Buffalo Business First, a New York-based business publication, has ranked UT-Austin #14 on its list of the 200 best public colleges in the United States.
 
The ranking, which was released this week, was based on each college’s overall educational experience, including competitiveness, excellence of resources, diversity and affordability. The University outperformed 97 percent of the 477 public colleges the group analyzed to earn its spot, said Scott Thomas, Buffalo Business First’s projects editor and member of the ranking team.
 
“The only way to get a score that strong is to do well in almost all of the 20 statistical categories that we studied, and that’s what Texas did,” Thomas said. “Its retention rate of 94.5 percent, and its six-year graduation rate of 80.6 percent were especially impressive.”
 
The corresponding figures for the typical U.S. public college for retention rate and six-year graduation rate are, respectively, 76.6 percent and 51.6 percent, which are significantly below the University’s levels.

UT’s upstanding qualities attract a wide range of students and encourage them to make the most of their time at the University, said Victoria Garcia, an Office of Admissions student ambassador.
 
“I think the pride that students feel knowing that they are attending the best public university in Texas, and #14 in the country, is a huge motivational factor when it comes to students wanting to perform well and uphold the University’s prestigious reputation,” Garcia, a public relations junior, said.

J.B. Bird, director of media outreach for UT, said the ranking is significant because the University strives to continuously grow in the areas Buffalo Business First evaluated.

“UT is especially interested in the characteristics of excellence we consider most relevant for an outstanding public research university,” Bird said. “We always appreciate being measured among the top public research universities, but we never want to place too much emphasis on one single ranking … rather on how we’re doing on the overall characteristics vital to our success as a public research university.”