Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois | Admissions Phone: 847-491-7271
E-mail: ug-admission@northwestern.edu | Website: www.northwestern.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 8%
Admission Rate - Men: 8%
Admission Rate - Women: 8%
EA Admission Rate: Not Offered
ED Admission Rate: 27%
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -6%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -8%
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 56%
Transfer Admission Rate: 15%
# Offered Wait List: 2,861
# Accepted Wait List: 1,859
# Admitted Wait List: 24
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 700-760
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 730-790
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 33-35
Testing Policy: ACT/SAT Required
SAT Superscore: Yes
ACT Superscore: No
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 92%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 100%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 100%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 8,231
% Part-Time: 2%
% Male: 49%
% Female: 51%
% Out-of-State: 68%
% Fraternity: 34%
% Sorority: 39%
% On-Campus (Freshman): 100%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 60%
% African-American: 6%
% Asian: 18%
% Hispanic: 13%
% White: 45%
% Other: 6%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 4%
% International: 9%
% Low-Income: 14%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 6:1
% of Classes Under 20: 78%
% of Classes Under 40: 93%
% Full-Time Faculty: 86%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 100%
Top Programs
Biology
Communication Studies
Economics
Engineering
Journalism
Performing Arts
Political Science
Social Policy
Retention Rate: 97%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 84%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 95%
Curricular Flexibility: Somewhat Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Private
In-State Tuition: $56,232
Out-of-State Tuition: $56,232
Room & Board: $17,019
Required Fees: $459
Books & Supplies: $1,638
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $51,686
Avg. % of Need Met: 100%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $4,964
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 4%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $32,395
% of Students Borrowing: 35%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. Nielsen
2. Aldi
3. AQR
4. Roland Berger
5. Flow Traders
Notable Internships
1. Brookings Institute
2. HSBC
3. BlackRock
Top Industries
1. Business
2. Education
3. Media
4. Operations
5. Research
Top Employers
1. Google
2. Accenture
3. Amazon
4. Microsoft
5. Deloitte
Where Alumni Work
1. Chicago
2. New York City
3. San Francisco
4. Los Angeles
5. Washington, DC
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $69,000
EOP (Early Career): $72,600
PayScale (Mid-Career): $115,400
RANKINGS
Forbes: 17
Money: 62
U.S. News: 9, National Universities
Wall Street Journal/THE: 11
Washington Monthly: 32, National Universities
Inside the Classroom
Like the neighboring University of Chicago, Northwestern University is a highly selective academic institution that operates on a quarter system and is located in Illinois, but the similarities end there. Where the UChicago has a reputation as a breeding ground for future academics/researchers, Northwestern’s vibe is more pre-professional, athletic, and Greek-inclined, but the 8,200 undergraduates who attend must bring equally flawless academic credentials to the table—otherwise, they will find themselves among the 92 percent of applicants left outside the gates.
Northwestern is home to six undergraduate schools: Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences; McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science; School of Education and Social Policy; School of Communication; Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications; and Bienen School of Music. Academic requirements vary by school. Weinberg, which enrolls half of all Wildcats, requires two first-year seminars, the demonstration of proficiency in a foreign language and in writing as well as two courses each in six intellectual divisions. Overall, coursework requirements are extensive but not particularly narrow.
The quarter system allows students to take four courses at a time rather than the typical five. Even so, the academic demands are intense, and Northwestern students work hard for their grades. Fortunately, the academic experience is far from an anonymous endeavor. The university has a phenomenal 6:1 student-faculty ratio, and a spectacular 42 percent of class sections have nine or fewer students enrolled; 78 percent have fewer than twenty enrollees. Faculty receive generally favorable reviews from undergraduate students with 93 percent either “very satisfied” or “generally satisfied” with the quality of instruction; 92 percent awarded one of those two positive ratings when asked about the availability of their professors. A solid 58 percent of Northwestern students have the chance to conduct research with a faculty member at some point during their undergraduate years.
The social sciences account for the greatest numbers of degrees conferred (22 percent), followed by communications/journalism (14 percent), engineering (13 percent), biology (8 percent), visual and performing arts (7 percent), and psychology (7 percent). Medill is widely regarded as one of the country’s best journalism schools. The McCormick School of Engineering also achieves top rankings, along with programs in economics, social policy, and theatre. Students from all majors bring home prestigious postgraduate fellowships at an enviable rate. In 2018 alone, the school produced twenty-six Gilman Scholars awarded through the US State Department, twenty-four Fulbright Scholarships, and twenty National Science Foundation Research Fellowships. In total, the Class of 2018 took home a ridiculous 268 competitive national/global scholarships.
Outside the Classroom
Northwestern, like its elite peers Duke, Stanford, and USC, offers top-level academics without sacrificing any of the major college frills like football and frat parties. With forty-six Greek organizations drawing 30 percent of men and 39 percent of women, fraternities and sororities exert a significant degree of influence over the social scene. Athletics are also a strong part of the university’s culture with eight men’s and eleven women’s teams competing in NCAA Division I. The Wildcats are the lone private school competing in the Big Ten Conference, which is otherwise made up of athletic powerhouses like Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan. NU undergrads report that 91 percent are “deeply involved” with a student organization or athletic team. Nearly half the student population reported that same level of involvement with a community service project. Of the school’s 350 student-run clubs, pre-professional organizations, service-oriented groups, and the Daily Northwestern—named the nation’s top student paper by the Society of Professional Journalists—are among the most popular. Evanston is roughly thirty to forty-five minutes from downtown Chicago (depending on traffic). One of the famous North Shore suburbs of Chicago, Evanston is an affluent city with plenty of high-end restaurants and coffee shops. Natural beauty is easy to find as the school owns a lakefront beach that is on campus. Approximately 60 percent of students (and 99.9 percent of freshmen) elect to live in on-campus housing that is highlighted by thirteen residence halls, each accommodating anywhere from 25-500 students.
Career Services
Northwestern Career Advancement (NCA) employs nineteen full-time professionals who work directly with or on behalf of undergraduate students. That includes career counselors, career advisors, and employer relations staff but does not include graduate advisors, interns, or IT specialists. The student-to-advisor ratio of 443:1 puts NU in the average range compared to other institutions included in this book. Career counselors keep extensive walk-in hours and arrange a number of career-related events, large and small, from the two-day Fall Internship and Job Fair with over 150 employers to more intimate workshops and employer information sessions that are held throughout the year.
A phenomenal 90 percent of graduates reported they engaged in at least one experiential learning opportunity, and 64 percent reported engaging in between two and four such activities. When looking specifically at internships, 76 percent reported landing at least one summer of paid or unpaid experience. The Northwestern Network Mentorship Program now has 5,000 alumni across ninety industries and sixty-six countries ready and willing to help current students with their career planning. The NCA has corporate partnerships with a host of top-notch companies including Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, Capital One, and JP Morgan. The NCA does not publish statistics related to outreach (percentage of students engaging with the office), but thanks to a stellar record of arranging experiential learning opportunities/internships and strong corporate connections, Northwestern’s career services still gets a thumbs up from our staff.
Professional Outcomes
Six months after graduating, 72 percent of the Class of 2018 had found employment, 23 percent were in graduate school, and only 3 percent were still looking for work. The four professional fields attracting more than 10 percent of Wildcat alumni were business/finance (20 percent), consulting (15 percent), communications/marketing/media (13 percent), and engineering (12 percent). Employers included an impressive group of media outlets including the BBC, NBC News, the Washington Post, and NPR. Across all other industries Wildcats had strong representation at all of the usual corporate giants including Boeing, Google, IBM, Deloitte, PepsiCo, Northrup Grumman, and Goldman Sachs. More than 50 percent of graduates remained in the Midwest, roughly a quarter moved to the East Coast, and 12 percent migrated to California. Across all majors the average starting salary was $59k while engineering and applied sciences students averaged $78k with the lowest income belonging to communications students who earned $43k.
Of the recent alums headed straight to graduate school, 18 percent were pursuing medical degrees, 13 percent were beginning PhD programs, and 6 percent were entering law school. Engineering, medicine, and business were the three most popular graduate areas of concentration. Members of the Class of 2017 pursued advanced degrees at seven of the eight Ivy League Schools—Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, UChicago, and Oxford—among a host of other elite institutions. Northwestern is a prolific producer of future MDs; 232 applied in the 2018-19 school year alone.
Admission
The trend toward increasing selectivity continued at Northwestern in 2018 as, for the ninth straight year, the admission rate fell. After hitting single digits for the first time in 2017, only 8.5 percent were admitted into the Class of 2022. The profile of the average freshman in the 2018-19 school year was a mid-50 percent SAT of 1430-1550 and an ACT (by far the more commonly submitted test) was 33-35. A decade ago, when 26 percent of applicants were accepted, the ACT range was a significantly lower 30-32. The percent of freshmen in the top 10 percent of their high school class also has increased during that time, jumping from 85 percent to 92 percent.
According to the admissions office, rigor of courses, GPA, class rank, and standardized test scores are the only four factors that are “very important” in the admissions process. Last year, early decision applicants comprised 56 percent of the incoming classes and enjoyed increased chances of getting in. The regular decision acceptance rate in 2018 was only 6.4 percent compared to 27 percent in the ED round. Northwestern has always been a highly selective school, but the bar has been raised even higher in recent years. Those who wish to find a home on this picturesque North Shore campus next fall must bring excellent credentials to the table and should strongly consider applying early decision.
Worth Your Money?
The average Northwestern graduate who took out loans owes $32,000+, which is a tad more than the national average. This is to be expected at a school that costs over $77,500 per year and does not award much merit aid. Yet, for the 46 percent of undergrads who qualify for need-based aid, the school could not be more generous. It met 100 percent of every student’s demonstrated financial need with the average grant approaching $52,000 per year. Those in the toughest spot are children of the middle-class who do not qualify for aid. Still, with very few exceptions, this is a school worth paying for. Even in programs such as journalism that do not generally lead to high-paying first jobs, the networks you will gain at Northwestern are likely to end up paying career dividends many decades down the road.