Northwestern University Data & Information Overview
Get the facts about Northwestern University. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more. Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taked to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.- 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?
2023 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 3,997 badges in the 2023 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is keyboard instruments.
Overall Quality
College Factual ranked Northwestern as #5 out of 2,241 colleges and universities in the country on its 2023 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation! This is an improvement over the previous year, when Northwestern held the #14 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.
Northwestern also holds the #1 spot on the Best Colleges in Illinois ranking.
See all of the rankings for Northwestern University.
Is It Hard to Get Into Northwestern?
Acceptance Rate
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 9%, so there's no shame if you don't get in. Be sure to apply to other schools just in case.
Average Test Scores
About 58% 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 700 and 760. Math scores were between 730 and 790.
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 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 84%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at Northwestern University
Freshmen Retention Rate
The freshmen retention rate of 97% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Northwestern 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.
Graduation Rate
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at Northwestern for first-time, full-time students is 84%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Northwestern University.
Northwestern University Undergraduate Student Diversity
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 8,559 undergraduates at Northwestern with 8,095 being full-time and 464 being part-time.
How Much Does Northwestern University Cost?
The overall average net price of Northwestern is $23,279. 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
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $245 | $917 | $5,849 | $15,686 | $41,660 |
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.
Student Loan Debt
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 23% of students took out student loans averaging $5,696 a year. That adds up to $22,784 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Northwestern is 0.6%. 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 Graduates Make?
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from Northwestern make about $80,033 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future Northwestern graduates since it is 88% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 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 situated in Evanston, Illinois. The location of Northwestern is great for students who prefer living in an urban area.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/ |
| 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 136 majors graduated from Northwestern University. Of these students, 2,722 received undergraduate degrees and 6,235 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 | 351 | $71,488 |
| Radio, Television & Digital Communication | 263 | $27,414 |
| General Psychology | 124 | $34,751 |
| Political Science & Government | 117 | $45,960 |
| General Biology | 112 | $19,001 |
| Communication & Media Studies | 111 | $48,590 |
| Computer Science | 107 | $84,037 |
| Neurobiology & Neurosciences | 99 | $19,214 |
| Drama & Theater Arts | 98 | $23,935 |
| Music | 81 | $38,199 |
Online Learning at Northwestern
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 2019-2020, 329 students took at least one online class at Northwestern University. This is a decrease from the 418 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-2020 | 329 | 329 |
| 2018-2019 | 418 | 418 |
| 2017-2018 | 654 | 654 |
| 2016-2017 | 1,281 | 1,281 |
| 2015-2016 | 1,387 | 1,387 |
Learn more about online learning at Northwestern University.
Find Out More About 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? 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!
Notes and References
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
- 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.
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