Winona State University has once again secured its position as the number one ranked college in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.
The 2024-25 rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report also list Winona State as second among top public universities in the State of Minnesota and third among public universities in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Across the 12-state Midwest Region – encompassing Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and the Dakotas, among others – Winona State is ranked seventh among top public universities, moving up two spots from its rank last year.
“These rankings confirm what we already know – Winona State is outperforming other universities across the Midwest region, from superior student support and financial aid opportunities to academic success and impressive graduate outcomes,” said Kenneth Janz, president of Winona State University. “We have the highest rates of student success among the 37 state colleges and universities in Minnesota, from our graduation rates to our 97 percent job placement rate for our graduates.”
Success for Winona State means success for Minnesota and for the region, Janz continued.
“Winona State plays a critical role in meeting the workforce needs of Minnesota communities and employers – nurses, teachers, IT professionals, business administration professionals. We’re working to serve industry needs by investing in new programs, like our Career and Technical Education program, and in programs where there is student demand, like our Nursing program, which has provided high quality nursing education to the region for almost 60 years.”
To calculate the rankings, U.S. News & World Report focuses on academic quality and places emphasis on outcome measures—including graduation rates, retention rates, graduate indebtedness, and social mobility. Outcomes are the most highly weighted ranking factor, contributing 40 percent to each school’s overall score.
U.S. News & World Report also ranks Winona State as one of the Best Colleges for Veterans. The university has been recognized annually since 2013, when U.S. News first began reporting on schools that make higher education more accessible and affordable for veterans and active service members. In this year’s list, the university retains its No. 2 position for public schools in Minnesota and moves up four spots overall to become the13th best college for Veterans in the Midwest region.
In the category of Social Mobility, Winona State also improved its standing, moving up one spot to rank third for public universities in Minnesota. This placement recognizes WSU’s success in enrolling and graduating large proportions of economically disadvantaged students.
Finally, U.S. News recognized Winona State as having top-ranking undergraduate programs in nursing, engineering, computer science, business and psychology.
Originally founded as a teacher’s college, Winona State University has more than 165 years’ experience educating top teaching professionals. Today, Winona State offers more than 200 majors and programs at the undergraduate, pre-professional, licensure, graduate, and doctorate level in five colleges: Business, Education, Liberal Arts, Nursing & Health Sciences, and Science & Engineering. The university’s Nursing program was established almost 60 years ago and is well-recognized throughout the region. In addition, Winona State is the only accredited undergraduate program in the U.S. that offers a Bachelor of Science in Composite Materials Engineering.
Complete listings are available at usnews.com/best-colleges.
For more information, contact the Marketing and Communications Office at wsunews@winona.edu.
