Overview

By comparing ourselves to a group of referent institutions, we can identify areas of distinctiveness and benchmark our performance over time. In 2015, the President’s Advisory Team identified 22 private institutions to serve, where possible, as a comparative group in the assessment of the strategic plan’s metrics. The group is aspirational by design, with 17 of the 22 schools ranking higher than Marquette in the U.S. News and World Report Best National Universities ranking.


For many of the strategic plan’s metrics, institution-level data are available for each of the 22 referent schools. Often, the availability of comparison data lags by a year or more. For some metrics, comparison data cannot be disaggregated by school; thus, only group comparison statistics are shown. For internally-tracked metrics, although comparative data are not available, the data will be tracked over time


Marquette | BC | BU | Baylor | Brandeis | Dayton | DePaul | Denver | Emory | Fordham | GU | GWU | Lehigh | Loyola Chi | Miami | ND | Northeastern | SLU | SMU | Syracuse | Tufts | Tulane | Wake


Marquette University

Milwaukee, WI
Religious affiliation: Catholic, Jesuit
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 11,745

Baylor University

Waco, TX
Religious affiliation: Baptist
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 16,263

Boston College (BC)

Chestnut Hill, MA
Religious affiliation: Catholic, Jesuit
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 14,317

Boston University (BU)

Boston, MA
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 32,112

Brandeis University

Waltham, MA
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 5,945

University of Dayton

Dayton, OH
Religious affiliation: Catholic
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 23,799

DePaul University

Chicago, IL
Religious affiliation: Catholic
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 23,799

University of Denver

Denver, CO
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 11,809

Emory University

Atlanta, GA
Religious affiliation: Methodist
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 14,769

Fordham University

Bronx, NY
Religious affiliation: Catholic, Jesuit
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 15,231

Georgetown University (GU)

Washington, DC
Religious affiliation: Catholic, Jesuit
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 17,858

George Washington University (GWU)

Washington, DC
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 25,613

Lehigh University

Bethlehem, PA
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 7,119

Loyola University Chicago

Chicago, IL
Religious affiliation: Catholic, Jesuit
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 15,902

University of Miami

Coral Gables, FL
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 16,674

University of Notre Dame (ND)

Notre Dame, IN
Religious affiliation: Catholic
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 12,179

Northeastern University

Boston, MA
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 19,798

St. Louis University (SLU)

Saint Louis, MO
Religious affiliation: Catholic, Jesuit
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 17,052

Southern Methodist University (SMU)

Dallas, TX
Religious affiliation: Methodist
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 11,272

Syracuse University

Syracuse, NY
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 21,492

Tufts University

Medford, MA
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 10,907

Tulane University of Louisiana

New Orleans, LA
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 12,603

Wake Forest University

Winston Salem, NC
Religious affiliation: none
Fall 2014 student enrollment: 7,788