University of Texas at Austin QS #68

UT Austin is a strongly entrepreneurial flagship public university, ranking No. 9 in the world for undergraduate startup founders (PitchBook, 2012-2022), with a deep ecosystem of accelerators, faculty-led founder courses, and the surrounding Austin tech scene. Notable founders include Michael Dell, who started Dell in his UT dorm in 1984.

• Ranked No. 9 in the world for undergraduate entrepreneurs and No. 18 for graduate students by PitchBook (companies first VC-funded Jan 2012 to Oct 2022)
• Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a UT-affiliated deep tech incubator operating for over 30 years
• SEAL (Student Entrepreneur Acceleration and Launch) accelerator: alumni companies have raised over $100M and generated over $400M in valuation
• Longhorn Startup course/lab co-founded in 2011 by Joshua Baer (Capital Factory founder) and Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe, culminating in Demo Day
• Michael Dell founded Dell from his UT Austin Dobie Center dorm room in 1984; other alumni-founded companies include Favor (acquired by HEB)
• Texas Venture Labs pairs startups with UT MBA student teams for free consulting; Genesis is a student-run, alumni-backed equity-free VC fund

UT Austin is a top-tier U.S. research powerhouse with FY24 research expenditures of $1.14 billion (rising to $1.37 billion in FY25), No. 1 nationally for NSF-funded research, multiple Nobel-winning faculty, and the world-class Texas Advanced Computing Center.

• FY24 research expenditures of $1.14 billion, an all-time high, rising to $1.37 billion in FY25
• Ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for NSF-funded research in 2024 ($176.4 million), No. 5 for DoD and No. 6 for DoE projects
• John B. Goodenough, Cockrell School professor, won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for lithium-ion battery work
• Steven Weinberg (1979 Physics Nobel) and Ilya Prigogine (1977 Chemistry Nobel) were faculty; the Weinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics was founded in 2022
• Texas Advanced Computing Center operates Frontera, deployed 2019 via a $60M NSF grant, the fastest academic supercomputer in the U.S. at launch
• Nobel laureate alumni include immunologist Jim Allison (2018 Medicine) and Michael Young (2017 Medicine)

UT Austin has several nationally famous scholars who genuinely teach, including best-selling historian H.W. Brands lecturing large undergraduate survey courses and acclaimed author Elizabeth McCracken leading creative writing, alongside top finance and economics researchers. Its single most celebrated teaching name, Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, died in 2021, so the current teaching roster, while strong, sits a notch below the very top globally.

• H.W. Brands, Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History and best-selling author of over 30 U.S. history books, teaches undergraduate survey courses (HIS 315K/315L) across recent semesters
• Elizabeth McCracken, holder of the James A. Michener Chair in Creative Writing and a National Book Award finalist, teaches fiction in the Michener Center for Writers and New Writers Project
• Sheridan Titman, finance chair (Walter W. McAllister Centennial Chair) and NBER research associate, won the Wharton-Jacobs Levy Prize for the influential momentum-strategy research
• James K. Galbraith, professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, is a widely cited economist on inequality and macroeconomic policy
• Nobel laureate physicist Steven Weinberg taught at UT Austin for nearly four decades and was known as a beloved teacher until his death in 2021

UT Austin has one of the largest and most influential alumni networks in the United States, with roughly 585,000 living alumni and the Texas Exes association, and it has produced top-tier billionaires (notably Michael Dell), Nobel laureates, major actors and athletes, and prominent business and political figures.

• Michael Dell (founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies), billionaire alumnus
• Robert Rowling (BBA 1966), TRT Holdings billionaire who owns Omni Hotels and Gold's Gym; John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Patron Tequila and Paul Mitchell
• Academy Award winning actor Matthew McConaughey is a UT Austin graduate
• Nobel laureates linked to UT Austin include John B. Goodenough (Chemistry 2019) and Steven Weinberg (Physics 1979)
• Athlete alumni include Heisman Trophy winners Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams (2000)
• About 585,000 living alumni, with the Texas Exes alumni association counting more than 110,000 members

UT Austin is a strong magnet for high-profile figures, anchored by the on-campus LBJ Presidential Library, which has hosted four U.S. presidents and serving vice presidents, plus a long line of celebrated commencement speakers and a growing roster of public intellectuals through new programs. It sits below the very top global universities mainly because its draw is concentrated in U.S. politics and policy rather than spanning all fields.

• LBJ Presidential Library on campus hosted Presidents Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter at the 2014 Civil Rights Summit (50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act)
• President Joe Biden spoke at the LBJ Library in July 2024 for the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act; VP Kamala Harris held a fireside chat there in October 2022
• Admiral William H. McRaven delivered the 2014 commencement address, whose '10 Life Lessons' speech surpassed 4 million YouTube views
• Nobel laureate physicist Steven Weinberg (Physics, 1979) was a UT Austin faculty member for nearly four decades until his death in 2021
• LBJ School of Public Affairs speaker events have featured George Will and Karl Rove (drawing 800 attendees in November 2022) and Rep. Tony Gonzales (December 2025)
• The new School of Civic Leadership regularly brings public intellectuals and policymakers to campus, including Dr. Zena Hitz of St. John's College

UT Austin sits at the heart of Austin's dense 'Silicon Hills' tech ecosystem (5,500+ startups and tech firms, with Tesla, Apple, Oracle, Samsung and Dell nearby) and runs strong internal cross-disciplinary bridges via Dell Medical School, the ODEN Institute and TACC. Ecosystem density and industry cross-pollination are world-leading, though it lacks a tight cluster of multiple peer research universities immediately adjacent.

• Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), founded 1989, is one of the oldest US tech incubators and has generated over $3 billion in economic impact for Central Texas
• TACC (Texas Advanced Computing Center) operates Frontera, the fastest academic supercomputer in the world (23.5 PetaFLOPS, ranked 5th globally in 2019), funded by a $60 million NSF award
• Texas Biologics is a cross-disciplinary partnership between Dell Medical School, the College of Natural Sciences and the Cockrell School of Engineering
• Dell was founded by Michael Dell in his UT Austin dorm room in 1984; Dell employs about 14,000 in the Austin metro
• Nearby major employers include Tesla (Gigafactory Texas, 10,000+ jobs), Apple (about 7,000), Oracle ($1.2 billion Austin campus) and Samsung's $17 billion chip plant in nearby Taylor
• UT Innovation Labs in North Austin opened a 10,000-square-foot wet lab in 2025 giving private-sector firms access to UT's Research Core Facilities

UT Austin provides substantial university-funded aid, anchored by the Texas Advance Commitment, which guarantees free tuition for in-state students with family AGI up to $100,000 (raised from $65,000 in fall 2025) and partial tuition support up to $125,000, plus flagship full-ride scholarships. Aid is strong for Texas residents but more limited for out-of-state and international students.

• Texas Advance Commitment: free tuition for in-state students with family adjusted gross income up to $100,000, and partial tuition support for AGI up to $125,000, expanded in fall 2025 from the prior $65,000 threshold
• UT estimated about 3,000 additional students would receive free tuition starting fall 2025 under the expansion (part of the UT System 'Promise Plus' program)
• Forty Acres Scholars Program (administered with Texas Exes): premier merit full-ride covering 100% of tuition plus living and book stipends, global experience and professional enrichment, open to in-state and out-of-state students
• Dell Scholars at UT Austin: $20,000 scholarship for incoming Pell-eligible, first-time full-time freshmen with highest financial need
• University grants supplement federal aid (Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant); UT-funded need-based grants do not require repayment
• First-generation awards such as the Elizabeth & Gantt Walton Endowed Scholarship and the Denson Endowed Scholarship for 1st Generation, ranging roughly $500 to $5,000

UT Austin is a bargain for Texas residents at about USD 11,700 tuition and fees, but out-of-state students pay roughly USD 44,900. Austin living costs are moderate-to-high at about USD 20,000 a year and rising. Cheap in-state tuition keeps total cost of attendance near USD 32,000, but out-of-state hits about USD 66,000, so the blended affordability lands just below the middle.

• Tuition and fees: about USD 11,688 in-state and USD 44,908 out-of-state per year
• Cost of living in Austin: roughly USD 20,000 per year, moderate-to-high and rising
• Combined: total cost of attendance about USD 32,000 in-state versus USD 66,000 out-of-state
• Strong value for Texans; pricey for everyone else, hence a mid-range score

UT Austin offers a vibrant, highly livable student life in a desirable city, anchored by 1,100+ student organizations, powerhouse Division I Longhorns athletics, and strong school spirit, backed by substantial mental-health investment. Student satisfaction and campus life are consistently rated highly, though demand on counseling services has grown sharply.

• More than 1,100 registered student organizations span academic, cultural, recreational, and Greek-life interests
• The Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC) is part of the campuswide healthyhorns network, alongside University Health Services and the Longhorn Wellness Center
• CMHC offers TimelyCare, a virtual platform giving students 24/7 access to counseling and psychiatry, plus a Crisis Line at 512-471-2255
• UT launched a roughly $16.5 million, five-year initiative to expand mental-health resources across its campuses
• Texas Longhorns athletics joined the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in July 2024, with football games, tailgates, and intramural and club sports central to campus life
• Use of campus mental-health services rose from about 20% to 30% of students over the past decade, reflecting strong demand

UT Austin combines strong employability with deep employer pipelines (especially in Austin's tech and energy hubs), structured engineering co-ops, and high salary outcomes in professional schools. Work and study integrate well through 16 college-specific career offices, for-credit internship courses, and a large recruiting network, placing it well above the global top-100 average on this dimension.

• About 93% of UT Austin graduates are employed or in further study within two years of graduation, with roughly 90% securing employment within three months
• Median early-career earnings of around $72,000, rising to about $130,000 at mid-career
• Cockrell School engineering co-op students complete at least one summer plus one long semester of full-time paid work with the same employer, earning 1 to 2 hours of letter-grade credit per work term
• McCombs Full-Time MBA Class of 2024: 86% of job-seekers received an offer within three months; average accepted base salary about $151,178 (median base $175,000 in consulting and investment banking)
• Career support delivered via 16 college and school-specific career services offices plus the 12twenty@Texas job board connecting students with local, national, and global employers
• Top recruiters include Google, Amazon, Deloitte, Tesla, and Goldman Sachs