Montana State University-Bozeman Achievements With 40 recipients, MSU is among the top six universities in the country in the number of recipients of Goldwater Scholarships. Goldwaters are America's premier science award established by Congress in 1986 to encourage young science talent. Montana State University-Bozeman undergraduate accounting students have been ranked 14 times in the top 10 schools in the nation for a first-time pass rate of the National Association of State Boards of Account-ancy's Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam. MSU student Chelsea Elander was the recipient of a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship in 1999. Elander also received a coveted Truman Fellowship in 1999. MSU graduate Michelle Miles won the George Mitchell Scholarship, or the Irish Rhodes, in 2001. MSU student Kay Kirkpatrick won the Alice T. Schafer Prize given to the nation's best female undergraduate mathematics student. In its most recent survey of public research universities in the U.S., the National Science Foundation placed MSU in the top 100 based on expenditures for research and scholarship. Fourteen students have been selected to USA Today's All-USA Academic team -- placing MSU among the top schools in the nation with multiple academic all-American selections. Four more MSU students have been named to honorable mention teams. MSU is among the leaders in the nation for Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowships with 17 awards in 18 years. Since 1994, when the MSU Family Nurse Practitioner program started, graduates have had a 100 percent pass rate on their national certifying exams. MSU's College of Nursing program is the seventh largest in the country. Over the past five years, an average of more than 94 percent of College of Nursing graduates have passed the National Licensure Exam (NCLEX) compared to a national average of 85.4 percent. In 1997-98, an MSU nursing student was president of the National Student Nurses Assoc. MSU's engineering graduates have a pass rate of 90 percent on the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam compared to a national average of approximately 70 percent. The most recent MSU pass rate was 96 percent. MSU applicants for dietetics internships have a 94 percent success rate compared to a national internship placement average of 50 percent. Since 1982, MSU students taking the National Registration Examination for Dietitians have had an 100 percent pass rate. MSU architecture graduates place in the top 5 percent in the national exam on architectural design. MSU student-athletes have ranked first in total Academic All-Big Sky Conference selections since 1976 and are also number one in national scholarship and academic awards. Ninety-six percent of MSU's undergraduate teacher candidates equaled or exceeded the Montana state standards for passing scores on all portions of the Preprofessional Skills Test (PPST).