College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
       Unbiased Factual Guarantee

Purdue University - Main Campus Data & Information Overview

438 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
69% Acceptance Rate
If you want to know more about Purdue University - Main Campus, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.
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.

How Well Is Purdue University - Main Campus Ranked?

#40 Best Colleges in Nation
#2 Best Colleges in IN
Organizational Leadership Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2024 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.

Purdue University - Main Campus was awarded 438 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is organizational leadership.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

College Factual ranked Purdue as #40 out of 2,217 colleges and universities in the country on its 2024 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when Purdue held the #47 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

Purdue is also ranked #2 out of 42 schools in Indiana.

See all of the rankings for Purdue University - Main Campus.

Is It Hard to Get Into Purdue?

69% Acceptance Rate
44% Of Accepted Are Women
62% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Purdue University - Main Campus has an acceptance rate of 69%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for Purdue.

Average Test Scores

About 62% of students accepted to Purdue submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 590 and 690. Math scores were between 600 and 740.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Purdue University - Main Campus  ( 590 to 690 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Purdue University - Main Campus  ( 600 to 740 )
200
800
Purdue received ACT scores from 31% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 26 and 33.

ACT Composite Scores for Purdue University - Main Campus  ( 26 to 33 )
1
36

Learn more about Purdue University - Main Campus admissions.

Purdue University - Main Campus Faculty

14 to 1 Student to Faculty
96% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio is often used to estimate how much interaction there is between professors and their students at a college or university. At Purdue University - Main Campus, this ratio is 14 to 1, which is on par with the national average of 15 to 1. That's not bad at all.

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 Purdue University - Main Campus is 96%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  96 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Purdue University - Main Campus

91% Freshmen Retention
58% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

Purdue University - Main Campus has a freshmen retention rate of 91%. 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.

Freshmen Retention Rate  91 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Purdue the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 58%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  58 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Purdue University - Main Campus.

Purdue University - Main Campus Undergraduate Student Diversity

33,575 Full-Time Undergraduates
23.4% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
42.4% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 35,706 undergraduates at Purdue with 33,575 being full-time and 2,131 being part-time.

How Much Does Purdue University - Main Campus Cost?

$13,377 Net Price
30% Take Out Loans
$35,956 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Purdue is $13,377. 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 Purdue

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$5,995 $5,853 $8,450 $17,124 $20,859

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 Purdue, 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 Purdue, approximately 30% of students took out student loans averaging $8,989 a year. That adds up to $35,956 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Purdue is 1.7%. 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 Purdue University - Main Campus.

How Much Money Do Purdue Graduates Make?

$65,257 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Purdue with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $65,257 in their early years. This is good news for future Purdue graduates since it is 54% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

undefined

See which majors at Purdue University - Main Campus make the most money.

Location of Purdue University - Main Campus

Indiana State
33,575 Full-Time Undergraduates
Small City Campus Setting
Purdue University - Main Campus is a public institution situated in West Lafayette, Indiana. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

Get more details about the location of Purdue University - Main Campus.

undefined

Contact details for Purdue are given below.

Contact Details
Address: Hovde Hall Of Administration, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2040
Phone: 765-494-4600
Website: https://www.purdue.edu/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PurdueUniversity
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LifeAtPurdue

Purdue University - Main Campus Majors

117 Majors With Completions
8,243 Undergraduate Degrees
3,283 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 117 majors graduated from Purdue University - Main Campus. Of these students, 8,243 received undergraduate degrees and 3,283 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
Computer Science 476 $81,749
Mechanical Engineering 395 $73,563
Finance & Financial Management 276 $53,751
Industrial Engineering 264 $70,780
Mechanical Engineering Technology 254 $64,679
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 253 $62,537
Child Development & Psychology 251 $28,965
Computer Engineering 233 $76,843
Computer Software & Applications 222 $35,435
General Biology 215 $31,579

Learn more about the majors offered at Purdue University - Main Campus along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Purdue

47% Take At Least One Class Online
9% Take All Classes Online

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 2020-2021, 23,662 students took at least one online class at Purdue University - Main Campus. This is a decrease from the 38,274 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 23,662 4,423
2019-2020 38,274 8,309
2018-2019 10,129 2,731
2017-2018 9,238 2,597
2016-2017 7,841 2,494

Learn more about online learning at Purdue University - Main Campus.

If you’re considering Purdue University - Main Campus, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Purdue? 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

More about our data sources and methodologies.

Popular Reports

College Rankings
Best by Location
Degree Guides by Major
Graduate Programs

Compare Your School Options