Aug 31, 2026 | 9:03 am
Education ranking and review website Niche has released its 2027 rankings of the best colleges in the U.S., and Southern Methodist University leads as the No. 1 best university in Dallas-Fort Worth and the sixth 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…