Northwestern University Data & Information Overview

Find out more about how Northwestern University ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below. If you're interested in learning more about a particular stat, just click on its tile to go to a new page that covers the topic more in-depth. Also, you can jump to any section of this page by clicking one of the links below.

• Rankings
• Admission and Acceptance
• Faculty
• Retention and Graduation Rates
• Diversity
• Cost
• Student Debt
• Average Earnings
• Location
• Majors
• Online Learning
• Related Schools

How Well Is Northwestern University Ranked?

2021 Rankings

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 188 badges in the 2021 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is journalism.

Overall Quality

Northwestern U landed the #12 spot in College Factual's 2021 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 1,715 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation!

Out of the 61 colleges in Illinois, Northwestern U is ranked at #1.

See all of the rankings for Northwestern University.

Is It Hard to Get Into Northwestern U?

Acceptance Rate

Northwestern University has a very low acceptance rate of 9%, making it one of the most selective out of all the colleges and universities in the nation. It's probably a good idea to apply to other schools in addition to Northwestern U just in case you don't make the cut.

Average Test Scores

About 35% of students accepted to Northwestern U submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 700 and 770. Math scores were between 720 and 790.

Northwestern U received ACT scores from 77% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 32 and 34.

Learn more about Northwestern University admissions.

Northwestern University Faculty

Student to Faculty Ratio

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 U 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.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

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 83%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Retention and Graduation Rates at Northwestern University

Freshmen Retention Rate

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.

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Northwestern U the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 82%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Northwestern University.

Excellent Overall Diversity at Northwestern U

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 8,700 undergraduates at Northwestern U with 8,205 being full-time and 495 being part-time.

Northwestern U Diversity Score

College Factual computes an overall diversity score for each college and university that takes gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and age into account. Schools with the best mixtures of students with respect to these factors are ranked the highest, and those that cater to just one or two student groups are ranked the lowest.

With an overall score of 99.49 out of 100, Northwestern U is one of the most diverse schools in the nation.

Get more detailed information on diversity and student demographics at Northwestern University.

How Much Does Northwestern University Cost?

The overall average net price of Northwestern U is $24,840. 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.

Net Price by Income Group for Northwestern U

$0-30 K	$30K-48K	$48-75	$75-110K	$110K +
$13,419	$7,429	$10,690	$17,142	$40,304

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 U, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

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 Northwestern U, approximately 17% of students took out student loans averaging $6,994 a year. That adds up to $27,976 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Northwestern U 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.

Get more details about paying for Northwestern University.

How Much Money Do Northwestern U Graduates Make?

Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Northwestern U with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $69,000 in their early years. That's great news for Northwestern U students since it is 73% more than the average college graduate's salary of $39,802 per year.

See which majors at Northwestern University make the most money.

Location of Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Evanston, Illinois. Evanston is a great location for students who prefer city over country life.

Get more details about the location of Northwestern University.

Contact details for Northwestern U are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	633 Clark St, Evanston, IL 60208
Phone:	847-491-3741
Website:	www.northwestern.edu
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/NorthwesternU
Twitter:	http://www.twitter.com/northwesternu

Northwestern University Majors

During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 140 majors graduated from Northwestern University. Of these students, 2,770 received undergraduate degrees and 5,729 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors	Bachelor’s Degrees	Average Salary of Graduates
Economics	369	$69,200
Journalism	178	$42,000
General Psychology	153	$36,000
Political Science & Government	123	$47,000
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	112	NA
General Biology	104	$30,500
Drama & Theater Arts	104	$20,600
Communication & Media Studies	96	$42,600
Music	94	$22,400
Industrial Engineering	83	$76,400

Learn more about the majors offered at Northwestern University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Northwestern U

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.

In 2017-2018, 654 students took at least one online class at Northwestern University. This is a decrease from the 1,281 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year	Took at Least One Online Class	Took All Classes Online
2017-2018	654	654
2016-2017	1,281	1,281
2015-2016	1,387	1,387
2014-2015	1,628	1,628
2013-2014	1,615	1,615

Learn more about online learning at Northwestern University.

Related Schools

If you’re considering Northwestern University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

• Case Western Reserve University
• Columbia University in the City of New York
• Johns Hopkins University
• University of Southern California
• Washington University in St Louis

Curious on how these schools stack up against Northwestern U? 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!

References

• National Center for Education Statistics
• College Scorecard
• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
• Image Credit: By Madcoverboy at en.wikipedia under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.