Last time I checked it was above UCD, UCSD, and only behind UCB UCLA and UCSB. (in the UCs)
Maybe because it’s a good school?
It’s California, they don’t have enough schools for all the students so they all are selective, which in turn leads to better students attending, which leads to better outcomes and so on. Plus its in the UC system which is considered “better” than the CSU system. All the UC schools also benefit from being in the same system at UCB so you get a bump much like the Ivies get a bump for being associated with HYP.
Look more carefully. Actually, the current USN&WR rankings say that there is hardly any difference between UCI and UCSB, UCSD, or UCD.
USN&WR assigns an “Overall Score” (out of 100) to every school. The Overall Scores for the UCs, as shown in the current rankings, are as follows:
78 UCB
75 UCLA
65 UCSB
64 UCI
63 UCD, UCSD
53 UCSC
44 UCR
37 UCM
Any difference of less than 1 point is considered insignificant by USN&WR (and results in ties). UCI is just 1 point different from USCB, UCD, or UCSD, which is the tiniest possible difference that USN&WR claims to discern.
You perceived the difference as larger, because you made the (common) mistake of just looking at the ranking number, instead of the overall score. There are lots of other schools (including non-UCs) that are tied at overall score levels of 63 to 65. So a tiny, 1-point difference in overall score leads to an exaggerated, not-so-tiny difference in ranking.
Suppose your GPA was 3.95 and your classmate’s GPA was 3.97. In reality, of course, this represents very little difference in overall academic performance. But let’s say that there are lots of other students in your class with GPAs of 3.95 to 3.97. In that case, a 0.01 or 0.02 difference in GPA will make a much larger difference in terms of your class ranking.
Two years ago in 2105 it’s:
37 UCSD (65)
38 UCD (64)
40 UCSB (63)
42 UCI (62)
Last year 2016 it’s
37 UCSB (63)
39 UCSD/I (62)
41 UCD (61)
Before 2105 UCSD had been actually a few more spots ahead of the rest, which had been a very close threesome. If you look at the academic assessment and SAT range even this year UCSD is still above the other three. But UCSD’s % of large class sizes in recent years are dragging its ranking down. One has to look at each subcategory’s scores to understand what caused the minor change up and down and what that means.
And now it’s ranked #8 for best value colleges beating all the other UC’s(except UCLA and UCB).
https://www.forbes.com/pictures/lmh45eedhm/8-university-of-califor/#547ac65b6d64
https://news.uci.edu/feature/forbes-ranks-uci-8th-in-nation-for-best-value/