13 MN Colleges Considered within the Top 500 Best in the Country
I had a dream nightmare last night that I was back in college.
The nightmare wasn't that I was back in college; it was that I had forgotten about a Tuesday night Psychology class I'd registered for and hadn't been attending. Now, half-way through the semester, I somehow had to find a way to catch up and pass the class. I spent the better part of the dream frantically trying to find someone who would share notes with me and curriculum books that weren't ridiculously overpriced. By the time I woke up, I hadn't accomplished either, and for some reason I didn't feel better knowing it was all just a dream.
While my college days are fortunately behind me, for many young Minnesotans the college days are yet to come or just ahead. For those students beginning to consider where they'd like to continue their education, the folks at WalletHub just revealed their rankings of 2022's Best Colleges and Universities.
"In a fierce global economy, a college degree can help secure employment and keep you ahead of the competition," writes WalletHub financial adviser Adam McCann. "Though success ultimately rests on students’ own determination and performance, the quality of the schools they choose can certainly have an impact." To determine the top-performing schools, WalletHub compared 1,015 higher-education institutions in the U.S. across 30 key measures in categories including Student Selectivity, Cost & Financing, Faculty Resources, Campus Experience and Career Outcomes.
Thirteen Minnesota colleges and universities made the final list of rankings, all of them within the top 50% of schools and three of them within the top 10%. They are:
#42 Carleton College (Northfield)
#60 Macalester College (St. Paul)
#76 St. Olaf College (Northfield)
#142 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (Minneapolis)
#201 Concordia College - Moorhead (Moorhead)
#214 University of Minnesota - Morris (Morris)
#218 College of St. Benedict (St. Joseph)
#251 Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato)
#263 St. John's University (Collegeville)
#291 St. Catherine University (St. Paul)
#360 University of St. Thomas (St. Paul)
#390 Augsburg University (Minneapolis)
#440 Hamline University (St. Paul)
Carleton College, Macalester College and St. Olaf College also all made Wallethub's ranking of Best Colleges and Universities in the Midwest, ranking #7, #9 and #10 respectively. See the full list and a breakdown of rankings and scores here.