Colleges in Dallas
In the heart of Texas, Dallas is the third most populous city in the state and home to 38 colleges within the metropolitan area. The economy of the city is diverse, with predominant sectors that include defense, financial services, and information technology. It is also a significant portion of what’s called the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, a conglomerate of 13 counties that contain a quarter of Texas’ population, and makes it the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country.
Within Dallas city limits is the very selective University of Texas Southwestern Medical School within the UTS Medical Center, which is part of the UT system. The Texas Woman’s University, also part of the UTS Medical Center, is a nursing school at the Parkland Memorial Hospital. The city also hosts Dallas Baptist University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Criswell College, all of which have prominent religious affiliations. The only historically black university in the city is Paul Quinn College, a private institution founded in 1990. The first, and currently only, public university within Dallas city limits is the University of North Texas at Dallas, which was founded in 2000 as a branch campus. The Dallas County Community College District maintains seven campuses within Dallas and the Dallas area.
The Dallas metropolitan area includes five counties: Dallas, Collin, Denton, Rockwall, and Kaufman, and, between them all, there are a wide variety of institutions, including the University of Texas at Dallas. This high-research institution consistently makes national rankings and has a student population of more than 25,000 students. In the nearby suburbs is the University of Texas at Arlington, Tarleton State University, Dallas Christian College, and Arlington Baptist College, as well as Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, and the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth.
Transportation within and around the Dallas and Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex are heavily dependent on automobiles. There are rail, bus, and HOV lanes provided by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority.