Trinity University Climbs 20 Spots on TIME’s ‘Best Colleges for Future Leaders’

Trinity University has been named one of TIME’s 2026 Best Colleges for Future Leaders, climbing 20 spots to No. 66 nationally.

The third-highest-ranked Texas university on the list, Trinity is the top-ranked liberal arts college in the nation, surpassing Middlebury, Smith, Amherst, Bucknell, and others, and is the highest-ranked private institution in Texas, ahead of Rice University. This distinction reflects the University’s momentum, rising reputation, and exceptional return on investment.

TIME’s analysis, conducted with Statista, examined more than 4,800 influential figures shaping U.S. society. Their findings underscore a truth long evident on Trinity’s campus: Purposeful learning, breadth of preparation, and the power of place produce graduates who lead. At Trinity, students are known, challenged, and supported in ways that prepare them not only for their first job, but for decades of impact in an increasingly dynamic world.

From rigorous liberal arts to strengths in business, engineering, the sciences, and emerging fields, Trinity delivers an education that is intellectual, driven, supportive, and purposeful, the very qualities TIME identifies in the nation’s most influential leaders.

Students work alongside faculty on research typically reserved for graduate programs and gain real-world experience through internships that accelerate their path to leadership.

And here in San Antonio, one of the country’s most vibrant, multicultural cities, Trinity students benefit from a powerful sense of place, where ideas, opportunity, and community intersect in ways that shape confidence, ambition, and relevance in a global society.

Trinity’s placement on this list mirrors what alumni and employers already know: When every student is intentionally supported and academically stretched, they rise to their best—and they lead with passion and purpose.