Here are the best colleges and universities in Texas. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you.
Texas offers more than 30 colleges and universities that serve communities of 10,000 students or more. The largest school in the bunch (and in the nation), Texas A&M University in College Station serves more than 65,000 students. The University of Texas at Austin is the next largest, serving about 45,000 students - but it too has a big claim to fame, as the wealthiest public university in the United States. Texas’s private colleges and universities, including Baylor University and Southern Methodist University, are also impressive in size and scope. The majority of these schools have religious affiliations and offer degrees in a variety fields, such as nursing, religious studies, criminal justice, business, and education.
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For students who prefer a more intimate educational environment, Texas offers a long list of smaller public and private colleges and universities, such as Abilene Christian University and University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Additionally, Texas has generous loan forgiveness programs for qualifying nurses, physicians, teachers, legal aid attorneys, and lawyers who work in the Texas Attorney General’s office.
Texas is known for doing things big. Big cities, big open spaces and, of course, big fun. Whether you’re hitting up the live music scene in Austin, catching a Cowboys game in Dallas, or strolling down the River Walk in San Antonio, you’re sure to have a good time. And, with more than 150 higher education institutes, it’s safe to say The Lone Star State is big on education too.
If you’re looking to earn your degree in the state of Texas, you’ll have plenty of higher learning institutes to choose from.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
We’ve identified 75 colleges and universities in Texas that meet our criteria. This list of the top 30 colleges in Texas below focuses on schools that offer bachelor’s degrees. The ranking features fully accredited public and private colleges and universities in Texas.
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
29%
Graduation
88%
Student body
45K
Median SAT/ACT
1340/29
University of Texas at Austin’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
83%
Student body
61K
Median SAT/ACT
1270/29
Texas A&M University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
92%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/35
Rice University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
62%
Student body
39K
Median SAT/ACT
1215/25
University of Houston’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
53%
Graduation
82%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1350/31
Southern Methodist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
57%
Graduation
82%
Student body
18K
Baylor University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
63%
Student body
36K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
Texas Tech University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
72%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1335/29
University of Texas at Dallas’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
60%
Student body
36K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/23
University of North Texas’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
51%
Student body
37K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/24
University of Texas at Arlington’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$52K
Acceptance
54%
Graduation
83%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1215/28
Texas Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
51%
Student body
29K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/22
University of Texas at San Antonio’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
100%
Graduation
45%
Student body
20K
University of Texas at El Paso’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
23%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
965/18
Texas Southern University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
34%
Graduation
80%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1335/30
Trinity University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
57%
Student body
32K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/22
Texas State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
97%
Graduation
57%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/20
Sam Houston State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
60%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/24
Abilene Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
59%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/23
St. Mary's University, Texas’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
72%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1240/26
University of Dallas’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
39%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1041/20
Lamar University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
94%
Graduation
51%
Student body
29K
Median SAT/ACT
987/19
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
94%
Graduation
58%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/20
University of the Incarnate Word’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
42%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
955/18
Prairie View A&M University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$44K
Acceptance
43%
Graduation
68%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1210/25
Austin College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
44%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/22
Houston Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
74%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1205/26
Southwestern University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
45%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1020/20
Angelo State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
53%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1065/21
Stephen F. Austin State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
96%
Graduation
48%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1091/19
Texas Woman's University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Many of our 2022 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2021. That’s because we took a fundamentally different apporach. For 2021 we utilized our Concentrated Influence algorithm, designed to take away the size advantage larger schools have when we rank their faculty and alumni’s academic influence. Concentrated influence highlights smaller schools that are proportionally as successful as larger universities at cultivating influential alumni and faculty.