UTEP listed as one of the ‘Top 10 Most Underrated Colleges in the Southwest’
UTEP has been listed as one of the “Top 10 Most Underrated Colleges in the Southwest” by CollegeVine.
The website, dedicated to data-driven high school guidance and college applications services, ranked UTEP at number 7.
UTEP is listed along with schools such as the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Oklahoma and the University of New Mexico. The University of Houston is ranked at number one.
The blog states that in the Southwest, schools with prestige, like Rice University, have a low acceptance rate of about 11 percent. But schools like UTEP have a strong return on investment (ROI) and offer a high quality education.
The list is based off data the website has collected over the last couple of years, such as the “cost of attendance and generosity of financial aid & scholarships,” “financial performance of specific majors”
and “qualitative data on career outcomes like job placements and grad school progression.”
On Wednesday, Jan. 9, UTEP attained a coveted R1 designation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, meaning it is now considered a top tier doctoral university with high research activity.
UTEP is one of only 130 top tier universities among the 2,883 four-year higher education institutions across the U.S. to earn this prestigious R1 distinction.
UTEP President Dr. Diana Natalicio told ABC-7 that classification enhances UTEP’s national brand and increases the value of a UTEP degree.
“A lot of doors open that wouldn’t otherwise both for us in terms of research partnerships and a lot of other things, and for our students, whose degrees are going to be more appreciated and more valuable as the days go on because people begin to recognize that this a very serious place and we’re doing something remarkable.”
Natalicio said the university worked toward the distinction for about 30 years.
The list and distinction come just a few weeks before UTEP students head back to school on Jan. 22.
