Texas School Ranked the No. 1 College in America: Admissions Angst Doesn’t Seem Silly Now

The University of Texas gets so flooded with applicants every year that there are lawsuits and investigations into its admissions process. There’s more new evidence that all the angst about getting into UT may be worth it, though.

Texas found itself ranked the No. 1 Public University in America in 2016, ahead of vaunted schools like the University of Michigan, University of Virginia, UCLA, Cal and yes, Texas A&M University. A&M finishes an impressive 10th itself out of a whopping 1,713 colleges. Which still won’t make any self-respecting Aggie feel better about placing nine spots behind UT.

The new rankings from college review website Niche weigh a number of vital factors, including academics (25 percent of a college’s score), value (25 percent), quality of the school’s professors (10 percent), diversity (7.5 percent) and the quality of student life (7.5 percent). The stats for these rankings were pulled from U.S. Department of Education data.

The University of Texas comes out looking like the valedictorian, receiving an A-plus in academics and nothing lower than an A-minus in any of the other prime categories. It’s good to be a Longhorn.

Texas A&M earns an A-minus in academics and an A-plus in student life in Niche’s ranking, but the College Station school is hurt by its C-plus in diversity. Apparently, no one told the college rankers that College Station’s “The Most Exciting City in Texas.” Supposedly.

Other notable Texas universities in the rankings include Texas Tech (No. 60 nationally), University of Houston (No. 62), University of North Texas (No. 81) and Texas State University (No. 85). Houston’s Texas Southern University is the lowest-ranked public college in the state, according to the rankings.

TSU’s C-minus safety rating didn’t help it — and this was before the recent shootings at the school.

In the end, it’s the Longhorns’ moment. As if a surprise win over Oklahoma in football and its students’ ingenious — and racy — protests against guns on campus wasn’t enough good news. Somewhere, Matthew McConaughey is doing a jig.