Civil engineering program ranks No. 15 in the nation; LETU lands among the top private schools and best values in the West.
LONGVIEW, Texas — LeTourneau University earned five rankings in U.S. 
News & World Report's 2027 Best Colleges, released this month, with recognition spanning academic reputation, affordability, and engineering program quality.
With this year's rankings, the Christian Polytechnic University improved in each of the three categories it repeated from a year ago and appeared on two lists for the first time.
LETU rose seven spots to No. 29 among Regional Universities in the West, placed No. 12 among top private schools in that same group, and ranked No. 14 for best value. Nationally, the university's undergraduate engineering program climbed six spots to No. 32 among programs at institutions that do not offer doctorates, and its civil engineering program ranked No. 15 in the country.
"Rankings are not why we do this work, but they are a useful mirror," said Dr. Steven D. Mason, President of LeTourneau University. "What this list reflects is eighty years of a very particular conviction: that rigorous technical and applied education and serious spiritual formation belong together, not in separate rooms. Our founder built machines that moved mountains and believed his workbench was a mission field. That is still the education we offer, and it turns out the world is looking for it."
The rankings arrive as the university builds toward the opening of its $52 million Christian Polytechnic University Center, a facility designed to expand hands-on, industry-aligned learning environments across disciplines.
"Five recognitions across three very different measures — reputation, value, and program quality — help showcase just how dedicated our faculty are as they serve our students," said Dr. Benjamin W. Caldwell, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. "Our faculty know their students by name and put them in labs and on design teams from the first year forward. That is meticulous, extensive, hands-on work. Seeing it register nationally is a testament to the effort they're putting forth."
For a university built on laboratory work, apprenticeship, and job placement, the ROI of a degree from LeTourneau is tangible. Within six months of commencement, 97 percent of LeTourneau graduates were employed or enrolled in graduate school, according to the university's most recent first-destination survey.
Civil engineering: No. 15 in the nation
LeTourneau's civil engineering program ranked No. 15 nationally among 
institutions whose highest engineering degree is a bachelor's or master's. The ranked field includes Harvey Mudd College, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Cooper Union, and the U.S. Military, Naval, and Air Force academies. LeTourneau is the only university among them that belongs to the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, an association of more than 130 Christ-centered institutions in the United States.
The university offers four ABET-accredited engineering degrees spanning seven engineering disciplines, and its B.S. in Civil Engineering has been separately accredited by ABET's Engineering Accreditation Commission since 2020. Every engineering student is hands-on from day one in dedicated engineering laboratories, formed in a relationally rich environment by professors who deeply care about their development, and finishes with a two-semester, large-scale team-based design experience.
"Fifteenth in the country for civil engineering is a remarkable thing," said Dr. Michael McGinnis, Dean of the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology. "We're one of the largest Christian engineering schools in the country, with a comprehensive offering of technical specialties and programs. What distinguishes us goes far beyond the technical, however — we define engineering as loving God and loving people through the application of those critical technical skills. We're emphasizing deep human connection and clarity of purpose right alongside technical competency."
Value: quality and cost on the same page
LeTourneau's No. 12 placement among private universities in the West sits alongside its No. 14 ranking for best value in the same group, a pairing that presents itself as a fundamentally useful signal for families comparing private options.
"Families in East Texas and far beyond are asking a sharper question than they used to: what do I actually get for this investment," said Cindy Sisson, Interim Vice President for Enrollment, Marketing and Communications. "The Best Value ranking answers part of it. Our graduate outcomes answer the rest. A student can study in Longview, be taught by faculty who know their name, graduate into an in-demand field, and do it at a cost that makes sense. That combination is rarer than it should be, and it's located right here in East Texas."
