Washington Monthly magazine recently ranked The University of Texas at Arlington the top national university in North Texas, based on a methodology that emphasizes contributions to the public good in three broad categories of social mobility, research and promoting public service.
The magazine also ranked UTA favorably in its list of America’s Best Bang for the Buck colleges, which attempts to measure social mobility by how well a university helps non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices. UTA was first in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex on this list and ninth in the south region, a seven-state area comprising Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
“UTA remains the university of choice for thousands of students from North Texas and beyond who are looking to have an outstanding academic experience and to credential themselves for their future careers,” says Troy Johnson, vice president for enrollment management. “Our university provides students with a vibrant campus, compelling academic and research opportunities and a dedication to improving our community.”
UTA ranked No. 108 nationally among more than 1,400 colleges and universities surveyed. The magazine’s rankings consist of three equally weighted portions: social mobility, research, and community and national service, meaning that “top-ranked colleges needed to be excellent across the full breadth of our measures, rather than excelling in just one measure,” according to Washington Monthly’s methodology.
The magazine’s rankings focus on how universities “recruit and graduate students of modest means, produce the scholarship and scholars that drive economic growth and human flourishing, and encourage students to be active citizens and serve their country,” the magazine said in a story introducing the rankings.
UT Arlington recently became the fourth institution in Texas, and the first since 2018, to achieve designation as a Texas Tier One university, a milestone signifying excellence in academics and research. It is also among an elite group of 131 institutions nationally designated as R-1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity, the highest designation, by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
In addition, UTA is a beacon for thousands of Texans working to transform their lives through the power of higher education. In fall 2020, the University enrolled the largest and one of the most academically talented freshman classes in UTA history. It is recognized nationally by U.S. News and World Report both as a leading destination for transfer students (fifth-most transfer students nationally) and as having the fifth-highest undergraduate diversity index in the nation.
