University of Detroit Mercy ranked No. 43 in U.S. by The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse as it welcomes a record first-year class

DETROIT, Sept. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2024-25 academic year at University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) is off to a record-breaking start with the largest first-year class in more than 30 years and a ranking that puts it among the top 50 universities in the country.

The 2025 Wall Street Journal/College Pulse ranked UDM No. 43 in the nation, nine places higher than it ranked UDM last year.

UDM's ranking was derived after being placed

• No. 39 in social mobility, an increase of nine spots from 2024 rankings.
• No. 44 in best salaries, an increase of 21 spots from 2024 rankings (previously titled Salary Impact).
• No. 91 in best value, a new category for 2025.

The 2025 ranking also makes UDM

• The second-highest ranked university in Michigan.
• The No. 2 Catholic university in the Midwest.
• The sixth-highest ranking Catholic university in the United States.
• The fifth ranked university among all Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities in the country.

Last year's No. 52 ranking led, in part, to a record first-year class this fall of 655 students on the McNichols Campus. This is an 18.7% increase over last year and largest incoming class since 1990. The 2024 class includes students from Michigan and 20 states and nine countries. Fifty percent of new students are the first in their family to attend university.

With this record class and student retention above the national average for last year's first-year class, UDM is on target for an overall enrollment of more than 5,700.

One draw for new students to UDM was the new Titan Edge program, which offers free tuition to first-year students eligible for the maximum federal Pell Grant and the Michigan Achievement Scholarship. Detroit Mercy also earned significant news coverage last year. In April, UDM opened the Detroit Mercy Eye Institute at its Novi Campus. Also in April, the University hosted U.S. Sen. and Detroit Mercy alumnus Gary Peters and National Cyber Director Harry Coker Jr. to observe the groundbreaking work by UDM's Vehicle Cyber Engineering Program. The U.S. Department of defense also provided $1.6 million in grants to establish the Metro Detroit Regional Vehicle Cybersecurity Institute.

In addition, UDM had a record-breaking fundraising year, with donors supporting UDM with more than $25 million in gifts that provide scholarships and faculty and programmatic support.

SOURCE University of Detroit Mercy