Michigan State University is one of the top 20 public universities in the nation, according to an annual ranking of higher education institutions by Washington Monthly magazine.
The 2013 rankings place MSU 20th on the list of public universities and 30th among national universities, which includes both public and private schools. MSU moved up four places on the national list from 2012.
In the Big Ten, only four schools ranked higher than MSU (Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio State).
The University of California-San Diego was the top-ranked school, followed by the University of California-Riverside and Texas A&M University.
Washington Monthly rates schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students); research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and doctorate degrees); and service (encouraging students to give something back to their country).