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Purdue University - Main Campus

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Purdue University - Main Campus Overview

Purdue University - Main Campus is a public institution located in West Lafayette, Indiana. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

What Is Purdue University - Main Campus Known For?

8,626 Undergraduate Awards
$33,226 Avg Cost After Aid
67% Acceptance Rate
  • The student loan default rate at Purdue is 2%, which is significantly lower than the national rate of 10.1%. That's great news for students who are worrying about paying off their student loans.
  • The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at Purdue.
  • For the 2017-2018 academic year, 96% of the faculty were full-time.
  • A student who earns a bachelor's degree from Purdue makes roughly $55,100 a year. This is 35% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.

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Purdue University - Main Campus Rankings

According to our 2022 analysis, Purdue is ranked #135 out of 2,587 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. Out of the 48 colleges in Indiana, it is ranked at #3.

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.

Purdue has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank Ranking Name Share
#36 Best Associate Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#73 Best Graduate Certificate Schools Tweet It - Post It
#96 Best Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#128 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 Purdue.

Rank Ranking Name Share
#1 Best Agricultural Engineering Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#1 Best Construction Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#1 Best Architectural Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#1 Best General Engineering Technology Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#2 Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#7 Best Architecture/Urban Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#8 Best Agriculture Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#12 Best Engineering Technologies Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#21 Best Communication & Journalism Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#103 Best Business, Management & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Purdue has earned from around the web.

Rank Ranking Name Source
#1 Best Architectural Engineering Technology Schools College Factual
#1 Best Agricultural Engineering Schools College Factual
#1 Best Soil Sciences Schools College Factual
#12 Best Engineering Technologies Schools College Factual
#100 Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools College Factual
#125 Best Business Schools Business Degree Central

Where Is Purdue University - Main Campus?

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Contact details for Purdue are given below.

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

How Do I Get Into Purdue?

You can apply to Purdue online at: https://www.admissions.purdue.edu/apply/apply.php

Admission Requirements for Purdue

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 neither required nor recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into Purdue?

67% Acceptance Rate
42% Of Accepted Are Women
82% Submit SAT Scores
The acceptance rate at Purdue is 67%, which is a sign that the school is fairly selective. While it may not be as hard to get into as other colleges, you should not take admission for granted.

Approximately 58% of accepted students are men and 42% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 63%, and the acceptance rate for women is 74%.

Average Test Scores

About 82% 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 580 and 680. Math scores were between 590 and 740.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Purdue University - Main Campus  ( 580 to 680 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Purdue University - Main Campus  ( 590 to 740 )
200
800
Purdue received ACT scores from 46% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 24 and 34. Math scores were between 26 and 33. Composite scores were between 25 and 33.

ACT English Scores for Purdue University - Main Campus  ( 24 to 34 )
1
36
ACT Math Scores for Purdue University - Main Campus  ( 26 to 33 )
1
36
ACT Composite Scores for Purdue University - Main Campus  ( 25 to 33 )
1
36

Can I Afford Purdue University - Main Campus?

$33,226 Net Price
29% Take Out Loans
2.2% Loan Default Rate
The overall average net price of Purdue is $33,226. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

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 Purdue, approximately 29% of students took out student loans averaging $8,522 a year. That adds up to $34,088 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Purdue is 2.2%. 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.

Purdue University - Main Campus Undergraduate Student Diversity

33,575 Full-Time Undergraduates
42% Women
23% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 35,706 undergraduate students at Purdue, with 33,575 being full-time and 2,131 being part-time.

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There are also 10,949 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 33,575 full-time undergraduates at Purdue, 58% are male and 42% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Purdue University - Main Campus students is as follows.

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 3,500
Black or African American 865
Hispanic or Latino 2,011
White 21,255
International Students 4,054
Other Races/Ethnicities 1,890

Geographic Diversity

Indiana students aren't the only ones who study at Purdue University - Main Campus. At this time, 49 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 135 countries are represented at Purdue. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and South Korea.

Online Learning at Purdue University - Main Campus

8,309 Took All Classes Online
38,274 Took At Least One Class Online
58.0% Avg Growth Over 4 Years
In 2019-2020, 38,274 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Purdue has changed over the last few years.

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This school is the 7th most popular in Indiana for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of Purdue

The following table shows how Purdue is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major Tuition for In-State Students Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Systems Theory #1 #4
Architectural Engineering Technology #1 #1
Linguistics & Comparative Literature #1 #1
Biomedical Engineering #1 #1
General Engineering Technology #4 #4
Engineering Technology (Other) #4 #7
Agricultural Economics & Business #4 #4
Agricultural Production #7 #7
Air Transportation #7 #7
Transportation & Materials Moving #10 #10
Chemical Engineering #10 #10
Economics #10 #13
Other Engineering #18 #24
Foreign Languages & Linguistics #19 #22
Hospitality Management #23 #35
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations #25 #28
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering #28 #37
Electrical Engineering #34 #58
Industrial Engineering #34 #43
Computer Science #34 #46
Mechanical Engineering #37 #49
Human Resource Management #38 #96
Communication & Media Studies #43 #61
Computer Information Systems #46 #88
Engineering-Related Fields #58 #82
Communication & Journalism #69 #96

Online Growth Rankings of Purdue

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Purdue University - Main Campus was 58.0%. This is the #609 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Purdue regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Purdue majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major 1-Year Growth Rate
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations 21%
Air Transportation 3%
Computer & Information Sciences 8%
Economics 12%
Education 15%
Electrical Engineering 6%
Engineering 8%
Engineering Technology (Other) 9%
Foreign Languages & Linguistics 2%
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities 29%
Liberal Arts General Studies 29%
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies 27%
Psychology 11%
Social Sciences 7%
Special Education 38%
Teacher Education Grade Specific 23%
Transportation & Materials Moving 3%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Purdue 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 Purdue.

Major Growth Rate Rank
Engineering Technology (Other) #1
Data Analytics #3
Agricultural Production #4
Business/Corporate Communications #4
Economics #6
Linguistics & Comparative Literature #7
Transportation & Materials Moving #10
Electrical Engineering #10
Air Transportation #10
General Engineering #13
Foreign Languages & Linguistics #22
Geography & Cartography #23
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations #25
Information Science #29
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods #30
Entrepreneurial Studies #32
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology #40
Engineering #46
Human Resource Management #61
Information Technology #65
Engineering Technologies #77
Special Education #85
Social Sciences #95
Psychology #96
Teacher Education Grade Specific #113
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies #127
Health & Medical Administrative Services #156
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities #157
Liberal Arts General Studies #157
Computer & Information Sciences #190
Education #328
Business Administration & Management #369
Health Professions #479
Business, Management & Marketing #484

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%.

Purdue University - Main Campus Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major Basic Certificate Associate’s Bachelor’s Graduate Certificate Master’s Doctor’s TOTAL
Business Administration & Management 459 17 237 0 152 10 875
Mechanical Engineering 0 0 376 2 121 60 559
Computer Science 0 0 469 0 58 28 555
Communication & Media Studies 0 0 131 98 205 14 448
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 0 0 252 0 112 46 410
Electrical Engineering 0 0 216 0 82 101 399
Industrial Engineering 0 0 276 0 81 21 378
General Education 92 0 12 28 186 24 342
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 0 0 128 0 207 0 335
Mechanical Engineering Technology 0 5 273 0 0 0 278
Civil Engineering 0 0 161 0 68 34 263
Statistics 0 0 195 12 30 10 247
Chemical Engineering 0 0 161 0 59 25 245
Finance & Financial Management 0 0 238 0 0 0 238
Child Development & Psychology 0 0 219 0 7 10 236
Computer Software & Applications 0 0 202 0 31 0 233
Computer Information Systems 2 0 185 0 37 0 224
Agricultural Economics & Business 2 0 170 0 39 8 219
Computer Engineering 0 0 219 0 0 0 219
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences 0 0 39 0 2 164 205
Nursing 0 0 166 3 25 6 200
Architectural Engineering Technology 0 0 163 3 21 0 187
Agricultural Engineering 0 0 83 0 73 15 171
Air Transportation 0 0 100 0 57 0 157
Animal Science 0 0 132 0 13 9 154
Chemistry 0 0 75 0 7 67 149
Hospitality Management 0 0 112 0 30 5 147
General Biology 0 0 101 0 11 26 138
Economics 0 0 107 0 19 7 133
Industrial Production Technology 5 0 127 0 0 0 132
Accounting 2 0 127 0 0 0 129
Other Engineering 0 0 31 6 81 8 126
Communication Sciences 0 0 68 0 39 11 118
Teacher Education Subject Specific 0 0 101 0 11 5 117
Teacher Education Grade Specific 0 0 114 1 0 0 115
General Sales & Marketing 0 0 111 0 0 0 111
Other Health Professions 0 0 95 0 11 4 110
Marketing 0 0 104 0 0 0 104
Sociology 0 0 95 0 7 2 104
Mathematics 0 0 73 0 6 23 102
Biomedical Engineering 0 0 75 0 15 10 100
Materials Engineering 0 0 64 0 5 31 100
Political Science & Government 11 0 73 2 5 5 96
Health & Physical Education 0 0 88 0 0 0 88
Human Development & Family Studies 0 0 73 0 7 2 82
Public Health 0 0 66 0 16 0 82
Liberal Arts General Studies 76 0 6 0 0 0 82
Curriculum & Instruction 0 0 0 0 76 4 80
Engineering-Related Fields 0 0 53 0 0 25 78
Electronics Engineering Technology 0 2 70 0 0 0 72
General English Literature 0 0 44 0 9 18 71
Physics 0 0 38 0 13 14 65
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology 0 0 56 1 2 5 64
Environmental Engineering 0 0 42 0 21 1 64
Food Science Technology 0 0 28 0 11 9 48
Writing Studies 0 0 48 0 0 0 48
Design & Applied Arts 0 0 42 0 6 0 48
General Engineering 0 0 0 0 46 0 46
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services 0 0 46 0 0 0 46
General Engineering Technology 0 0 20 0 25 0 45
Forestry 0 0 20 0 15 7 42
Geological & Earth Sciences 0 0 28 0 7 7 42
History 0 0 33 0 3 4 40
Nuclear Engineering 0 0 27 0 9 2 38
Linguistics & Comparative Literature 0 0 21 0 5 12 38
Natural Resources Conservation 6 0 31 0 0 0 37
Agricultural Production 0 0 35 0 0 0 35
Human Sciences Business Services 0 0 35 0 0 0 35
Fisheries Sciences 0 0 35 0 0 0 35
Engineering Technology (Other) 0 0 0 0 34 0 34
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 0 0 32 0 0 0 32
Philosophy 0 0 22 0 2 6 30
Construction Engineering 0 0 29 0 0 0 29
Genetics 0 0 27 0 0 0 27
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 0 0 27 0 0 0 27
Special Education 0 0 26 0 0 0 26
Soil Sciences 0 0 2 0 11 12 25
Agricultural Public Services 0 0 13 0 5 6 24
Plant Sciences 0 0 16 0 5 3 24
Botany/Plant Biology 0 0 12 0 6 6 24
Systems Theory 4 0 2 17 0 0 23
Agricultural Mechanization 0 0 22 0 0 0 22
Fine & Studio Arts 0 0 21 0 1 0 22
General Agriculture 5 0 16 0 0 0 21
Anthropology 0 0 15 0 3 3 21
Romance Languages 0 0 20 0 0 0 20
Nutrition Science 0 0 9 0 6 5 20
Drama & Theater Arts 0 0 13 0 6 0 19
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology 0 0 17 0 0 0 17
Zoology 0 0 7 0 4 5 16
Area Studies 0 0 8 0 4 4 16
Biological & Physical Science 0 0 15 0 0 0 15
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science 0 0 14 0 0 0 14
Health Sciences & Services 0 0 14 0 0 0 14
Landscape Architecture 0 0 12 0 0 0 12
Educational Assessment 0 0 0 11 0 0 11
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 0 0 11 0 0 0 11
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology 0 0 11 0 0 0 11
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences 0 0 10 0 0 0 10
Mathematics & Computer Science 0 0 10 0 0 0 10
General Family & Consumer Sciences 0 0 9 0 0 0 9
Textile & Apparel Studies 0 0 0 0 3 5 8
General Psychology 0 0 0 8 0 0 8
Multilingual Education 0 0 0 7 0 0 7
Applied Mathematics 0 0 7 0 0 0 7
Classical & Ancient Studies 0 0 6 0 0 0 6
Horticulture 0 0 4 0 0 0 4
Biotechnology 0 0 0 4 0 0 4
East Asian Languages 0 0 4 0 0 0 4
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages 0 0 4 0 0 0 4
Ethnic Studies 0 0 3 0 0 0 3
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
Computer Systems Analysis 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
Interdisciplinary Studies 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
Religious Studies 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
Gerontology 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Multicultural & Diversity Studies 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pharmacology & Toxicology 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Business/Corporate Communications 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Entrepreneurial Studies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Human Resource Management 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Information Science 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Information Technology 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Educational Administration 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Instructional Media Design 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other Education 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Germanic Languages 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Health & Medical Administrative Services 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other Military Tech & Applied Sciences 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cultural Studies & Analysis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Data Analytics 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Science, Technology & Society 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
General Social Sciences 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Geography & Cartography 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Music 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 667 24 7,935 206 2,274 955 12,061

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.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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