Southern Methodist University has ranked No. 1 among the Best Christian Colleges in America for 2025.
The rankings were compiled by Niche, a top player in facilitating the connection between schools, colleges, students, and families. The company offers comprehensive profiles of every educational institution in the United States, with over 140 million reviews and ratings, as well as advanced search and data resources, per its website.
Based on Niche’s analysis of data and reviews, Southern Methodist University (SMU) took top honors out of the 311 Christian colleges in America.
SMU’s rival, Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, placed third in the category of best Christian college. St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, split the Texas colleges, coming in at No. 2, reported CultureMap Dallas. Baylor University ranked No. 5.
“The optimistic outlook of Dallas is at the heart of SMU, and our enterprising spirit has helped shape Dallas into a global gateway for people of all backgrounds who want to change the world,” reads SMU’s website.
There are many reasons why SMU has achieved this coveted spot, some of which include the over 100 undergraduate majors and 85 minors available for students to choose from, an impressive honors program, and providing “the flexibility you want to combine majors and minors, creating an academic experience as unique to your goals.”
SMU also has an impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 11:1, fostering proactive and positive faculty-student interaction. Outside of the classroom, SMU offers “summer, semester, and year-long opportunities to live, study and travel” abroad, making 148 programs in 50 countries available to its students.
Founded in 1911, SMU now boasts “a student body of over 11,000 students from every state in the U.S. and over 90 foreign countries, SMU is a university for students of all faiths, as well as a school where open discussions of faith are welcomed.”
“Now in its second century of achievement, SMU is recognized for the ways it supports students, faculty and alumni as they become ethical, enterprising leaders in their professions and communities,” continues SMU’s website.
SMU also claimed the following honors by Niche:
No. 7 of 448: Best Colleges for Sports Management in America
No. 9 of 1,373: Best College Campuses in America
No. 19 of 821: Best Colleges for Accounting and Finance in America
No. 23 of 1,500: Top Party Schools in America
No. 33 of 266: Best Colleges for Music in America
No. 37 of 765: Most Conservative Colleges in America
No. 41 of 521: Best Greek Life Colleges in America
No. 44 of 907: Best Colleges for Communications in America
No. 45 of 1,497: Colleges with the Best Student Life in America
No. 53 of 1,512: Best College Locations in America
No. 57 of 766: Best Colleges for Math in America
Look here to see the remainder of SMU’s rankings by Niche.