Michigan State University

In brief

Michigan State University, in East Lansing, was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the US. It served as a model for the land-grant colleges created under the Morrill Act of 1862 and became Michigan’s land-grant college in 1863. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #53 in the United States and #146 in the world. It admitted 84.8% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1270 and a median ACT score of 28.

It took its present name in 1964. With nearly 50,000 students, it is one of the largest universities in the US.

Where Michigan State’s influence is strongest

Michigan State’s influence is led by business, nursing, and biology. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:

• Business: #27 in the US (#57 in the world)
• Nursing: #29
• Biology: #30
• Education: #31
• Criminal justice and sociology: #36 each

Within those fields, Michigan State is a national leader in several specialties:

• #1 in the US: supply chain management
• #3 in the US: industrial and organizational psychology (behind Baruch College and Cornell) and feminist philosophy (behind Harvard and the University of Chicago)
• #4: horticulture
• #7: rehabilitation medicine

By comparison, Michigan State sits further back in philosophy (#66), anthropology (#69), and religious studies (#70).

How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.

Notable people

Michigan State is associated with three Nobel laureates: the physicist Albert Fert, the chemist Robert Grubbs, and the bacteriologist Alfred Hershey. Other MSU-connected figures include the novelists Richard Ford and Jim Harrison, the filmmaker Sam Raimi, the actor James Caan, the political theorist Russell Kirk, the psychologist Rollo May, Gary Starkweather, inventor of the laser printer, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Our full lists of Michigan State’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.

Frequently asked questions

Is Michigan State hard to get into? No. It admitted 84.8% of applicants for fall 2024; the middle half of admitted students scored 590–680 on the SAT reading section and 590–680 on math.

What does Michigan State cost after financial aid? Tuition is $17,256 for Michigan residents and $44,640 for out-of-state students in 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $14,300 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $11,741 for incomes below $30,000 to $30,356 for incomes above $110,000.

How do Michigan State graduates do? 80.3% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 90% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $74,168.

What is Michigan State best known for academically? By our influence data: business, nursing, biology, and education, plus supply chain management, where it ranks first in the country.