BEMIDJI, Minn. (Aug. 17, 2010) — For the third consecutive year, Bemidji State University has earned a place in the top tier of the U.S. News and World Report rankings of America’s colleges and universities in the Midwest region.

The University tied with two other institutions for 92nd among all colleges and universities in the region and ranked 35th among public universities in the region.

“Once again, Bemidji State University is ranked among the top tier of regional institutions in the Midwest, and we’re very proud of that,” Bemidji State University President Dr. Richard Hanson said. “The rankings reflect the University’s continued commitment to excellence through its stellar academic programs and educational experiences.”

Among other rankings released for universities in the Midwest region, Bemidji State tied for 26th in rankings of a school’s population of international students and tied for 42nd in the economic diversity category, with 31 percent of its students receiving Pell grants.

U.S. News & World Report classifies Bemidji State University as a regional university in its Midwest region. The publication defines regional universities as those offering a full range of undergraduate programs with some master’s, but few doctoral, programs. America’s Best Colleges 2011 ranks 572 universites classified as regional institutions across four regions: North, South, Midwest and West.

The publication’s Midwest region includes North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

Ranking methodology
To rank colleges, U.S. News & World Report:
• Places each school into a category based on its mission — research university or national liberal arts college — and, for universities offering a range of master’s programs and colleges focusing on undergraduate education without a particular emphasis on the liberal arts, into one of four geographic regions;
• Gathers data from and about each school in 16 areas related to academic excellence. Each indicator is assigned a weight, expressed as a percentage, based on the organization’s judgments about which measures of quality matter most;
• Ranks colleges based on their composite weighted score. U.S. News publishes the numeric rank of roughly the top three-fourths of schools in each of the 10 categories; the remaining lowest ranked schools in each category are placed into the Second Tier, listed alphabetically, based on their overall score in their category.

U.S. News & World Report began publishing America’s Best Colleges in 1983.