Northwestern University Business Programs

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.

Northwestern University Rankings

Northwestern landed the #8 spot in our 2023 ranking of best colleges. We analyzed 1,477 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation! Out of the 46 colleges in Illinois, it is ranked at #2.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Business Undergraduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Business Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best Business Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#9	Best Business Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#9	Best Business Doctor’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.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Managerial Economics Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Marketing Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Managerial Economics Undergraduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#2	Best Human Resource Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#2	Best Public Relations & Advertising Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#3	Best Finance & Financial Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#3	Best Business & Commerce Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Management Sciences & Methods Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#11	Best Business Administration & Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#12	Best Economics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Marketing Schools	College Factual
#1	Best General Business/Commerce Graduate Degree Schools	College Factual
#1	Best Business/Managerial Economics Graduate Degree Schools	College Factual
#2	Best Business, Management & Marketing Graduate Degree Schools	College Factual
#3	Best Business Administration & Management Schools	College Factual
#10	Best Schools	Course Advisor

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?

The acceptance rate at Northwestern is 9%, which means the school is highly selective when deciding who will be admitted and who won't. Even if you have great grades and test scores, that may not be enough. So be sure to look for ways to make your application memorable.

Approximately 46% of accepted students are men and 54% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 9%, and the acceptance rate for women is 10%.

Average Test Scores

About 58% 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 760. Math scores were between 730 and 790.

Northwestern received ACT scores from 55% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 34 and 36. Math scores were between 31 and 35. Composite scores were between 33 and 35.

Can I Afford Northwestern University?

The overall average net price of Northwestern is $56,529. 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

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 23% of students took out student loans averaging $5,696 a year. That adds up to $22,784 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Northwestern is 0.6%. 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 8,559 undergraduate students at Northwestern, with 8,095 being full-time and 464 being part-time.

There are also 14,044 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 8,095 full-time undergraduates at Northwestern, 48% are male and 52% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1,581
Black or African American	485
Hispanic or Latino	1,050
White	3,332
International Students	823
Other Races/Ethnicities	824

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

In 2019-2020, 329 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

This school is the 3rd most popular in Illinois for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of Northwestern

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Northwestern University was $58,701 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how Northwestern 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
Management Science	#45	#45
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	#53	#53

Online Growth Rankings of Northwestern

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Northwestern University was -28.5%. This is the #1,786 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Northwestern regardless of major.

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
Management Science	#97
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	#153

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 Business Concentrations

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

Major	Undergraduate Certificate	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Management Science	0	0	5	1,737	0	1,742
General Business Administration and Management	0	0	0	465	0	465
Econometrics & Quantitative Economics	0	349	0	32	19	400
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	0	0	0	248	3	251
General Business/Commerce	0	0	0	114	0	114
Finance	32	0	0	38	4	74
Tax Law/Taxation	0	0	11	44	0	55
Health Communication	0	0	0	52	0	52
Business Economics	41	0	0	3	5	49
Other Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods	0	0	0	48	0	48
Organizational Behavior Studies	0	23	10	6	4	43
General Economics	0	2	0	0	0	2
Other Accounting and Related Services	0	0	0	0	0	0
Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping	0	0	0	0	0	0
E-Commerce	0	0	0	0	0	0
Interior Design Management	0	0	0	0	0	0
Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management	0	0	0	0	0	0
Operations Management	0	0	0	0	0	0
Transportation/Mobility Management	0	0	0	0	0	0
Business Management & Marketing	0	0	0	0	0	0
Entrepreneurship	0	0	0	0	0	0
General Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration	0	0	0	0	0	0
Labor & Industrial Relations	0	0	0	0	0	0
International Business/Trade/Commerce	0	0	0	0	0	0
General Management Information Systems	0	0	0	0	0	0
Real Estate	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	73	374	26	2,787	35	3,295

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.