Four Dallas-Fort Worth area universities have risen through the ranks in a highly anticipated new list of the country's best universities.

Niche, an education review and ranking website, has deemed Southern Methodist University the fifth best college in Texas, down from No. 4 last year. The university receives an A+ grade in five of the 12 ranking categories, including professors, student life, and party scene. It gets an A for the academics and athletics, an A- for diversity and campus food, and B for vl and safety.

Southern Methodist University also ranked highly in other categories, including:

• No. 1 of 333 Best Christian Colleges in America
• No. 7 of 454 Best Colleges for Sports Management in America
• No. 7 of 100 Most Conservative Colleges in America

More individual rankings can be found here.

SMU regularly earns ranks on lists of the best colleges and universities in the country, including those published by Niche, Forbes, and U.S. News & World Report.

"I liked the smaller class sizes and connections I had with my professors," a student wrote in a Niche review. "The campus is pretty and the students are active in organizing and participating in extracurricular activities."

Fort Worth's Texas Christian University ranked right behind SMU as the sixth best Texas college for the third year in a row, and the second best Christian college in the U.S. TCU earned an A+ in four out of 12 categories, including athletics, student life, and campus. The school also earned an A for its academics and party scene, a B- value and safety, and a B for the campus food.

The University of North Texas in Denton made waves as the No. 7 best public university in the state, but only ranked No. 12 in the overall list of best Texas colleges. It earned an A+ for the campus food, an A in student life, diversity, and party scene, a B+ in academics, value, and professors, and a C+ for the dorms.

The University of Texas at Dallas fell from No. 9 last year into No. 14 for the best statewide colleges, but maintained its No. 9 spot in the best public universities in Texas. The university earned an A in diversity, A- in safety, B+ in academics, professors, value, and location, and a C for its athletics and party scene.

Topping Niche’s national list is Yale University, followed by Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth College.

Here are the top 10 Texas schools:

1. Rice University (Houston)
2. University of Texas at Austin
3. Texas A&M University (College Station)
4. Trinity University (San Antonio)
5. Southern Methodist University (University Park)
6. Texas Christian University (Fort Worth)
7. Texas Tech University (Lubbock)
8. University of Houston
9. University of Texas Permian Basin (Odessa)
10. Baylor University (Waco)

“Choosing where to go to college is easily one of the most significant — and expensive — decisions of a person’s life. Niche’s mission is to ensure that every college-bound student has access to easy, transparent and free resources … to help them find their best fit,” Luke Skurman, founder and CEO of Niche, says in a news release.

-----

A version of this article originally ran on our sister site InnovationMap.