college ranking news

Trinity University declared San Antonio's No. 1 college in new list

Trinity University is San Antonio's No. 1 college.

Trinity University/Facebook

Education ranking and review website Niche has released its 2027 rankings of the best colleges in the U.S., and Trinity University leads as the No. 1 best university in San Antonio and the fourth best in Texas.

Niche's annual rankings compared over 4,000 colleges and universities based on their academics, value, student life, career preparation, and more. Schools receive letter grades across 14 metrics, which were expanded this year to include Student Wellness and Future Readiness.

Also new to this year's rankings, Niche implemented an "Institutional Success Score" that "places every college into one of 10 mission-based categories" and compared each school against "outcomes aligned with that mission," which included research institutions, social mobility-focused colleges, and religious institutions, among others.

Among the Best Christian Colleges, Trinity ranks 3rd in the U.S., and it is the 15th Best Small College in America. The university also ranks 65th in the overall ranking of the Best Colleges in America for 2027.

Trinity also received the following top-100 rankings:

No. 16 – Best Liberal Arts Colleges
No. 47 – Top Private Universities
No. 51 – Best College Locations
No. 73 – Colleges With the Best Academics
No. 76 – Best Colleges For Student Athletes
No. 88 – Hardest Colleges To Get Into

Top education institutions across Texas
Three other Texas universities outside San Antonio excelled on Niche's list of the 100 Best Colleges in America.

Rice University in Houston topped the statewide list, ranked as the 10th best university in America, and is the 10th best private university in the U.S. for 2027.

The University of Texas at Austin ranked second statewide and 30th nationwide, and topped the list of Colleges With the Best Student Life. UT Austin also racked up top-10 acclaim in the separate lists of the Best College Locations (No. 4), Top Public Universities (No. 5), Best Big Colleges (No. 6), Best College Campuses (No. 10), and Best Colleges For Student Athletes (No. 10).

Texas A&M University in College Station was the only other Texas institution that ranked among the top 100 best colleges in the country, landing at No. 52.

universities niche rankings trinity university san antonio

Found Footage

Texas hiker discovers remarkably intact dinosaur track

Photo via KVUE

It may look plain, but this footprint tells an exciting story.

A dinosaur track discovered along Brushy Creek in Hutto near Austin is offering a glimpse into Texas’ prehistoric past.

For Gio Bernabe, walking along Brushy Creek is a chance to explore, fish, and look for anything interesting.

But during a recent Saturday afternoon walk, she came across something she never expected to find.

“And then I saw there was like this huge imprint of kind of like a foot, like a three-toed foot,” Bernabe said. “So I looked at it and I kind of cleaned it up and it looked like a dinosaur foot.”

Bernabe posted a photo of the print on social media, where it quickly attracted attention from the community.

“I was so excited because this is honestly one of my biggest dreams,” Bernabe said. “I've always wanted to find something like, really cool like this, like fossil-related, and I found it in Hutto, Texas.”

Chris Sagebiel with the Jackson School of Geosciences’ Texas Vertebrate Paleontology Collections examined the tracks and confirmed they belonged to a dinosaur. He said the tracks are particularly well preserved.

“I can only think of a couple of places where, in this area, where we have tracks that are that age, that are that well preserved,” Sagebiel said. “We get a lot of really faint tracks or partial tracks, but a beautiful one like that is a very nice find.”

Dinosaur tracks are relatively common around Austin, according to Sagebiel. However, they are more often found west of Interstate 35, where older rock formations are exposed.

The size and spacing of the tracks can help researchers identify the type of dinosaur that made them.

Sagebiel said the tracks likely came from a large, plant-eating, two-legged dinosaur — possibly a Hadrosaur, also known as a duck-billed dinosaur.

Hadrosaur illustration This distinctive dino from North America is a member of the family hadrosauridae.Getty Images

Read the full story at our news partner KVUE.com.

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