Known as the "public Ivy League", Michigan State University is very strong, with more than 30 academicians from the National Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering and the School of Education, and many Nobel Prize winners. According to the QS World University Ranking in 2022, Michigan State University ranked 157, followed by Hanyang University and the University of Maryland.

Michigan State University has the top scientific research strength and is one of the famous scientific research engines in America. It also has the oldest landscape architecture major and the second oldest hotel management college in the United States. The school's overseas study courses offer more than 200 majors in more than 60 countries, covering all continents (including Antarctica), and it is the largest single-campus university in the United States.