University of Detroit Mercy

Admission to the University of Detroit Mercy is relatively accessible, with steady national standing over recent years. In the US News ranking, the university stood at rank 179 in 2020 and placed at rank 186 in 2027. Gaining admission is manageable for most qualified applicants, as the school accepted 75.4% of applicants in 2025, which is higher than 53% of peer institutions in its comparison group of 30 private comprehensive universities. However, Detroit Mercy experiences a modest pull among admitted applicants. The yield rate was 13.2% in 2025, meaning roughly one out of eight admitted students decided to enroll. Because fewer than half of accepted students attend, applicants who meet the basic academic requirements face little competition or admissions pressure. For prospective students, this high acceptance and low yield suggest that admission is generally dependable.

Applicants to the University of Detroit Mercy face moderate standardized testing expectations alongside competitive high school grade profiles. In 2025, the median SAT score among enrolled students was 1120, a mark higher than 13% of peer schools among reporting private comprehensive universities. While test scores sit toward the lower end of the peer spectrum, incoming students generally present solid secondary school performance. In the 2022–2023 academic year, 22.0% of entering students earned a perfect 4.0 GPA, and 29.0% maintained a GPA between 3.75 and 3.99. Most successful candidates rank solidly in the upper tiers of their graduating classes. For prospective applicants, securing admission does not require elite standardized scores, but maintaining a strong high school academic record is the most critical component for a competitive application.

Undergraduate degrees at University of Detroit Mercy are concentrated in a few specific fields, with the top three bachelor majors accounting for 72.6% of all 1,077 bachelor degrees awarded in 2025. General Engineering was by far the largest undergraduate major, producing 460 graduates. While technical fields draw the highest volume of students, the university's strongest national rankings lie in business and specialized healthcare. In the 2027 U.S. News rankings, undergraduate Business Administration ranked 16th and Entrepreneurship ranked 24th nationally. At the graduate level, the Nurse Anesthesia program achieved a rank of 27 in 2026. Career earnings reflect the market demand for its primary professional pipelines. According to 2023 data, bachelor graduates in Mechanical Engineering achieved median earnings of $82,055 one year after graduation. Prospective students will find well-compensated pathways in engineering and health, though general program options outside the primary vocational fields remain relatively limited.

The student body at the University of Detroit Mercy is distributed across undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. In 2025, the undergraduate freshman class reflected a predominantly domestic makeup. Within this entering cohort, Asian students numbered 53, representing 8.2% of the class, while international students numbered 33, accounting for 5.1%. Graduate enrollment forms a substantial component of the overall student population, where international students play a notably larger role, comprising about one-fifth of all master's and doctoral candidates. Asian representation at the graduate level remains comparable to that of the undergraduate ranks. Additionally, specialized non-degree programs bring in a substantial contingent of international learners. Overall, the university balances a locally rooted undergraduate student body with a globally diverse advanced degree community.

The undergraduate student body at University of Detroit Mercy is composed almost entirely of traditional college-aged students. In 2025, out of 3,352 undergraduates, 36.4% were aged 18 to 19 and 35.7% were aged 20 to 21, indicating an active on-campus cohort advancing directly from secondary school. In contrast, the graduate division of 2,176 students is dominated by young professionals continuing their education. Students aged 22 to 24 made up 40.8% of graduate enrollment, followed by those aged 25 to 29 at 33.5%. This clear demographic distribution establishes a conventional undergraduate campus rhythm paired with a focused, early-career graduate population.

In 2025, international students represented 27.6% of the undergraduate student body, a dramatic increase over the past decade that places the university higher than 97% of peer institutions in its comparison group. Conversely, the international share among graduate students trended downward, settling at 19.9% in 2025. International degree recipients are heavily concentrated in specific technical disciplines. At the bachelor's level, international students earned nearly half of all degrees, led by General Engineering, where 100% of the graduates were international students. In contrast, health and nursing programs remain almost entirely domestic. At the master's level, international representation is most pronounced in Data Modeling, Warehousing and Database Administration, while doctoral international students cluster primarily in law and dentistry. Prospective international applicants will find an established global community in undergraduate engineering and selected technical fields, while health sciences remain primarily domestic.

Prospective applicants considering University of Detroit Mercy can evaluate several higher education institutions within the surrounding region. Situated just 5.2 kilometers away within Detroit, Wayne State University is a public National University tied in the 2027 U.S. News rankings at rank 186. Located 31.8 kilometers to the west is University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, a prominent National University holding rank 25 in 2027. Further west at a distance of 71.5 kilometers sits Michigan State University, ranked 69th among National Universities. Additionally, across the state line 57.5 kilometers away in Ohio, University of Toledo provides another public National University option at rank 299. These neighboring options give applicants a variety of institutional settings, from nearby urban campuses to major research universities.

Campus safety at the University of Detroit Mercy has shown consistent improvement in recent years. In 2025, the crime rate per 1,000 students dropped to 1.0, reflecting a notable decline from earlier in the decade. Across the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, documented incidents consisted primarily of internal campus disciplinary actions rather than violent offenses. Disciplinary referrals for drug violations formed the largest category, totaling 10 incidents, followed by 9 disciplinary referrals for alcohol policy violations. Property-related crimes were infrequent, with motor vehicle theft accounting for a small number of incidents over the same timeframe, while violent crimes such as rape remained rare. For students and families evaluating campus security, the environment is defined largely by low overall incident numbers, with policy infractions making up the majority of reported cases.