Receiving high marks of excellence in both the 2018 edition of The Princeton Review’s popular guidebook “The Best 382 Colleges” and the annual listing of “America’s Top Colleges” by Forbes magazine, the University of Dallas has earned its placement, once again, among the country’s best academic institutions.

“We are pleased that both Forbes magazine and The Princeton Review have continued to recognize the University of Dallas as one of the country’s premier academic institutions,” said President Thomas W. Keefe. “University of Dallas students are especially motivated to pursue a broad, liberal arts education that uniquely prepares them to assume a wide variety of leadership roles.”

The Princeton Review

Identified as one of 128 “Best Western” regional institutions, the University of Dallas was also commended by The Princeton Review with several distinctions.  

• For their right-leaning viewpoint and devout Catholic affiliation, the university was credited with having:
  • The No.1 most conservative student body in the nation, as well as the third “Most Religious Students.”
  • The fourth-largest student body of “Future Rotarians and Daughters of the American Revolution.”
• The university’s Rome Program also received recognition as the nation’s fifth “Most Popular Study Abroad Program.”

“We picked the 382 'best' colleges for our book primarily for their outstanding academics: we highly recommend each one,” said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief and the book's lead author. The college guide’s 26th annual ranking surveyed 137,000 students from across the country, tallying the final rankings based on the responses from an 84-question survey.

Forbes Magazine

The 2017 Forbes listing of “America’s Top Colleges” ranks the University of Dallas No. 225 out of 650 (compared to No. 276 in 2016), earning the university:

• Placement among the top 25 Catholic institutions nationwide, and recognition as the No. 1 Catholic institution in Texas.
• No. 162 out of all private colleges and universities.
• Third in North Texas alongside its peer institutions (No. 98) Southern Methodist University, (No. 188) Texas Christian University and (No. 295) University of Texas, Dallas.

“Our goal is to showcase the colleges and universities that deliver the best return on your education investment dollars: low student debt, on-time graduation, quality academics, high earning potential and career success,” said Caroline Howard, digital managing editor for Forbes Media. Forbes compiled its 2017 rankings using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the Department of Education's College Scorecard, Payscale and Niche.

Since July, the university has been included on multiple well-known "best college" and "best value" lists, among these the Fiske Guide to Colleges, Forbes and Money magazine.

Discover more University of Dallas rankings and distinctions.