General Information

TCU is a major private teaching and research university with the residential, person-centered environment unusually found on a small college campus. While accomplishing its mission of educating individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community, the University provides the unique TCU Experience. This experience gives students an uncommon balance of at least four factors:

TCU offers the strengths and choices of a major university tempered with the true humanity of a small college and works to develop and nourish the individual talents of each student.

The University's teacher-scholars and artists conduct and publish research, express themselves artistically, and teach in a friendly, academic community. Professional staff members strive to be national leaders in their fields of expertise. TCU students, too, are uncommon and impressive, well-rounded individuals with high potential for success and leadership.

The University takes pride in its historic relationship with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which has always stressed a broad interpretation and respect for faith traditions. TCU does not seek to impose a particular religious point of view, but challenges each student to consider what he or she believes.

TCU's emphasis on the development of the individual takes place in part in an arts and science-centered education that is global in the broadest sense of the word, which is embraced by all seven schools and colleges. TCU promotes study-abroad and encourages faculty, staff and students to think about the future and what will be required to build a just, ethical and productive world community.

Comprised of seven academic divisions -- AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences, M.J. Neeley School of Business, the College of Communication, the School of Education, the College of Fine Arts, the College of Health and Human Sciences and the College of Science and Engineering -- the University is independent and self-governing.

Nationally recognized Division I-A athletics contributes to the vital collegiality of the campus. Of the 19 sports -- football and baseball for men; volleyball, rifle and soccer for women; and basketball, cross country, track, tennis, golf, and swimming and diving for men and women -- several are ranked in the Top 25 in the nation.

International study and experiences are an important part of TCU; the University ranks among the top 10 doctoral granting institutions in the United States in terms of the percentage of graduates who have studied abroad. Programs in various locations such as London, Edinburgh, Spain, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Chile provide students an opportunity to live and learn abroad.

The school that was to be TCU was born in the troubled years following the Civil War. In 1869, young brothers Addison and Randolph Clark began holding classes in the village of Fort Worth, from which cattle trails ranged northward. In 1873 they moved 40 miles away to establish AddRan Male and Female College at bucolic Thorp Spring. Inclusion of women in the title is arguably the first instance of coeducation in the Southwest.

After 20 years, the school affiliated with the Christian Churches of Texas and became AddRan Christian College. Moved to Waco in 1895, the school changed its name in 1902 to Texas Christian University. Fire destroyed its main building in 1910, and the University returned to Fort Worth and opened in its present location in 1911. Its future was assured in 1923 with a gift by Mrs. Mary Couts Burnett. (See "Milestones of History" under "Resources" on the main page for other important events.)

With a controlled enrollment of about 8,600 students, TCU draws from all 50 states and more than 75 countries. Of the 422 full-time faculty, 58 percent are tenured; the student:faculty ratio is about 15:1. The 250-acre campus, located only a few miles from downtown Fort Worth, houses about 3,100 students and offers a full range of activities and recreational facilities for students.

In short, higher education may be a business to some, but at TCU, we consider it our mission:

To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community.

Texas Christian University