldwide
#298 worldwide
#165 worldwide
#457 worldwide
#174 worldwide
Institution profile
How QS classifies this institution
QS groups institutions by size, subject range, and research output.
- Size
- Extra large
- More than 30,000 students
- Subject range
- Focused
- Teaches a limited range of faculty areas
- Research intensity
- Very high
- Very high research output in the QS classification
- Region
- Americas
- QS regional grouping
University profile
About University of California, Davis
Editorial background written for orientation. Verify programs, funding, and admission on the university's official pages.
A research environment spread across colleges and specialised units
University of California, Davis presents academic work through 10 colleges and schools, alongside graduate study and a range of professional schools. Its research pages also point to interdisciplinary research units, clinical research, libraries, museums, collections, and research partnerships. This is useful context for a STEM applicant because a broad question may have more than one potential academic home. A project involving environment, health, food systems, engineering, data, or life sciences may connect to a department as well as to a centre or specialised facility. Begin by identifying the degree-bearing unit, then read related research resources to see the context surrounding that unit.
The university highlights several named research settings, including the Bodega Marine Laboratory, Tahoe Environmental Research Center, McClellan Nuclear Research Center, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, and UC Davis Institute of the Environment. These examples help show the variety of settings associated with campus research. They should not be treated as a list of resources available to every student or programme. A centre becomes relevant only when its current work, faculty relationships, or research themes connect clearly to the academic route you are considering.
Use research units to test an interdisciplinary question
UC Davis describes research activity that involves laboratories, clinical settings, research units, and partnerships. That can be especially helpful when your interests do not fit neatly into one discipline. Use the university's research structure to ask where a problem is actually studied. Is it located in a department, a graduate group, a centre, a professional school, or several connected places? Then follow the evidence to the people and projects involved. A shared subject word is not enough; the important point is whether the research setting makes the proposed work more precise and realistic.
When a named institute looks relevant, read its current pages beside the programme information. The institute may help explain the context of a research problem, while the programme describes the academic route through which that work would be developed. Look for a visible connection between them, such as a faculty affiliation, a method, a project theme, an active facility, or a field site. If the connection cannot be described plainly, treat it as a possible lead rather than an established match. This approach keeps a research comparison grounded in what the university actually shows.
Build a UC Davis entry that supports a real comparison
Create a short record for each University of California, Davis option you want to keep. Name the academic programme or unit, identify the research setting that is directly relevant, and explain the connection to your preparation. You may draw on a thesis, coding experience, laboratory work, field research, an analytical method, or a problem encountered in professional practice. The note should make clear why this option differs from another university with a similar subject area. Specific evidence will also help you identify what remains unclear and where to look next.
Review the current programme, department, and research-unit material before moving beyond the research stage. Institutional pages can show the scale and variety of UC Davis, but the detailed route for a particular question will be maintained closer to the relevant academic home. The QS figures above are a labelled institution-level data point. They cannot assess a particular centre, programme, or research relationship. A well-supported shortlist decision rests on the current local evidence that links your question to the place where the work is being done.