Report Card
Trinity University ranked best in the West by prestigious report
Two San Antonio schools aren't just among the best colleges in Texas, they stand above most in the region, according to U.S. News & World Report's latest ranking.
On September 9, the venerated publication released its annual Best Regional Universities list, ranking Trinity University No. 1 in the West. St. Mary's University tied at No. 10 with Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California, on the same list.
The publication describes regional universities as offering "a broad scope of undergraduate degrees and some master's degree programs but few, if any, doctoral programs."
U.S. News broke down ranking metrics like a classic syllabus. Each school was graded across six categories, weighing outcomes (graduation and retention rates, social mobility, etc.) the heaviest at 35 percent. Faculty resources and expert opinion of schools each accounted for 20 percent of scores, followed by financial resources and student excellence at 10 percent each, and alumni giving at 5 percent.
The regional list was part of a suite of rankings released, including the 2020 Best Colleges report, which compared nearly 1,400 schools around the country. On that list, Rice University in Houston ranks No. 1 in the state and No. 17 in the nation; the University of Texas at Austin ranks No. 2 in Texas and No. 48 in the nation.
Nationwide, the Ivies continue their dominance atop the national list. Princeton University is the best university in America, followed by Harvard University (No. 2) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University, which tied for third.
Dallas' Southern Methodist University (No. 64), College Station's Texas A&M University (No. 70), and Waco's Baylor University (No. 79), round out the top five schools in Texas on the national list.
Locally, the University of the Incarnate Word ranks 272nd nationally, and Our Lady of the Lake University and University of Texas at San Antonio rank in the No. 293-381 range.
