For 18 consecutive years, Detroit Mercy has achieved top tier rankings for Midwest Best Regional Universities in the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” edition. This year, based on changes instituted by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Detroit Mercy is now ranked with the top national universities.
Detroit Mercy is ranked No. 179 for 2020 in the Best National Universities category and is one of four universities in Michigan ranked among the top 200 in the nation.
In addition to this new national ranking, Detroit Mercy also earned the following ranks in the National Universities category:
- Best Value Schools, National Universities – No. 45.
- Best School for Veterans, National Universities – No. 133.
- Best Overall Undergraduate Business Programs – No. 292.
- A+ Schools for B Students (these are not ranked).
“Detroit Mercy’s placement in this new category reaffirms our 142-year-old Jesuit and Mercy history of academic quality and excellence,” Detroit Mercy President Antoine M. Garibaldi, Ph.D., said.
“This ranking in U.S. News & World Report’s ‘Best Colleges’ edition, with many more of the nation’s well-known universities, is timely as Detroit Mercy implements numerous academic- and student-focused initiatives in its Strategic Plan 2019-2024: Boundlessly Forward to assure that our graduates will continue to attain both career and personal success,” he added.
This news follows the Wall Street Journal/The Times Higher Education 2020 rankings that appeared Sept. 4, in which Detroit Mercy is ranked among the top 20% of universities in the country (No. 172). Detroit Mercy is also the highest ranking private university in Michigan according to the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education 2020 report and has climbed almost 100 spots since the first report in 2017.
In 2019, U.S News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” edition ranked Detroit Mercy No. 25 for Midwest Best Regional Universities. The University was also one of only two universities in Michigan to be listed in the top 25.
Background on U.S. News & World Report Rank Carnegie Classification Change
The U.S. News collects data on more than 1,800 independent regionally accredited institutions. Before calculating the rankings, U.S. News groups colleges into categories based on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the most widely accepted classification system in U.S. higher education. Carnegie makes updates every few years and U.S. News follows these updates accordingly. As a result of the Carnegie 2018 update used in the upcoming 2020 U.S. News Best Colleges, the new classification change also includes professional practice doctoral degrees in such disciplines as law and dentistry. Since Detroit Mercy has both a School of Law and School of Dentistry, the University is now ranked among national institutions.
