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U.S. News and World Report rankings: What are the best colleges in MN?

By FOX 9 Staff
Published  September 24, 2024 4:15pm CDT
Education
FOX 9

(FOX 9) - Six Minnesota schools are ranked among the top colleges in the United States, according to a new ranking from U.S. News and World Report.

What we know

The U.S. News and World Report released its "2025 Best Colleges" rankings this week, putting six Minnesota universities among the best in the country.

The rankings use 17 metrics, including cost, graduation rates, and graduate earnings, and faculty salary, among other stats.

Minnesota school rankings

National College Rankings:

  • University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis: 54th in overall rankings
  • University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn.: 148th in overall rankings
  • St. Catherine University, St. Paul, Minn.: 214th in overall rankings
  • Bethel University, St. Paul, Minn.: 220th in overall rankings
  • The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minn.: 259th in overall rankings
  • Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, Winona, Minn.: 296th in overall rankings

National Liberal Arts College Rankings:

  • Carleton College, Northfield, Minn.: 8th in National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings
  • Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn.: 26th in National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings
  • St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.: 50th in National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings
  • Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn.: 66th in National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings
  • College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, Minn.: 71st in National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings
  • St. John's University, Collegeville, Minn.: 80th in National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings
  • University of Minnesota-Morris, Morris, Minn.: 122nd in National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings
  • Concordia College-Moorhead, Moorhead, Minn.: 126th in National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings
  • Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minn.: 147th in National Liberal Arts Colleges rankings

Midwest Regional Universities Rankings:

  • Hamline University, St. Paul, Minn.: 16th in Midwest rankings
  • University of Minnesota-Duluth, Duluth, Minn.: 20th in Midwest rankings
  • Augsburg University, Minneapolis, Minn.: 24th in Midwest rankings
  • Winona State University, Winona, Minn.: 28th in Midwest rankings
  • University of Northwestern-St. Paul, St. Paul, Minn.: 35th in Midwest rankings
  • Minnesota State University-Moorhead, Moorhead, Minn.: 54th in Midwest rankings
  • Minnesota State University-Mankato, Mankato, Minn.: 60th in Midwest rankings
  • Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minn.: 91st in Midwest rankings
  • Concordia University-St. Paul, St. Paul, Minn.: 96th in Midwest rankings
  • St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minn.: 98th in Midwest rankings
  • Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, Minn.: 103rd in Midwest rankings
  • Southwest Minnesota State University, Marshall, Minn.: 109th in Midwest rankings
  • Crown College, St. Bonifacius, Minn.: 130th in Midwest rankings

Criticisms of the U.S. News rankings

In recent years, the U.S. News rankings have faced criticism from educators, with some accusing the formula for the rankings to be reductive and simplistic.

Some major colleges have stopped providing data to U.S. News due to perceived flaws with the system. In 2022, Yale Law School, which had routinely claimed the top spot in the ranking of law schools, stopped providing its data. Its dean, Heather Gerken, wrote in a letter: "In recent years, we have invested significant energy and capital in important initiatives that make our law school a better place but perversely work to lower our scores. That’s because the U.S. News rankings are profoundly flawed — they disincentivize programs that support public interest careers, champion need-based aid, and welcome working-class students into the profession. We have reached a point where the rankings process is undermining the core commitments of the legal profession. As a result, we will no longer participate."

The National Education Policy Center, a nonprofit organization within the University of Colorado-Boulder, has also criticized the college and high school rankings. It also finds flaws with the way U.S. News compiles its high school rankings.

"By reducing lots of different school quality factors to a single number, all U.S. News rankings oversimplify academic quality," reads a blog post from the center. "Because U.S. News seeks to rank in volume with insufficient investigative resources, its criteria fail to capture the nuances of the complex institutions. And the differences in school rank are not based on genuinely statistically significant discrepancies."