At a Glance
Northwestern admits 7.7% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Debt at Graduation
42%
receive need-based grant aid
$32,540
average debt at graduation
Northwestern graduates carry an average of $32,540 in debt.
Merit Aid
62
students received merit aid
$21,215
average merit award
Getting In
Northwestern admits 7.7% of applicants.
Northwestern University's Early Decision applicants are admitted at more than 4x the rate of Regular Decision applicants — 23% vs 5.9%. Note: ED is binding — you commit to attending if admitted.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 46% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 23% of the class submitted
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Northwestern University rates your personal essay as Very Important — equal weight to your GPA. Don't underestimate it. Demonstrated interest is Considered — showing genuine engagement with this school may help your application.
Student Life
76% of Northwestern classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At Northwestern, 76% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section I-3 (class sizes)
6:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
Live on campus
55%
In Greek life
~18%
Greek-life participation from Northwestern Fraternity & Sorority Life office (2025) — not reported in Northwestern's 2024–25 Common Data Set.
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
Northwestern's student body is 30.2% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
Northwestern graduates 83.4% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
Northwestern graduates 83.4% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
Northwestern
83.4%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $91,250
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2024–25, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
95%
Overall 6-yr rate
94%
Pell recipient rate
Lower-income students graduate at nearly the same rate as their peers — a sign of strong institutional support.
Freshman Retention
98%
98% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Evanston.
Evanston is a leafy Lake Michigan suburb with its own walkable downtown of restaurants and shops just blocks from campus, but the CTA Purple Line and Metra put downtown Chicago about 30 minutes away — free for Northwestern students on the university-issued Ventra card. That gives students a quiet, tree-lined campus town most days of the week and a full major city on the doorstep whenever they want it, without needing a car.
Notable Alumni
Gwynne Shotwell
President and COO of SpaceX; earned her BS in mechanical engineering and MS in applied mathematics at Northwestern.
David Schwimmer
Emmy-nominated actor known for playing Ross Geller on Friends; earned his BA in theater at Northwestern in 1988.
Otto Graham
Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Cleveland Browns to ten championship games; played football at Northwestern.
Seth Meyers
Host of Late Night and former head writer of Saturday Night Live; earned his BA in radio/TV/film at Northwestern's School of Communication.
Meghan Markle
Actress and Duchess of Sussex; graduated Northwestern in 2003 with a double major in theater and international studies.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Major city
Evanston, IL
Best For
Traditions
Painting the Rock
A campus landmark since 1902, the Rock can be repainted by any student group willing to guard it for a full 24 hours before covering it in a new design at midnight.
Dance Marathon
Since 1975, more than a thousand students have stayed on their feet for 30 hours each spring in one of the largest student-run philanthropy events in the country, raising over $23 million for dozens of organizations to date.
Armadillo Day
What started in 1972 as a party thrown by Texas-native students has grown into the largest student-run music festival in the country, drawing about 12,000 people to Northwestern's lakefront each spring.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Evanston
Milwaukee, WI
About 1.5 hoursA full lakefront city with its own brewery scene, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and a much smaller crowd than Chicago.
Lake Geneva, WI
About 1.5 hoursA classic Midwest lake resort town of shoreline paths, water sports, and small-town shops.
Indiana Dunes National Park
About 1.25 hoursLake Michigan beaches and dune hiking trails on the opposite shore of the lake, without the crowds of Chicago's own lakefront.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)
25 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Chicago Bulls NBA
- Chicago Cubs MLB
- Chicago Fire FC MLS
Career Proximity
Northwestern sits directly on the CTA Purple Line, which puts the Loop's trading floors, consulting firms and media companies about 30 minutes away with no car needed — and Chicago's concentration of finance, consulting and consumer-marketing employers means a large share of internships never require leaving the metro area.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- McDonald's Corporation
- United Airlines
- Abbott Laboratories
- CME Group
- Northern Trust
Downtown Chicago (the Loop) — about 30 minutes from campus by CTA Purple Line
Who Thrives Here
Northwestern runs an unusual calendar for a school this selective — three 10-week quarters rather than two semesters — which compresses the academic year into faster, more intense terms and helps explain why the four-year graduation rate (83.4%) trails the six-year rate (95%) by more than most peer privates: double majors and dual degrees, especially pairing Medill journalism or the Bienen School of Music with a second school, are common enough to push some students into a fifth year. Only about 18% of undergraduates join a fraternity or sorority — modest for a Big Ten campus — and just over half (55%) live in university housing, so life outside the classroom tends to spread off campus into Evanston and the CTA line into Chicago rather than concentrating in Greek houses.