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Northwestern University

Basic Information

Type Private
Geographical Reach National
Location Evanston, IL
Population 7,500,000
Map of the United States

Demographics

Total Undergraduates 8,960
Men / Women 46% / 54%
White 37%
Asian 19%
Hispanic 12%
International 12%
Black 7%
Mixed 6%
Native American 0%
From State 19%
From Region 4%

Academics

Undergraduate Degrees
Humanities & Social Sciences 32%
Engineering 16%
Arts 12%
Business & Economics 12%
Computer Science 12%
Life & Natural Sciences 12%
Physical Sciences & Math 4%
Health Sciences 1%

Financial

Tuition & Fees $69,375
Est. Cost of Attendance $91,250
10-Year ROI $289,000
ROI Percentile 97th

Retention & Graduation

Full-Time Retention 98%
4-Year Graduation Rate 83%
6-Year Graduation Rate 95%
Transfer-Out Rate 0%

Weather

Comfortable Days 105 (50%)
Sunshine Hours 2,508 (33%)
Days Without Precipitation 241 (38%)

Admissions

Uses Common App Yes
Acceptance Rate 7%
Yield (Unbound) 35%
Early Decision 1 Nov 1
Regular Decision Jan 3

Research

Research Level R1
Expenditure
Life & Natural Sciences $1,015M #22
Engineering, Computing & Math $139M #46
Humanities & Social Sciences $29M #57
Graduate Degrees
Engineering, Computing & Math 180 #26
Humanities & Social Sciences 467 #27
Life & Natural Sciences 422 #56

Honors College

Standardized Tests

Test Scores

Test Policy optional
Submitted Test Scores 69%
SAT Range 1520 – 1550
SAT Math Range 770 – 800
SAT RW Range 740 – 770
ACT Range 33 – 35

Earnings by Major Category

Each major category's degree-weighted estimated median 5-year earnings at this college, expressed as a z-score against the national degree-weighted distribution for that category. 0 is the national average. The shaded band between +1.28 and −1.28 marks the central 80% of the national distribution (10th–90th percentile).

Schools & Majors

Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
Bienen School of Music 83 51% / 49% 1% $49,128 97%
Jazz/Jazz Studies 1 100% / 0% 0% $48,276 5 97%
Keyboard Instruments 6 67% / 33% 17% $48,276 5 97%
Music 14 +18 71% / 29% 0% $48,276 5 97%
Music Composition 3 0% / 100% 0% $48,276 5 97%
Music Education 7 +2 43% / 57% 0% $58,386 19
Music Performance 25 +2 52% / 48% 0% $48,276 5 97%
Musicology and Ethnomusicology 1 0% / 100% 0% $48,276 5 97%
Stringed Instruments 14 36% / 64% 0% $48,276 5 97%
Voice and Opera 12 +3 50% / 50% 0% $48,276 5 97%
Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science 348 60% / 40% 15% $119,073 96%
Biomedical Engineering 65 43% / 57% 11% $129,919 99 94%
Chemical Engineering 28 57% / 43% 25% $120,160 98 97%
Civil and Environmental Engineering 21 62% / 38% 14% $100,890 92
Computer Engineering 21 76% / 24% 19% $138,897 99 96%
Electrical Engineering 21 76% / 24% 10% $127,286 99
Engineering 3 67% / 33% 67% $110,066 96
Environmental Engineering 10 40% / 60% 0% $97,970 90
Industrial Engineering 65 68% / 32% 17% $137,306 99 100%
Manufacturing and Design Engineering 16 38% / 62% 12% $95,863 89 96%
Materials Engineering 19 53% / 47% 32% $101,458 92
Mechanical Engineering 78 68% / 32% 10% $104,154 94 96%
Materials Science 1 +2 0% / 100% 100% $99,399 91
Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications 165 28% / 72% 5% $50,861 95%
Journalism 165 28% / 72% 5% $50,861 7 95%
Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
School of Communication 251 28% / 72% 7% $62,532 97%
Communication Sciences and Disorders 12 25% / 75% 0% $70,125 52 96%
Communication Studies 77 19% / 81% 12% $90,012 85 94%
Dance 3 0% / 100% 0% $43,805 3
Performance Studies 91 35% / 65% 3% $47,619 4 100%
Radio, Television, and Film 68 31% / 69% 9% $50,861 7 95%
Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
School of Education and Social Policy 139 36% / 64% 3% $77,476 96%
Learning and Organizational Change 13 38% / 62% 0% $106,328 95 92%
Human Development and Social Policy 19 21% / 79% 0% $61,846 28
Public Policy Analysis 40 20% / 80% 2% $61,965 28 96%
Social Policy 61 51% / 49% 5% $87,763 83 98%
Learning Sciences 4 25% / 75% 0% $63,380 32
Secondary Education and Teaching 2 50% / 50% 0% $63,092 31
Trends Degrees Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employment
Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences 1,173 48% / 52% 11% $103,279 95%
Computer Science 120 77% / 23% 17% $156,137 100 90%
Computer and Information Sciences $156,775 100
Data Science 21 +33 29% / 71% 19% $142,819 99
Data Science and Society 110 +17 63% / 37% 9% $160,465 100 98%
Applied Mathematics 11 36% / 64% 18% $145,765 100 100%
Chemistry 14 +2 50% / 50% 14% $161,473 100 95%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 2 +1 100% / 0% 0% $70,929 54
Mathematics 25 +32 72% / 28% 24% $119,511 98 92%
Physics and Astronomy 17 +2 65% / 35% 18% $109,588 96
Statistics 19 +20 47% / 53% 16% $120,228 98 100%
Biological Sciences 137 +21 34% / 66% 6% $76,013 65 92%
Environmental Sciences 16 +8 38% / 62% 6% $62,217 29
Neuroscience 110 +16 31% / 69% 5% $53,193 9 100%
Economics 3 67% / 33% 0% $125,639 99 94%
Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences 238 +63 61% / 39% 16% $125,639 99 94%
African-American Studies 1 +1 0% / 100% 0% $58,185 18 100%
American Studies 3 +4 0% / 100% 0% $60,836 25
Anthropology 11 +3 18% / 82% 9% $48,152 4 100%
Asian American Studies 1 +2 0% / 100% 0% $58,185 18 100%
Classical Languages 1 +5 100% / 0% 0% $60,609 25
Cognitive Science 32 +18 31% / 69% 16% $84,007 79 94%
Comparative Literature 2 +5 100% / 0% 0% $58,648 19
Creative Writing $58,744 20
English 22 +24 18% / 82% 0% $61,142 26 100%
Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies 2 +6 50% / 50% 0% $58,185 18 100%
French 3 +4 0% / 100% 0% $60,694 25
German 1 0% / 100% 0% $60,665 25
History 24 +29 58% / 42% 8% $70,234 52 95%
Humanities/Humanistic Studies 1 0% / 100% 0% $91,316 86 100%
Integrated Science 5 40% / 60% 20% $82,521 76
Latina and Latino Studies 4 50% / 50% 25% $58,185 18 100%
Legal Studies 5 +8 20% / 80% 0% $62,411 30
Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies 2 +4 50% / 50% 0% $91,316 86 100%
Linguistics 6 +3 67% / 33% 17% $61,050 26
Near and Middle Eastern Studies 2 50% / 50% 0% $60,197 23
Philosophy 9 +4 67% / 33% 0% $69,873 51
Political Science 68 +35 50% / 50% 4% $76,128 66 96%
Psychology $73,178 60
Psychology 93 +62 24% / 76% 9% $71,228 55 96%
Religious Studies 1 +3 0% / 100% 0% $61,019 26
Slavic Languages 1 +1 100% / 0% 0% $60,070 23
Social Sciences 8 0% / 100% 0% $61,295 26
Sociology 12 +8 33% / 67% 0% $57,736 17 95%
Spanish 3 0% / 100% 0% $61,150 26
Art History 6 +4 17% / 83% 0% $51,332 7
Art Theory and Practice 1 +5 0% / 100% 0% $51,082 7

Rankings

Academics

Future Patagonia Vest Owners Top Investment Banking Feeders
Will Network for a Superday
Future Ambulance Chasers Top Law School Feeders
Future SCOTUS Clerks
Can't Hide Behind Your GPA SAT-required, Highest Medians
Above Average in High School is Not Enough

College Costs

We Marked It Up Just to Put It on Sale Highest List Price
Luxury Good

Prestige

Grandma Eyebrow Raisers Easy Brags for the Prestigious-Conscious
Is Everyone an Ivy+ Now?

Someone Like Me

Places, Please! Theater Participation
Theater Kid Generation

My Tribe

Call Your Mother! Most Jewish
Significant Community

Engineering

Pre-Med Hidding in Plain Sight Biomedical Engineering
Cutting Edge
It's Not About Molecules, It's About Pipes Chemical Engineering
Polymer Whisperers & Battery Bros
Playing House Civil Engineering
Bridge Builders
Resistance Is Futile Computer Engineering
O(1) Touch Grass (Theoretically Computable)
Resistance Is Not Futile Electrical Engineering
Ohm My God
Making Spreadsheets Go Brrrr Industrial Engineering
The Suits
Is It a Solid? Is It a Liquid? Yes. Materials Engineering
Atomic Architects
WD-40 & Duct Tape Mechanical Engineering & Robotics
Whiteboard-preferred

Computer Science

Explaining That HTML is Not a Programming Language Computer Science (A&S)
LeetCode Grinders

Physical Sciences & Math

Breaking Bad Chemistry
Pre-Med Darwinian Thunderdome
Rocks and Whales Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Fossil Hunters
The "I Understand Interstellar" Elite Physics & Astronomy
The Heavyweight Builders (Applied Physics)
No Words Allowed Pure Mathematics
Equation Elegance

Life & Natural Sciences

Pre-Med Reject Waiting Room Biology
The Double Helix
Doomsday Prepping with Data Environmental Science
Carbon Neutral
Memorizing 206 Bones Human Biology
The Cadaver Club
Lord of the Petri Dish Microbiology & Immunology
Pathogen Punishers
Staring at a Gel Electrophoresis Until Our Eyes Bleed Molecular Biology & Genomics
Sequencing Squad
Action Potentials Neuroscience
Pre-Meds in Disguise

Health Sciences

Talk About a Career Phonoaudiology
Voice Coaches Plus
Sweat Equity Sports & Fitness
The Training Room

Business & Economics

PowerPoint Presentation Power Rankings Business Administration
We Don't Actually Offer Undergrad Business
Pivot Tables & Missing Pallets Business Analytics
Just-In-Time Jugglers
It's Basic Supply and Demand, Bro Economics
The "Chicago Boys" Free Market Fan Club
Move Fast, Break Tuition Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Future Founders
Wolf of Wall Street Prep Finance
Wait, I Majored in Econ?
Tik-Tok Generation Marketing
Brand Builders

Humanities & Social Sciences

I Think, Therefore I Major Cognitive Science
High-End Hallucinators
Much Ado About Nothing English, Literature & Writing
Bookworm Elite
Smashing the Patriarchy 101 Gender Studies
Discourse Disruptors
Model UN Generation Government & Politics
Campaign Trail
Hindsight is 20/20 (And So is My Salary) History & Archaeology
Primary Source Hunters
Nosy for a Living Journalism
The "We Trained the Anchor You're Watching" Cartel
Professional Yapping Media & Communication Studies
The "Our Alumni Control Your Feed" Mafia
The "Why Are We Here?" Support Group Philosophy & Ethics
Late Night Debaters
I Want To Understand Myself Psychology
Future Roommate Diagnosers
Decolonizing the Curriculum Regional & Ethnic Studies
Cultural Cartographers
Everything is a Construct Sociology & Anthropology
The Deconstructors
Grammar Police Academy World Languages & Linguistics
Grammar Nerds

Education

Surviving PTA Karens General Education
Classroom Ready
Show Your Work, Then Teach It STEM Education
Math Whisperers

Arts

Explaining Splatters to Rich People Art History & Management
Arts Admin Powerhouses
Lights, Camera, Tuition Film
Hollywood Pipeline
Eight Hours of Scales Music
Recital Royalty
Theatre Kid Generation Performing Arts
Standing Ovation