by our College Data Analytics Team
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
Northwestern University was awarded 111 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is general psychology.
Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.
According to College Factual's 2025 analysis, Northwestern is ranked #5 out of 2,152 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation! Northwestern has maintained this ranking for at least two years in a row.
Northwestern also holds the #2 spot on the Best Colleges in Illinois ranking.
Even if you have the best grades and high test scores, that may not be enough to get into Northwestern since the school has one of the most selective in the country. Its acceptance rate is a mere 7%, so there's no shame if you don't get in. Be sure to apply to other schools just in case.
About 47% of students accepted to Northwestern submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 730 and 770. Math scores were between 760 and 800.
The student to faculty ratio is often used to measure the number of teaching resources that a college or university offers its students. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1, but at Northwestern it is much better at 6 to 1. That's good news for students who want to interact more on a personal level with their teachers.
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 Northwestern University is 81%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Northwestern University has a freshmen retention rate of 98%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Northwestern the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 85%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Northwestern University.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 8,559 undergraduates at Northwestern with 8,095 being full-time and 464 being part-time.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $3,393 | $2,389 | $6,079 | $19,672 | $48,102 |
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 for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Northwestern, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Northwestern, approximately 20% of students took out student loans averaging $6,973 a year. That adds up to $27,892 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Northwestern is 1.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.
See which majors at Northwestern University make the most money.
Get more details about the location of Northwestern University.
Contact details for Northwestern are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 633 Clark St, Evanston, IL 60208 |
| Phone: | 847-491-3741 |
| Website: | www.northwestern.edu/ |
| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods | 1,675 | NA |
| Radio, Television & Digital Communication | 694 | $24,611 |
| Economics | 421 | $84,932 |
| Legal Research | 353 | NA |
| Finance & Financial Management | 351 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 347 | NA |
| Mental & Social Health Services | 347 | NA |
| Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology | 347 | NA |
| Law | 290 | NA |
| Marketing | 244 | NA |
Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
In 2022-2023, 2,717 students took at least one online class at Northwestern University. This is an increase from the 1,740 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-2023 | 2,717 | 1,123 |
| 2021-2022 | 1,740 | 1,740 |
| 2020-2021 | 329 | 329 |
| 2018-2019 | 654 | 654 |
Learn more about online learning at Northwestern University.
If you’re considering Northwestern University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
Curious on how these schools stack up against Northwestern? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!
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
More about our data sources and methodologies.