college ranking news

SMU declared No. 1 university in Dallas-Fort Worth in new 2027 ranking

Go Mustangs!

SMU/Facebook

Education ranking and review website Niche has released its 2027 rankings of the best colleges in the U.S., and Southern Methodist University leads as the No. 1 best university in Dallas-Fort Worth and the sixth best in Texas.

Niche's annual rankings compared over 4,000 colleges and universities based on their academics, value, student life, career preparation, and more. Schools receive letter grades across 14 metrics, which were expanded this year to include Student Wellness and Future Readiness.

Also new to this year's rankings, Niche implemented an "Institutional Success Score" that "places every college into one of 10 mission-based categories" and compared each school against "outcomes aligned with that mission," which included research institutions, social mobility-focused colleges, and religious institutions, among others.

Among the Best Christian Colleges, SMU ranks 5th in the U.S., and it is the 67th best private university in America.

SMU rival Texas Christian University in Fort Worth ranks three spots behind SMU as the eighth best Christian college and slightly lower on the national list of private universities, at No. 81.

In the overall ranking of the Best Colleges in America for 2027, SMU ranks 118th and TCU comes in at No. 142.

SMU also received the following top-100 rankings:

No. 58 – Best Greek Life Colleges
No. 62 – Best College Locations
No. 68 – Best College Campuses
No. 71 – Top Party Schools
No. 72 – Colleges With the Best Student Life
No. 80 – Colleges With the Best Professors
No. 99 – Best Colleges for Student Athletes

Also on the local front, University of Texas at Dallas ranked a respectable No. 13 in the Texas-wide list, and it ranked as the 219th best university in the U.S. It fared better in the nationwide list of the Best Big Colleges, appearing at No. 74.

Top education institutions across Texas
Four other Texas universities outside Dallas-Fort Worth excelled on Niche's list of the 100 Best Colleges in America.

Rice University in Houston topped the statewide list, ranked as the 10th best university in America, and is the 10th best private university in the U.S. for 2027.

The University of Texas at Austin ranked second statewide and 30th nationwide, and topped the list of Colleges With the Best Student Life. UT Austin also racked up top-10 acclaim in the separate lists of the Best College Locations (No. 4), Top Public Universities (No. 5), Best Big Colleges (No. 6), Best College Campuses (No. 10), and Best Colleges For Student Athletes (No. 10).

Texas A&M University in College Station and Trinity University in San Antonio round out the remaining Texas institutions that ranked among the top 100 overall. The Aggies ranked 52nd nationwide, and the Trinity Tigers ranked 65th overall.

universities smu southern methodist university dallas tcu texas christian university fort worth niche rankings

educational excellence

3 Dallas schools named top colleges for 2027 by The Princeton Review

University of Texas at Dallas graduation regalia

The University of Texas at Dallas/Facebook

The University of Texas at Dallas is one of the top 50 best value public colleges for 2027.

Back-to-school season has returned in full force, and that means it's time for college rankings. Three Dallas universities — Southern Methodist University, The University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of Dallas — are being hailed top of the class for 2027.

The three Dallas-area schools earned new acclaim in The Princeton Review's new ranking of the "Best 392 Colleges" for 2027. Across town, Texas Christian University in Fort Worth also earned high praise.

The Princeton Review's 35th annual "Best Colleges" rankings are determined by a survey of 172,000 current college students that gave "candid feedback" about their schools and their experiences. The flagship guide does not rank the schools overall, but it does rank them across 50 different categories, including best-run colleges, best quality of life, happiest students, best athletic facilities, among others.

Schools don't pay to be included in the guide, but The Princeton Review clarified that schools could pay for a "featured" designation. No Dallas-Fort Worth school paid to be featured in this year's guide.

In addition to being included in the overall list, Southern Methodist University was highlighted in the regional Best Southwest list that contained 41 universities across Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

"This mid-size private university provides 'a wealth of academic resources...[and] a flood of opportunities for those who want them,' allowing SMU to lead the way for the Dallas-Fort Worth area in developing innovative industries and initiatives in semiconductors, biotechnology, clean energy, precision medicine, and AI," the university's profile says.

This is how the other Dallas schools shined in The Princeton Review's guide:

University of Dallas, Irving

Best Value Colleges
Best Southwest
The Best 392 Colleges
No. 2 – Most Religious Students
No. 5 – LGBTQ-Unfriendly (based on "how strongly students disagree that their fellow students treat all persons equally, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity/expression")
No. 6 – Most Politically Conservative Students
No. 15 – Professors Get High Marks
No. 17 – Happiest Students
No. 24 – Pot's Not Hot (a ranking of colleges with the "least marijuana usage based on ratings from real students about the popularity of marijuana on campus.")

University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson

Best Value Colleges
Best Southwest
Green Colleges (colleges that "share superb sustainability practices, a strong foundation in sustainability education, and a healthy quality of life for students on campus.")
The Best 392 Colleges
No. 3 – Top 20 Best Public Schools for Internships
No. 3 – Top Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies in the Southwest
No. 21 – Top 50 Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies
No. 40 – Top 50 Best Value Public Colleges

universities dallas university of dallas university of texas at dallas southern methodist university the princeton review rankings