Rankings

Value

• The University of Minnesota Twin Cities was ranked #10 in the Princeton Review's "Top 20 Best Schools for Financial Aid (Public Schools)" in 2023
• The Princeton Review also ranked the U of M #32 in their "Top 50 Best Value Colleges (Public Schools)" in 2024
• The University of Minnesota Twin Cities was named to Money’s 2020 Best Colleges list
• As a top research university the U of M earned a spot in the top 50 schools by the 2020 Best Global Universities rankings.
• CNBC named the University of Minnesota Twin Cities one of the Top 25 Public U.S. Colleges that Pay off the Most in 2020
• The University of Minnesota was named as a College that Pays You Back by Princeton Review in 2018.
• High retention rates, low student debt, and high graduate salaries earned the U of M Forbes magazine's most recent "rising star college" title.
• The University is consistently named a "Best Value" by Princeton Review, Money Magazine, and Forbes

Academics

• Times Higher Education named the University of Minnesota as the Top Public University in the United States in their Interdisciplinary Science Rankings for 2025, and sixth overall, among 749 total institutions in 92 countries. More about this ranking can be found here as well. 
• Basing its study on factors such as Nobel laureates and publications, the Shanghai Rankings' Academic Ranking of World Universities places the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in the Top 10 among public research universities in the United States, and Top 20 among public research universities in the world.
• The Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, also published by the Shanghai Rankings, named the U of M in the top 25 globally in 10 subjects:
  • Ecology (No. 2)
  • Psychology (No. 8)
  • Medical Technology (No. 11)
  • Communication (No. 11)
  • Veterinary Sciences (No. 14)
  • Library & Information Science (No. 14)
  • Education (No. 21)
  • Economics (No. 22)
  • Management (No. 23)
  • Statistics (No. 23)
• The Wall Street Journal named the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as one of America's Best Colleges 2025. 
• Niche named the University of Minnesota Twin Cities among their 2025 Best Colleges. Among the Rankings, the U of M ranks include several Top 50 rankings, including:
  • #19 Best College for Agricultural Sciences
  • #23 Best College for Information Technology
  • #34 Top Public Univeristies in America
  • #38 Best Big College in America
  • #46 Best College Athletics in America
  • #48 Best Colleges for Design in America
  • #50 Best Colleges for Education in America
• Niche also ranked the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as the Top College in Minnesota in a number of categories, including:
  • Top Public University overall
  • Best Location
  • Best Professors
  • Best Student Life
  • Psychology
  • Biology
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Accounting/Finance
  • Political Science
• Princeton Review named the University of Minnesota one of its Best Value Colleges for 2024. Their rankings included:
  • #20 in their Top 20 Best Schools for Financial Aid (Public Schools) 
  • #32 in their Top 50 Best Value Colleges (Public Schools).
• The University of Minnesota System ranks fifth in the United States in sustainability impact, according to Times Higher Education.
• The University of Minnesota is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, a distinguished organization comprised of only 62 research universities in the United States and Canada that "advance society through education, research, and discovery."
• The 2020 edition of US News and World Report ranked the College of Education and Human Development as:
  • #1 in Developmental Psychology (formerly Child Psych, technically housed in CLA and partnered with CEHD)
  • #13 Best Public Education Graduate School
  • #22 Best Education Graduate School
• The University of Minnesota Twin Cities Department of Asian Languages and Literatures has been selected to be the 12th Chinese language department in the nation offering a Chinese Flagship Program. Flagship Program grants are awarded by the Department of Defense and Institute of International Education.
• Rarig Center is fourth on the list of "Most Amazing College Campus Theaters" in the United States by BestCollegeReviews.org.
• The U of M’s College of Science and Engineering undergraduate program has been ranked #4 in the nation by CollegeChoice.net.
• The University of Minnesota Twin Cities has one of the best freshman retention rates in the country at 93.0%, according to College Factual, which also notes the average retention rate across the country is only 69.0%.
• The graduation rate at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has improved so much over the last 20 years, it is currently considered the single greatest turnaround among all doctoral-granting institutions in the United States. 
• Our Animal Science program in the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences (CFANS) is ranked #1 Best Value by College Factual.
• The U of M is ranked #8 in a list of the Top 10 Urban Campuses in America by College Magazine.
• The Princeton Review named the U of M as one of their Green Colleges in 2023
• The U of M's College of Pharmacy ranked #6 in the 2024 US News and World Report Rankings
• Our Occupational Therapy program finished in the top 20% of all OT program rankings, per US News and World Report

Research

• In 2019, the U of M was ranked 17th in the world for number of U.S. patents granted by the National Academy of Inventors.
• According to the "Top American Research Universities" report, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities ranks eighth for faculty awards received, ninth for research expenditures, and tenth for annual giving among public universities.
• The University of Minnesota Twin Cities ranked 13th among U.S. public research universities and 38th in the world in Newsweek's most recent "Top 100 Global Universities" report.
   

Research at the U of M