🎓 College profile
Northwestern University
IL · Private nonprofit · Small city · 51,769 applicants 2023
🧭 A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Information Science grads from here earn about $163,740 four years out; drama grads about $49,316 — a 3.3× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- Built for the AI economy. About 1 in 18 degrees here is already in AI, computer science, or data fields; it offers a dedicated AI major; its AI research output ranks #38 among US universities. This campus is leaning into the shift, not waiting for it.
- Kids finish — on time. 95% graduate in four years. Nationally, barely half do — and a fifth year elsewhere quietly adds $30–70k to the real price. On-time completion is the most underrated ROI number in this decision.
- The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 3% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 55% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
- Your price depends enormously on your income — and on qualifying at all. Above $110k income, aid-receiving families still average about $48,777/yr here — and many higher-income families receive no aid at all. Lower brackets pay far less (~$7,898 at $48–75k), which is why the college's own net-price calculator — not any bracket average — is your number.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
🎯 Parent/student verdict
ReachHighly selective reach for nearly every applicant.
✅ Best for
- Strong academic profiles — admitted students cluster in the top test and GPA tiers (bands above)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
- A long-term payoff that holds even at full price — median 10-yr earnings of $89,363 return ~2.4× the ~$91,250/yr sticker over a decade (aid recipients average ~$29,167/yr)
🎯 The reality
- Bottom-quartile academic profile if: SAT below 1490, or ACT below 33, or unweighted GPA below ~3.80 (admitted-class quartiles; GPA floor is a calibrated heuristic where CDS not yet on file)
- With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price by income, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
🏛️ Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
📊 Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
💰 The real cost
What families at your income actually pay
Above $110K income — where most Reach families sit — aid-receiving families average $48,777/yr at Northwestern University; families who don't qualify for aid pay the full ~$91,250/yr. Lower brackets pay less — the full ladder is below. One caveat, once: every bracket figure here averages only the families in that bracket who received aid — it says nothing about whether your family will qualify.
🔎 Earning over $110K? You're above the top federal bracket — the median family headed by a 45-to-54-year-old (the prime college-parent years) earned about $134K in 2024, and the federal data lumps everyone from $110K to $1M+ into one row.
Whether you'll get need aidGrant money based on your family's finances (via FAFSA and the college's own forms), not your student's stats. at this income is entirely college-specific: a few heavily-endowed schools meet full need well past $150K, while many others give little above the brackets shown — there, merit scholarships, where offered, become the realistic lever.
Start your Family Decision Report →Your odds + estimated net price across your whole college list — then confirm the exact figure with Northwestern University's own Net Price Calculator ↗ (10–15 min; have your tax return handy).
📈 The payoffTen years of typical earnings divided by four years of cost. A 3× means a decade of median pay covers the cost three times over — check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you., both ways
2.4× at full price 7.7× with aidSource: College Scorecard (NPT41–NPT45; Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates; suppressed brackets = small cohorts; the $110K+ ceiling is a federal data limitation — the brackets haven't been refreshed since the early 2010s). Payoff multiple = (10-yr median earnings × 10) ÷ (4-yr cost); full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
📚 What students study here
Most popular majors at Northwestern University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Northwestern University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
💼 What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Northwestern University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Information Science/Studies. | $163,740 |
| Computer Science. | $155,106 |
| Applied Mathematics. | $148,740 |
| Industrial Engineering. | $138,720 |
| Economics. | $126,006 |
| Statistics. | $122,682 |
| Chemical Engineering. | $111,040 |
| Human Resources Management and Services. | $108,498 |
| Mathematics. | $107,072 |
| Biomedical/Medical Engineering. | $102,994 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
📈 Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. Why it matters even if you're full-pay: a high mobility rate means the campus itself confers earnings power — the outcomes aren't just selection effects.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
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