Texas A&M University is ranked No. 11 – the only institution in Texas among the Top 30 – in Washington Monthly’s rankings of the best universities in the country.
Texas A&M is the only school in Texas in the publication’s top 30 list of national universities and also is first among Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools. The University of Florida is ranked No. 17.
Heading the list is Harvard, followed by Stanford, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Princeton and Yale to round out the top five.
According to Washington Monthly editors, “Since 2005, Washington Monthly has released an annual College Guide and rankings, where we rate schools based on what they are doing for the country.
“We rate schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and public service (encouraging students to give something back to their country). Instead of rewarding schools that reject 95 percent of applicants, we give high marks to colleges that enroll lots of low-income students and help them graduate without too much debt. And we give extra weight to colleges that send their graduates out into the world to serve the community at large.”
With more than 60,000 students, Texas A&M is one of 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. It is also the top university producer of officers for the military. Only the service academies produce more.
Research conducted at Texas A&M is approaching the $1 billion mark, the highest among all Texas schools.
Texas A&M has consistently ranked among the national leaders ever since Washington Monthly began its ratings in 2005.
Washington Monthly’s complete rankings are available online.
Media contact: Keith Randall, News & Information, at (979) 845-4644 or keith-randall@tamu.edu
