Graduate school may be a critical step in your higher education, whether you are interested in expanding your knowledge, learning a specialization, or earning advanced credentials required by your profession. The best graduate schools in Minnesota offer advanced degrees, such as master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as opportunities for independent research, mentorships, and professional networking.
One of largest public higher education institutes in the country, the University of Minnesota has main campuses in both of the Twin Cities, Saint Paul and Minneapolis. This school costs about $15,000 in tuition, and provides its students with competitive programs in fields like nursing, education, economics, and psychology. And the options don’t stop there. There are more than 20 schools in the state with religious affiliations, including larger schools like the University of St. Thomas, which campuses in both Twin Cities, and smaller schools like Oak Hills Christian College in Bemidji.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
For students striving to keep costs low in a smaller school environment, Southwest Minnesota State University offers tuition below the national average and serves about 3,500 students. Additionally, those on track to become a teacher or health care provider may be eligible for one of Minnesota’s loan forgiveness programs after graduation. Minnesota also boasts a large network of private colleges, two of which, Walden University and Capella University, primarily cater to online students.
Ever heard the phrase, There’s an app for that?
Well, in Minnesota they say something similar, There’s a festival for that.
This fun state doesn’t hold back when it comes to celebrating. With events like the Grumpy Old Men Festival, World Festival, and the Perham Turtle Fest, students earning their degrees at one of Minnesota’s more than 70 colleges won’t miss out on a good time.
Discover some of Minnesota’s top programs and learn how you can earn your associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree while cashing in on some of this state’s unique experiences.
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There are 14 doctorate-granting universities in Minnesota, 9 of which satisfy our criteria. The best graduate schools below are composed of both private and public schools that satisfy the following four conditions:
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why influence gets at the heart of what is truly best in education. At the undergraduate level, the best colleges and universities are those with the highest concentration of influence. Our Concentrated Influence metric adjusts overall influence by size of undergraduate student body, thus allowing smaller schools to compete with larger schools so long as they have proportionately as strong influential faculty and alums.
But at the graduate level, the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers is the best indicator of academic excellence. Overall influence, and not influence controlled by other variables, thus becomes the best gauge of academic excellence at the graduate level. Where smaller size is an advantage at the undergraduate level (hence Concentrated Influence), graduate studies benefit from a large and vibrant community of graduate students, who promise to become the new generation of academic influencers.
If you are serious about finding the best graduate schools, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Find out more about our methodology here.
Less Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
84%
Student body
44K
Median SAT/ACT
1370/28
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University of Minnesota’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
80%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1255/26
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University of St. Thomas ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$45K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
65%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/22
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Hamline University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
51%
Student body
13K
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Minnesota State University, Mankato’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
74%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/24
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Bethel University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
64%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1175/24
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St. Catherine University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
61%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/21
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Winona State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
62%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1113/23
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Saint Mary's University of Minnesota’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
48%
Student body
4K
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Concordia University, St. Paul’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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