Baylor again a top-10 undergrad experience, now leads Big 12 in new U.S. News rankings

Looking for a great undergraduate experience? You can’t do much better than Baylor.

Once again, BU is among the nation’s top-10 undergraduate experiences, according to U.S. News’ 2025 “Best Colleges” rankings.

Baylor ranks No. 6 nationally for Learning Communities, and No. 7 nationally for First-Year Experience. BU also remains among the top 30 nationally for both undergraduate teaching and undergraduate research opportunities. All together, it shows people around the country are recognizing the incredible college experience offered at Baylor.

“At Baylor, we deeply value a transformational undergraduate educational experience,” says President Linda Livingstone. “A Baylor education is highly valued, and we are focused on expanding access and affordability while remaining committed to the ‘Baylor Distinctives’ not captured by U.S. News but that we know also drive student choice, such as faith and character development and students being able to develop close connections with faculty.”

Overall, Baylor maintained its status as a Top-50 private university (No. 47) and as a Top-100 national university (No. 91), ranking among the top 25% of all major universities nationwide.

Those numbers rank No. 4 in Texas (behind only Rice, Texas and Texas A&M, and tied with SMU) and No. 1 in the new-look Big 12 Conference, ahead of Colorado (98), TCU (105), BYU (109), Arizona (109) and others. This marks Baylor’s 13th straight year to rank among the top two in the league.

In other categories, Baylor ranks No. 26 for Most Innovative Schools (up 12 spots), and No. 57 among the Best Colleges for Veterans (up four spots). Notable academic programs include undergraduate entrepreneurship (No. 11 nationally) and undergraduate nursing (No. 39).

As we’ve frequently noted, such rankings don’t tell the whole story of what you get at Baylor — but when you start to add them all up, it paints a pretty impressive picture.

Sic ’em, Bears!