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The U.S. News and World Report has unveiled its highly anticipated 2024 Best Colleges in Texas undergraduate rankings, a comprehensive assessment that scrutinizes various critical metrics, including academic excellence, graduate indebtedness and student retention, across a multitude of colleges.
In this extensive evaluation encompassing 87 public and private institutions, Rice University in Houston emerges as a notable standout, securing an impressive #1 ranking. It finds itself in distinguished company, with the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University in College Station and Southern Methodist University in Dallas trailing behind.
Texas boasts a diverse landscape of higher education institutions, clustered in prominent cities such as Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, Corpus Christi and the state capital, Austin. Notably, the state is home to massive institutions like the University of Texas—Austin and Texas A&M University—College Station, both enrolling approximately 40,000 undergraduate students. Alongside these research giants, Texas accommodates a variety of midsize colleges, small liberal arts institutions and esteemed private colleges and universities.
SMU proudly shares its national rank of #89 with esteemed institutions like Temple University in Philadelphia, Fordham University in New York and the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Texas Christian University (TCU) closely follows SMU, securing a commendable #6 ranking. TCU finds itself in the esteemed company of other colleges sharing a national rank of #98, including the University of Oregon, Rutgers University-Camden and the University of San Diego.
The University of Texas at Dallas also makes a mark, claiming the #7 position and joining the ranks of universities nationwide with a #115 standing.
Notably, the University of Texas at Austin continues to assert its dominance as the premier public college in Texas, ascending to #9 nationally among public institutions. The institution's four-year trajectory has been one of steady ascent, climbing six spots from its previous #38 ranking to now occupy the #32 spot among both public and private universities.