by our College Data Analytics TeamDakota Wesleyan University is a private not-for-profit institution in Mitchell, South Dakota enrolling 670 undergraduates. It accepts 73% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 48%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #1,240 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 24%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Dakota Wesleyan University ranks #1,240 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 24%.
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, Dakota Wesleyan University is ranked #1,240 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.
Within the state, Dakota Wesleyan University holds the #11 spot on the Best Colleges in South Dakota ranking.
See all of the rankings for Dakota Wesleyan University.
Dakota Wesleyan University has an acceptance rate of 73%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it’s not the only school you apply to, even if it’s your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.
Learn more about Dakota Wesleyan University admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Dakota Wesleyan University is an impressive 12 to 1. That’s quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Dakota Wesleyan University is 52%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 75% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Dakota Wesleyan University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That’s certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Dakota Wesleyan University for first-time, full-time students is 48%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Dakota Wesleyan University.
During the most recent academic year, there were 670 undergraduates at Dakota Wesleyan University.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Dakota Wesleyan University.
The overall average net price of Dakota Wesleyan University is $17,140. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $15,251 | $15,750 | $15,927 | $19,048 | $22,416 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Dakota Wesleyan University, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
It’s not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Dakota Wesleyan University, approximately 73% of students took out student loans averaging $6,263 a year. That adds up to $25,052 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 7.8%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you’ll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans. Get more details about paying for Dakota Wesleyan University.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Dakota Wesleyan University make around $53,728 per year during the early years of their employment. This is right on par with the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. Also, graduates in your major field may make more.
See which majors at Dakota Wesleyan University make the most money.
Dakota Wesleyan University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Mitchell, South Dakota. The surrounding location of Mitchell is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town. Get more details about the location of Dakota Wesleyan University.
Contact information for Dakota Wesleyan University are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1200 W University Ave, Mitchell, SD 57301-4398 |
| Phone: | 6059952600 |
| Website: | www.dwu.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Wesleyan_University |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/dwublue |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/dakotawesleyan |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 14 majors graduated from Dakota Wesleyan University. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 224 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 70 | NA |
| Nursing | 33 | $60,155 |
| Other Business & Marketing | 22 | $61,623 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 15 | NA |
| Criminal Justice & Corrections | 11 | NA |
| Teacher Education Subject Specific | 10 | NA |
| Entrepreneurial Studies | 9 | NA |
| Educational Administration | 6 | NA |
| Health & Physical Education | 6 | $29,046 |
230 students took at least one online class at Dakota Wesleyan University.
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
Learn more about online learning at Dakota Wesleyan University.
Interested in comparing Dakota Wesleyan University? Pit them head to head with College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References