Blog · From the data · October 2, 2026
Dallas's engineering magnet sent 34 graduates to Texas A&M and 3 to UT Austin
- At the School of Science and Engineering in Dallas, 34 graduates in the Class of 2025 enrolled at Texas A&M University. 3 enrolled at The University of Texas at Austin, the same 3 as the University of Pennsylvania.
- The University of Texas at Arlington drew 8 from that class. The University of Texas at Dallas drew 12. Both are bigger numbers than Austin's.
- Across the 18 Texas lists that print counts, UT Austin (641) and Texas A&M (453) are the two biggest destinations, and together they hold 15.2 percent of everything counted. This one school's list points somewhere else.
If you live in Dallas and your kid is strong in math, you have heard the plan. Test into the engineering magnet downtown. Work hard for four years. The magnet hands you Austin. That is the story families drive across the city for.
Then I read the school's own list.
A matriculation list is where a school says its graduates enrolled. The School of Science and Engineering published one for the Class of 2025, in a document titled "ADMISSIONS AND SCHOLARSHIPS". It names 47 colleges and prints a number beside each one.
Texas A&M University is first, with 34 students. The University of Texas at Dallas is second, with 12. The University of Texas at Arlington is third, with 8. Then Case Western Reserve University with 6 and the University of Michigan with 6. Four colleges tie at 3 each: Dallas College, Southern Methodist University, The University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Read that last line twice. At the city's engineering magnet, Austin and Penn drew the same number of graduates. Arlington drew more than either.
Austin was not the destination.
Our boards rank schools by their own published counts, one graduating class at a time. This school stands first of the 18 on the UT Dallas board and first of the 10 on the UT Arlington board.
Statewide, the flagships do pull. Eighteen Texas high schools print a count beside each college. Add up the counts those 18 printed, which is our arithmetic on their numbers and not any one school's figure, and University of Texas, Austin leads with 641, Texas A & M University, College Station follows with 453. Together they are 15.2 percent of every student counted.
So the pull is real. This one school's graduates went elsewhere anyway.
The list does not say why, and I am not going to guess. It carries no class size, so no percentage can come out of it. What it does tell you is where the seats went.
Here is what I would say across the kitchen table. Your kid's college list is built from reputation. The school's list is built from what families chose once the offers and the prices were in front of them. The second one is free to read.
Pull up your own school. Find the five colleges with the biggest numbers. Ask yourself whether you would be glad about any of them, because that is the honest range. Then ask the counselor what changed since last year.
Start with the School of Science and Engineering, then look up your own.