AUSTIN, Texas — Year after year, students, faculty and staff on the Forty Acres strive for excellence — their Longhorn Pride would accept nothing less. 2019 was no exception.
You can’t quantify all the ways we’re great, but here are 10 times people did.
Five No. 1 Graduate Programs
U.S. News & World Report ranked the UT Austin graduate programs in accounting, geology, petroleum engineering, population sociology and Latin American history No. 1 in the nation.
More than 40 other graduate programs were ranked in the top 10 in this year’s Best Graduate Schools ranking, including the No. 3 program in pharmacy, the No. 4 program in chemical engineering and the No. 8 program in social work.
Excellence in undergraduate experience
Two new specialty categories from U.S. News & World Report ranked UT Austin at No. 14 in the country for first-year experience and No. 16 in the country for undergraduate research and creative projects. These rankings underscore strong work in recent years to improve the undergraduate experience and provide robust research opportunities.
Affordability
UT Austin ranked No. 18 on Forbes’ list of top 25 public college educations for $30,000 or less and No. 28 on Money magazine’s list of best colleges for the cost.
These rankings were based on tuition costs from previous years, meaning they don’t yet register UT’s new expansion of the Texas Advanced Commitment, which will completely cover tuition costs for students from families with gross incomes up to $65,000.
No. 1 university in Texas
UT Austin ranked No. 1 in Texas in many different rankings in 2019 — including the Times Higher Education World University rankings. This rank is based on a variety of factors including learning environment, research, international outlook and overall reputation.
No. 14 among U.S. public schools
UT Austin rose one spot to No. 48 (No. 14 public) in the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of national universities in 2019. This follows last year’s rise of seven places. UT’s academic reputation, high selectivity and undergraduate student experience were the largest contributors to this ranking.
On the global stage
U.S. News & World Report ranked UT Austin No. 34 in the world in its Best Global Universities ranking. The ranking is based primarily on research performance and international reputation. In the global academic subject rankings, UT Austin earned top-50 spots in 12 areas, including No. 5 in computer science and No. 8 in electrical engineering.
UT Austin also ranked 31st on the Times Higher Education’s World Reputation Rankings.
School of Architecture ranked No. 1 “Most Hired From”
Architectural Record ranked the UT Austin School of Architecture the No. 1 most hired from program in its size group. The ranking considers both the undergraduate and graduate programs.\
School of Law No. 3 for salary-to-debt ratio
U.S. News & World Report ranked the UT Austin School of Law No. 3 in the U.S. for law schools with the highest salary-to-debt ratio.
Voter turnout and civic engagement
TX Votes, a program at the Moody College of Communication, was recognized with an ALL IN Democracy Challenge Award this year for leading U.S. universities in efforts to increase student voter turnout. At UT, undergraduate turnout increased from almost 39 percent to 55 percent between 2012 and 2016. During that time period, the national average stayed constant.
Best college town of 2019
CNBC and WalletHub ranked Austin as the No. 1 Best College Town in 2019. This ranking was based on 31 different variables, including affordability, social environment and academic opportunity. While UT Austin isn’t the only university in town, we’ll take some credit for this first place finish.
