Northwestern University Overview
Located in Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University is a private not-for-profit institution. The city atmosphere of Evanston makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.
What Is Northwestern University Known For?
- Students at Northwestern may have an easier time interacting with their teachers since the student to faculty ratio at the school is 6 to 1.
- Students at Northwestern have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 1%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
- The highest award offered at Northwestern is the doctor's degree.
- In 2017-2018, 83% of the faculty were full-time.
- A student who earns a bachelor's degree from Northwestern makes roughly $69,000 a year. This is 69% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
- The average Northwestern student graduates in 4.1 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.
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Northwestern University Rankings
Northwestern landed the #16 spot in our 2021 ranking of best colleges. We analyzed 2,320 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation! It is also ranked #1 out of 98 schools in Illinois.
These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.
Northwestern has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.
Rank | Ranking Name | Share |
---|---|---|
#5 | Best Master’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#5 | Best Undergraduate Certificate Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#8 | Best Graduate Certificate Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#10 | Best Doctor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
#15 | Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools | Tweet It - Post It |
Program Level Awards
These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Northwestern.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards Northwestern has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#3 | Best Colleges for Communication & Journalism | College Factual |
#4 | Best Colleges for Psychology | College Factual |
#7 | Best Business Schools | Business Degree Central |
#8 | Best Colleges for Public Administration & Social Service | College Factual |
#9 | Best Colleges for Social Sciences | College Factual |
#14 | Best Colleges for History | College Factual |
Where Is 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 |
How Do I Get Into Northwestern?
You can apply to Northwestern online at: www.northwestern.edu/admissions/
Admission Requirements for Northwestern
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | recommended |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | required |
Recommendations | required |
SAT or ACT Scores | required |
TOEFL | required |
How Hard Is It To Get Into Northwestern?
Approximately 49% of accepted students are men and 51% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 9%, and the acceptance rate for women is 9%.
Average Test Scores
About 35% 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 770. Math scores were between 720 and 790.
Can I Afford Northwestern University?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
Student Loan Debt
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Northwestern, 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 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.
Northwestern University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 13,485 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 8,161 full-time undergraduates at Northwestern, 49% are male and 51% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of Northwestern University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 1,427 |
Black or African American | 474 |
Hispanic or Latino | 1,025 |
White | 3,655 |
International Students | 771 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 809 |
Geographic Diversity
Illinois students aren't the only ones who study at Northwestern University. At this time, 48 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 116 countries are represented at Northwestern. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and South Korea.
Online Learning at Northwestern University
The following chart shows how the online learning population at Northwestern has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 29th most popular in Illinois for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.
Online Growth Rankings of Northwestern
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Northwestern University was -17.6%. This is the #2,648 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Northwestern regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Northwestern majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
Major | 1-Year Growth Rate |
---|---|
Business, Management & Marketing | 1% |
Health Professions | 1% |
Information Science | 5% |
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods | 8% |
Public Administration & Social Service | 9% |
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Northwestern ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at Northwestern.
Major | Growth Rate Rank | |
---|---|---|
Communication & Journalism (Other) | #12 | |
Medical Illustration & Informatics | #40 | |
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods | #51 | |
Health Sciences & Services | #65 | |
Public Administration | #118 | |
Communication & Journalism | #184 | |
Public Administration & Social Service | #259 |
When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.
Northwestern University Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
References
*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.
- College Factual
- National Center for Education Statistics
- Image Credit: By Madcoverboy at en.wikipedia under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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