Texas A&M University ranks among the top three colleges in the nation—and first in Texas—in Washington Monthly’s new poll, which takes into major consideration factors such as research and service to the nation, as well as academic standing.

In the magazine’s 2015 rankings released this week, Texas A&M advanced one place higher than in the magazine’s previous annual ranking and is now headed only by the University of California at San Diego and the University of California at Riverside. The University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University round out the magazine’s list of the top five institutions based on its editors’ assessments.

“As a leading land-grant university, Texas A&M has a long and distinguished history of service to our state and nation, so it’s especially gratifying to see a key national poll take such public service into consideration, along with emphasis on high academic standards and a stellar record for conducting meaningful research,” Texas A&M President Michael K. Young said. “With our ability to attract top students who go on to key leadership positions in both the public and private sectors, and with outstanding faculty and staff who help them prepare for success after graduation, we are obviously pleased but not surprised by our lofty national ranking in Washington Monthly.”

The magazine’s editors explained the rationale for their unique approach to evaluating colleges:

“We rate schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country).”

Texas A&M has consistently ranked among the leaders ever since Washington Monthly began its ratings in 2005.

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Media contact: Lane Stephenson, News & Information Services, at (979) 845-4662 or l-stephenson@tamu.edu

Article was originally posted in "TAMU Today." Reprinted with permission.