Southwest Assemblies of God No. 2

The toughest schools in Texas? U.S. News ratings put Rice on top, confuses therest

Rice University is the most selective school in Texas, admitting only 21 percentof applicants.
Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahatchie is the second-hardestschool to get into in Texas. Yes, really.

Can you judge a school by its acceptance rate? U.S. News has ranked universities across the country by how competitive admission is, and the programs on top might be surprising.

In addition to academic juggernauts like Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (all of which admit less than 10 percent of applicants), the most selective program in the country is the Curtis Institute of Music in Pennsylvania, which admits only one out of every 25 applicants. No. 2 is Kentucky's tiny, rural Alice Lloyd College, which despite an acceptance rate of 7 percent is categorized as a second-tier institution by U.S. News and World Report.

Other non-Ivies in high demand? New York's prestigious (and free) Cooper Union, the military academies and outliers like College of the Ozarks and Florida Memorial University — hey, it is in Miami.

Among Texas colleges, Rice University came out on top, accepting 21 percent of applicants to make it one of the 40 most selective programs in the country. Texas's only other school among the 100 most competitive nationwide is Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahatchie.

Wait, what?

I f that sounds weird, how about imagining The University of Houston—Victoria (40.85%) as harder to get into than either the University of Houston main campus or even the University of Texas.

SAGU, "a Bible-based institution for theological and professional studies," accepts about 30 percent of applicants to make it one of the toughest tickets in Texas. Other religious schools had similar low acceptance rates, including Hardin-Simmons University (34.74%), University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (37.41%) and Houston Baptist University (37.77%).

Among other Houston schools, Texas Southern University accepts just over 36 percent of applicants, the University of Houston lets in 70 percent, and the University of St. Thomas admits 80 percent. University of Texas and Texas A&M fell somewhere in the middle, with acceptance rates of 48 percent and 69 percent, respectively.

If that sounds weird, how about imagining The University of Houston—Victoria (40.85%) as harder to get into than either the University of Houston main campus or even the University of Texas. It's obvious that without taking into account other factors like the high school GPA and average SAT scores of admitted students, the rankings can give a skewed impression on their face.

These overall statistics also fail to take into account tougher admission in a single program — like the music school at Sam Houston State — or to an honors program like UT's Plan II. And admissions policies vary widely — out-of-state applicants to UT have a much tougher time, for example, while Rice allegedly favors students who are not from Texas to maintain geographic diversity.

Basically, if you're looking for a challenge, sign up for a marathon. If you're choosing a school, ignore the selectivity factor and look at the colleges that have programs and admission standards that match your strengths and interests.

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income analysis

Texas families need to make this much money for one parent to stay home

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

As the cost of raising a child balloons in major cities like Houston, many families are weighing the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Houston — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Houston, however, is somewhat more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $21,868 to raise a child in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family