The new academic year may have just started, but there's already a report card for TCU students to write home about. This time, their school's being graded. And don't worry, Mom and Dad - it made the honor roll.

Niche, an education review and ranking website, has rated Texas Christian University the eighth best college in Texas and the 81st top private University in America (out of 915) for 2025. Out of all 1,517 U.S. colleges ranked in Niche's new survey, TCU comes in at a respectable No. 163.

TCU ranks among the top 100 nationally in the categories of:

• No. 3 Best Christian Colleges in America (cross-town rival SMU is No. 1)
• No. 18 Most Conservative Colleges in America
• No. 51 Best Greek Life Colleges in America
• No. 66 Best College Athletics in America
• No. 67 Colleges with the Best Student Life in America
• No. 81 Top Party Schools in America

TCU also makes the top 100 among best schools for nursing, music, design, criminal justice, and more.

The Fort Worth university receives an overall grade of A-, earning an A+ in one of the 12 ranking categories — student life. It gets an A for academics, athletics, and party scene; an A- for diversity, professors, and campus; and a B+ for dorms, location, and campus food. Its lowest grade was a B- in the categories of value and safety.

"My experience with Texas Christian University was, and still is, one full of challenges, adversity, new people, new avenues, and new horizons." reads one enthusiastic five-star review in the Niche report. "I exposed myself to new cultures and activities I never experienced before, participated in over 100 hours of volunteer work to give back to the community, and challenged myself to strive in a field of study unfamiliar to me while making new life-long friends along the way! I had an excellent and unforgettable time!"

Yale University tops Niche’s national list for 2025, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, Brown University, Vanderbilt University, and Johns Hopkins University.

Rice University in Houston ranks first among the best colleges in Texas, and No. 15 nationally. TCU actually fell down the list two places from its 2024 ranking of sixth best college in Texas, which it had held for three years in a row.

The top 10 Texas schools for 2025 are:

• No. 1 Rice University
• No. 2 University of Texas at Austin
• No. 3 Texas A&M University
• No. 4 Trinity University
• No. 5 Southern Methodist University
• No. 6 University of Houston
• No. 7 Texas Tech University
• No. 8 Texas Christian University
• No. 9 University of North Texas
• No. 10 University of Texas at Arlington

Among colleges in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, TCU ranks No. 2 behind top-rated SMU. Rounding out the top nine DFW are University of North Texas (No. 3), University of Texas - Arlington (No. 4), University of Texas - Dallas (No. 5), Texas Woman's University (No. 6), University of Dallas (No. 7), University of North Texas at Dallas (No. 8), and Southwestern Adventist University (No. 9).

Find Niche's complete 2025 college rankings here.