Wall Street Journal Names Texas A&M The Best University In Texas

For the second consecutive year, Texas A&M University is the best university in Texas, according to rankings from The Wall Street Journal, which rate the top 500 universities in the country.

In the 2025 edition of the prestigious “Best Colleges in the U.S.,” Journal editors, along with College Pulse/Statista, place Texas A&M at No. 1 in the Lone Star State, No. 11 among the nation’s public institutions, and No. 28 overall.

The overall national number is a remarkable 10-place rise from last year. Additionally, the rankings place A&M No. 1 among Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools.

Weighed heavily (70%) is a measure on student outcomes, which includes graduates’ salaries, years to pay off costs, and graduation rate impact. While many rankings focus on school size or reputation among college administrators, this ranking zeroes in on the success of schools’ graduates, especially in terms of college being a good investment. Texas A&M has frequently been recognized for its quality of education vs. cost, and for the success of its graduates, for example the extraordinary number of Aggie CEOs in the top 100 companies within the Fortune 500.

Additional factors were universities’ learning environments, including learning opportunities, career preparation, learning facilities, and whether a student would recommend the school to others.

Student Character

New to the ranking this year is a “character score,” which the Journal defines as, “the extent to which students feel the college has developed character strengths that will help them to make a meaningful contribution to society, including moral courage, hopefulness, resilience, wisdom and a sense of justice.”

“I’m thrilled to see the rest of the country start to catch on to what we here in Aggieland already know — that this university really stands for something,” said General (Ret.) Mark A. Welsh III, president of Texas A&M. “Our Core Values are at the heart of everything we do at Texas A&M. We take pride in knowing that we are developing the next generation of exceptional leaders who will put those Core Values into practice for the betterment of our state and nation.”

Texas A&M finds itself in elite company on the list, which is topped by Princeton University; eight of the top 10 universities are private schools, including Stanford, Yale, MIT and Harvard. The only other Texas university in the Top 30 is Rice University, at No. 29 nationally.

The WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S. ranking was developed and executed in collaboration with College Pulse and Statista.

View the full rankings and methodologies from WSJ online.