In its 2003 ranking of colleges and universities, U.S. News and Report named San Francisco State University one of the top ten master's level universities in the Western United States for campus diversity.

SFSU tied with Holy Names College in Moraga and California State University Hayward for fourth in diversity. All three universities scored 0.67 in the magazine's diversity index, a formula which factors in the proportion of minority students -- leaving out international students -- and the mix of groups. The closer a school's number to 1.0, the more diverse the student population.

In its highly anticipated edition and newsstand book, "America's Best Colleges," which go on sale today, the magazine noted that Asian Americans made up 35 percent of student enrollment at SFSU, making the university one of the top in the country for Asian American students. Asian Americans made up 29 percent of enrollment at CSU Hayward and African Americans 35 percent of enrollment at Holy Names.

U.S. News and World Report ranked CSU Dominguez Hills, with 33 percent Latino enrollment, as the top master's level school in the West for campus diversity. The Southern California campus and City University of New York (CUNY) City College both scored the second highest diversity index ranking in the country.

Campus diversity is closely tied to enrollment, U.S. News said. "Collegebound students who believe that studying with people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds is important will want to consider student body diversity when choosing a school," reported the magazine.

Overall, SFSU ranked in the second tier of universities in the West that offer a master's degree and achieved the highest peer assessment score of universities in that group from college presidents, provosts and deans of admissions. SFSU scored 3.3 on a scale with 5.0 as the highest score.

In all, SFSU was considered among 573 universities across the country that offer a full range of master's degrees and some doctoral programs. The schools were ranked by geographic area because, in general, they tend to draw students heavily from surrounding areas, the magazine reported.