College profile
Purdue University (West Lafayette)
Listed in federal data as “Purdue University-Main Campus”.
IN · Public · Small city · 73,083 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- Built for the AI economy. Top 11 in the country. About 1 in 19 degrees here is already in AI, computer science, or data fields; its AI research output ranks #11 among US universities. This campus is leaning into the shift, not waiting for it.
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer Science grads from here earn about $146,685 four years out; fishing and fisheries sciences and management grads about $40,053 — a 3.7× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 7× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$24,591/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$72,424/yr) still runs about 7× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Moderately selectiveSolid match for academically prepared students. Affordable — net price averages ~$14,600/yr among aid recipients. Major value play for in-state residents.
Best for
- Strong academic profiles — students here cluster in the top test and GPA tiers (bands above)
- In-state residents (tuition ~$9,992 — major value play)
- Students focused on Engineering (the school's signature program)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
- Students who thrive in a large, programmatic environment
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1190, or ACT below 27, or unweighted GPA below 3.61 (test bands are the school's own; the 3.61 line is our estimate, not a published figure)
- Out-of-state tuition is 2.9× the in-state rate
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
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Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
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.
High-school GPA
3.81 avg unweightedGPA on the plain 4.0 scale, no honors/AP bonus. When a college publishes an "average admitted GPA of 3.9," it's often this scale — don't compare it to a weighted 4.3. GPA, enrolled first-years
unweighted 4.0 scale. Purdue University Common Data Set 2025-26 (C12) ↗
As published by the college in its Common Data Set / admissions data (2025-26) — independently verified 2026-07-23 (source linked above). GPA basis (weighted vs. unweighted vs. 4.0-scale) varies by college and is labeled above.
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 Purdue University (West Lafayette) actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Purdue University (West Lafayette)'s own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$626K ahead at full price +$666K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Purdue University (West Lafayette)
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Purdue University (West Lafayette) actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Purdue University (West Lafayette)'s own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $146,685 |
| Computer Engineering. | $121,462 |
| Materials Engineering. | $107,557 |
| Industrial Engineering. | $107,031 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | $105,396 |
| Chemical Engineering. | $104,514 |
| Statistics. | $104,047 |
| Mechanical Engineering. | $102,572 |
| Construction Engineering. | $101,108 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | $99,896 |
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. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
Alternatives to Purdue University (West Lafayette)
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Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to Purdue University (West Lafayette)?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
110 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name Purdue University (West Lafayette) on it. Between them they printed 438 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at Purdue University (West Lafayette), from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
and 100 more
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
11 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name Purdue University (West Lafayette) on it. Between them they printed 99 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to Purdue University (West Lafayette), from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
and 1 more
All 120 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantPurdue University (West Lafayette) is a public four-year college in IN. It admitted 50% of applicants (73,083 applied, 2023). Test policy: Required.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1190–1460, ACT 27–34. Average enrolled GPA 3.81 (unweighted, 2025-26, as published by the college).
Cost: about $14,600 a year on average with aid, $24,591 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $72,424 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $665,840 ahead with aid, $625,876 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($146,685); Computer Engineering ($121,462); Materials Engineering ($107,557).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 3% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 32% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name Purdue University (West Lafayette): 110, 438 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Harker School (8.3 per class year, 25 over 3 class years, Classes of 2023, 2024 & 2025); Canterbury School (8.2 per class year, 49 over 6 class years, 2019-2024); Valley Christian High School (5.5 per class year, 11 over 2 class years, Class of 2024 & 2025). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/purdue-university-main-campus.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming Purdue University (West Lafayette): 11, 99 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Archbishop Mitty High School (54.0 per class year, 54 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); The TASIS School in Dorado (5.0 per class year, 5 over 1 class year, Class of 2026); National Cathedral School (3.0 per class year, 9 over 3 class years, 2023-2025). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/purdue-university-main-campus.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/purdue-university-main-campus.json