Texas A&M A Top 10 University In ‘Service To The Nation’

Texas A&M University places among the top 10 colleges in the nation—and first in Texas —in Washington Monthly’s new rankings that take into major consideration factors such as research and service to the nation, as well as academic standing.

In the magazine’s 2016 rankings released yesterday, Texas A&M placed 6th overall and 2nd among all of the nation’s public universities. In addition to being top in Texas, it also ranks higher than any other university in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

The Washington Monthly list is headed by Stanford, followed by Harvard, MIT, the University of California at San Diego and the University of Pennsylvania.

The magazine’s editors noted that, in addition to academic standings, emphasis is placed on factors that benefit the nation—a point underscored by the “what can colleges do for the country?” sub-headline on the publication’s current cover.

“Our method (for determining rankings) had three pillars: social mobility, research and service,” explains Kevin Carey in the magazine’s “A Different Kind of College Ranking” introduction. “Colleges that enrolled many low-income students and helped them graduate did well in our rankings. So did universities producing the next generation of scientists and PhDs, and those that build an ethos of public obligation by sending graduates into service.”

“We are obviously proud of our academic standing, as attested by many assessments. It is gratifying to be recognized again nationally for our research contributions and for that which is core to our university which is service to the nation in a variety of ways, including the fact that Texas A&M is a major source for officers for the military,” President Young notes. “We applaud Washington Monthly for taking this broad and more encompassing approach. Also, taking into consideration the other national leaders in this report, it’s great to see that we are in good company and we applaud those schools as well.”

With more than 60,000 students, Texas A&M is one the nation’s five largest universities, and approximately 25 percent of its entering freshman class is traditionally made up of students who are the first in their families to attend college,  President Young points out. The university has a well-above-average record for retention of its students and helping guide them to graduation at a high rate and in a timely manner, he adds. Also, it is the top university producer of officers for the military—headed only by the service academies.

“This ranking is gratifying because it captures what Texas A&M does best, creating good citizens and extraordinary leaders,” said Chancellor John Sharp. “The future of Texas is brighter because of our students’ experience at this fine campus.”

With an annual investment in research totaling more than $860 million, Texas A&M ranks among the top 20 institutions in the nation—and first in Texas—in such expenditures underpinning agricultural, scientific, technological, medical and related studies and scholarly endeavors, according to the National Science Foundation.

Texas A&M has consistently ranked among the leaders ever since Washington Monthly began its ratings in 2005.

This is the second major college ranking this summer in which Texas A&M University has placed among the national leaders. Money magazine’s new “Best Colleges For Your Money” report shows Texas A&M to rank 4th among all public universities and 13th overall. Also, it again ranks first in the magazine’s list of “The 50 Best Colleges You Can Actually Get Into.”

Washington Monthly’s complete rankings can be viewed here.