 | |
| Motto | Quaecumque sunt vera (Latin) On seal:Ὁ Λόγος πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας (Greek) |
|---|---|
Motto in English | "Whatsoever things are true" (Philippians 4:8AV) "The Word full of grace and truth" (John 1:14) |
| Type | Privateresearch university |
| Established | January 28, 1851; 174 years ago (January 28, 1851) |
| Accreditation | HLC |
Academic affiliations | |
| Endowment | $14.3 billion (2025)[1] |
| Budget | $3.3 billion (2024) (excluding the health system)[2] |
| President | Henry Bienen (interim) |
| Provost | Kathleen Hagerty |
Academic staff | 4,018 (fall 2021)[3] |
| Students | 22,801 (fall 2023)[4] |
| Undergraduates | 8,846 (fall 2023)[4] |
| Postgraduates | 13,955 (fall 2023)[4] |
| Location | ,, 42°03′21″N87°40′29″W / 42.05583°N 87.67472°W /42.05583; -87.67472 |
| Campus | Small city[5], 240 acres (97 ha) |
| Other campuses | |
| Newspaper | The Daily Northwestern |
| Colors | Purple and white[6] |
| Nickname | Wildcats |
Sporting affiliations | |
| Mascot | Willie the Wildcat |
| Website | northwestern.edu |
 | |
 | |
Northwestern University (NU) is aprivateresearch university inEvanston,Illinois,United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historicNorthwest Territory, it is the oldestchartered university in Illinois.
Chartered by theIllinois General Assembly in 1851, Northwestern was initially affiliated with theMethodist Episcopal Church but later becamenon-sectarian. By 1900, the university was the third-largestuniversity in the United States, afterMichigan andHarvard. Northwestern became a founding member of theBig Ten Conference in 1896 and joined theAssociation of American Universities in 1917.
Northwestern is composed of eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools in the fields ofmanagement,law,journalism,engineering,medicine, and others. As of 2024, the university had anendowment of $15.6 billion, an annual budget of around $3.3 billion,[7][8] and research funding of over $1 billion.[9] The university fields 19 intercollegiate athletic teams, theNorthwestern Wildcats, which compete in theNCAADivision I in theBig Ten Conference.
As of September 2020, 37Nobel Prizelaureates and 2Fields Medalists[10] were affiliated with Northwestern asalumni orfaculty. In addition, Northwestern has been associated with 47Pulitzer Prize winners, 23National Medal of Science winners, 11National Humanities Medal recipients, 23MacArthur Fellows, 20Rhodes Scholars,[11] and 28Marshall Scholars. Northwestern alumni also include 10 living billionaires,[12] 2U.S. Supreme Court Justices,[13][14] and 25Olympic medalists.
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The foundation of Northwestern University can be traced to a meeting on May 31, 1850, of nine prominent Chicago businessmen, Methodist leaders, and attorneys who had formed the idea of establishing a university to serve what had been known from 1787 to 1803 as theNorthwest Territory. On January 28, 1851, theIllinois General Assembly granted a charter to theTrustees of the North-Western University, making it the first chartered university in Illinois.[15][16] The school's nine founders, all of whom were Methodists (three of them ministers), knelt in prayer and worship before launching their first organizational meeting.[17] Although they affiliated the university with the Methodist Episcopal Church, they favored anon-sectarian admissions policy, believing that Northwestern should serve all people in the newly developing territory by bettering the economy inEvanston.[18]
John Evans, for whom Evanston is named, bought 379 acres (153 ha) of land alongLake Michigan in 1853, andPhilo Judson developed plans for what would become the city of Evanston, Illinois. The first building,Old College, opened on November 5, 1855.[19] To raise funds for its construction, Northwestern sold $100 "perpetual scholarships" entitling the purchaser and his heirs to free tuition.[20][21] Another building,University Hall, was built in 1869 of the same Joliet limestone as theChicago Water Tower, also built in 1869, one of the few buildings in the heart of Chicago to survive theGreat Chicago Fire of 1871.[22]
In 1873Evanston College for Ladies merged with Northwestern.Frances Willard, who later gained fame as asuffragette and as one of the founders of theWoman's Christian Temperance Union, became the school's firstdean of women (Willard Residential College, built in 1938, honors her name). Northwestern admitted its first female students in 1869, and the first woman graduated in 1874.[23] Northwestern fielded its firstintercollegiate football team in 1882, later becoming a founding member of the Big Ten Conference. In the 1870s and 1880s, Northwestern affiliated itself with already existing schools of law, medicine, and dentistry in Chicago. As the university's enrollments grew, these professional schools were integrated with the undergraduate college in Evanston. The result was a modern research university combining professional, graduate, and undergraduate programs, which gave equal weight to teaching and research.[24][25]
By the turn of the century, Northwestern had grown in stature to become the third-largest university in the United States afterHarvard University and theUniversity of Michigan.[26] UnderWalter Dill Scott's presidency from 1920 to 1939, Northwestern began construction of an integrated campus in Chicago designed byJames Gamble Rogers, noted for hisCollegiate Gothic architecture, to house the professional schools. In addition, James Gamble Rogers designed a library in accordance with the gothic architectural style on the Evanston campus in order to make use of the $1 million donated to the school after the death ofCharles Deering. This library is named in memory of him and its design was inspired byCambridge University'sKing's College Chapel. The university also established theKellogg School of Management and built several prominent buildings on the Evanston campus, includingDyche Stadium, now namedRyan Field, among others. In the 1920s, Northwestern became one of the first six universities in the United States to establish aNaval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). In 1939, Northwestern hosted the first-everNCAA Division I men's basketball championship game in the originalPatten Gymnasium, which was later demolished and relocated farther north, along with theDearborn Observatory, to make room for theTechnological Institute.[citation needed]
After the golden years of the 1920s, theGreat Depression in the United States (1929–1941) had a severe impact on the university's finances. Its annual income dropped 25 percent from $4.8 million in 1930–31 to $3.6 million in 1933–34. Investment income shrank, fewer people could pay full tuition, and annual giving from alumni and philanthropists fell from $870,000 in 1932 to a low of $331,000 in 1935. The university responded with two salary cuts of 10 percent each for all employees. It imposed hiring and building freezes and slashed appropriations for maintenance, books, and research. Having had a balanced budget in 1930–31, the university now faced deficits of roughly $100,000 for the next four years. Enrollments fell in most schools, with law and music suffering the biggest declines. However, the movement toward state certification of school teachers prompted Northwestern to start a new graduate program in education, thereby bringing in new students and much-needed income. In June 1933,Robert Maynard Hutchins, president of theUniversity of Chicago, proposed a merger of the two universities, estimating annual savings of $1.7 million. The two presidents were enthusiastic, and the faculty liked the idea; many Northwestern alumni, however, opposed it, fearing the loss of their alma mater and its many traditions that distinguished Northwestern from Chicago. The medical school, for example, was oriented toward training practitioners, and alumni feared it would lose its mission if it were merged into the more research-orientedUniversity of Chicago Medical School.[27] The merger plan was ultimately dropped. In 1935, the Deering family rescued the university budget with an unrestricted gift of $6 million, bringing the budget up to $5.4 million in 1938–39. This allowed many of the previous spending cuts to be restored, including half of the salary reductions.[28]
Like other American universities, Northwestern was transformed byWorld War II (1939–1945). Regular enrollment fell dramatically, but the school opened high-intensity, short-term programs that trained over 50,000 military personnel, including future presidentJohn F. Kennedy. Northwestern's existingNROTC program proved to be a boon to the university as it trained over 36,000 sailors over the course of the war, which led Northwestern to be called the "Annapolis of the Midwest."[29]Franklyn B. Snyder led the university from 1939 to 1949, and after the war, surging enrollments under theG.I. Bill drove the dramatic expansion of both campuses. In 1948, prominent anthropologistMelville J. Herskovits founded the Program of African Studies at Northwestern, the first center of its kind at an American academic institution.[30]
J. Roscoe Miller's tenure as president from 1949 to 1970 saw an expansion of the Evanston campus, with the construction of theLakefill on Lake Michigan, growth of the faculty and new academic programs, and polarizing Vietnam-era student protests. In 1978, the first and secondUnabomber attacks occurred at Northwestern University.[31] Relations between Evanston and Northwestern became strained throughout much of the post-war era because of episodes of disruptive student activism,[32] disputes over municipal zoning, building codes, and law enforcement,[33] as well as restrictions on the sale of alcohol near campus until 1972.[34][35] Northwestern's exemption from state and municipal property-tax obligations under its original charter has historically been a source oftown-and-gown tension.[citation needed]
Although government support for universities declined in the 1970s and 1980s, PresidentArnold R. Weber was able to stabilize university finances, which led to a revitalization of its campuses. In 1996,Princess Diana visited Northwestern's Evanston and Chicago campuses to raise money for the university hospital'sRobert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at the invitation of then-PresidentHenry Bienen. Her visit raised a total of $1.5 million for cancer research.[36][37][38]
As admissions to colleges and universities grew increasingly competitive in the 1990s and 2000s, PresidentBienen's tenure saw an increase in the number and quality of undergraduate applicants, continued expansion of the facilities and faculty, and renewed athletic competitiveness.
In the 2010s, a five-year capital campaign resulted in a new music center, a replacement building for the business school, and a $270 million athletic complex.[39][40] In 2014,President Barack Obama delivered a seminal economics speech at the Evanston campus.[41] In 2015,Queen Máxima andKing Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands visited Northwestern to announce research collaborations between Northwestern and several Dutch institutions focused on the study of aging.[42] In 2021, an additional $480 million, the largest donation in the university's history, was donated to Northwestern by theRyan Family to be applied to research at theKellogg School of Management andFeinberg School of Medicine, as well as for renovatingRyan Field.[43] In a partnership withOakton College and theIllinois Department of Corrections in 2023, Northwestern became the first top-ranked university in the United States to award bachelor's degrees to a graduating class of prisoners.[44]
In April 2024, Northwestern University students joinedother campuses across the United States in protests against theGaza war.[45][46] The student protestors demandeddivestment from companies with ties to Israel and that the administration protectfreedom of speech,civil rights and be transparent with their investments moving forward.[47] The university administration came to an agreement with the protestors which permitted peaceful demonstrations, gave students representation on an investment committee and pledged to bring Palestinian students to campus.[48] In February 2025,Leo Terrell, the head of the Trump administration'sTask Force to Combat Antisemitism, announced that he would investigate Northwestern University as part of the Department of Justice's broader investigation intoantisemitism on college campuses.[49]
Northwestern's main campus is on the shore ofLake Michigan in theChicago metropolitan area. The campus spans an area of 240 acres and is characterized by its blend of modern and historic gothic architecture.[citation needed]
Northwestern's Evanston campus, where the undergraduate schools, the Graduate School, and the Kellogg School of Management are located, runs north–south from Lincoln Avenue to Clark Street west of Lake Michigan alongSheridan Road. North Campus is home to thefraternityquads, athletics facilities including the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Norris Aquatics Center, the Technological Institute, Dearborn Observatory, the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Hall for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly, and the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center among others. South Campus is home to the university's humanities buildings, music buildings like thePick-Staiger Concert Hall, theMary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, and the sorority quads. In the 1960s, the university created an additional 84 acres (34 ha) for the campus by filling in a portion ofLake Michigan. Buildings located on the resultingLakefill include University Library, the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts, theRegenstein Hall of Music,Norris University Center (the student union), the Kellogg School of Management Global Hub, and various athletics facilities.[citation needed]
TheChicago Transit Authority'selevated train running through Evanston is called thePurple Line, taking its name from Northwestern's school color. TheFoster andDavis stations are within walking distance of the southern end of the campus, while theNoyes station is close to the northern end of the campus. TheCentral station is close toRyan Field, Northwestern's football stadium. TheEvanston Davis Street station serves the Northwestern campus in downtown Evanston and theEvanston Central Street station is near Ryan Field. Pace Suburban Bus Service and the CTA have several bus routes that run through or near the Evanston campus.
Northwestern's Chicago campus is located in the city'sStreeterville neighborhood near Lake Michigan. The Chicago campus is home to the nationally rankedNorthwestern Memorial Hospital, themedical school, thelaw school, the part-time MBA program, and the School of Professional Studies. Medill's one-year graduate program rents a floor on Wacker Drive, across the river from Streeterville and separate from the rest of the campus. Northwestern's professional schools and a number of its affiliated hospitals are located approximately four blocks east of theChicago station on the CTARed Line. The Chicago campus is also served by CTA bus routes.[citation needed]
Founded or affiliated at varying points in the university's history, the professional schools originally were scattered throughout Chicago.[50] In connection with a 1917 master plan for a central Chicago campus and PresidentWalter Dill Scott's capital campaign, 8.5 acres (3.44 ha) of land were purchased at the corner ofChicago Avenue andLake Shore Drive for $1.5 million in 1920.[50][51] ArchitectJames Gamble Rogers was commissioned to create a master plan for the principal buildings on the new campus, which he designed incollegiate gothic style. In 1923,Mrs. Montgomery Ward donated $8 million to the campaign to finance the construction of the Montgomery Ward Memorial Building, which would house the medical and dental schools, and create endowments for faculty chairs, research grants, scholarships, and building maintenance.[52] The building would become the first universityskyscraper in the United States.[53] In addition to the Ward Building, Rogers designedWieboldt Hall to house facilities for theSchool of Commerce[54] andLevy Mayer Hall to house the School of Law.[55] The new campus comprising these three new buildings was dedicated during a two-day ceremony in June 1927. The Chicago campus continued to expand with the addition ofThorne Hall in 1931 andAbbott Hall in 1939.[50][56] In October 2013, Northwestern began the demolition of the architecturally significantPrentice Women's Hospital. Eric G. Neilson, dean of the medical school, penned an op-ed that equated retaining the building with loss of life.[57]
In Fall 2008, Northwestern opened a campus inEducation City,Doha,Qatar.[58] Through theMedill School of Journalism and School of Communication, NU-Q offersbachelor's degrees in journalism and communications respectively.[59] However, some have questioned whether NU-Q can truly offer a comparable journalism program to that of its U.S. campus given Qatar's instances ofcensorship and strict limits on journalistic and academic freedoms.[58][60] TheQatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, a private charitable institution founded by former emirSheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his wife and mother of the current emirSheikha Moza bint Nasser, provided funding for construction and administrative costs, as well as support to hire 50 to 60 faculty and staff, some of whom rotate between the Evanston and Qatar campuses.[61][62] Northwestern receives roughly $45 million per year to operate the campus.[60] In February 2016, Northwestern reached an agreement with theQatar Foundation to extend the operations of the NU-Q branch for an additional decade, through the 2027–2028 academic year.[63][60][64][65]
Northwestern is privately owned and governed by an appointedBoard of Trustees, which is composed of 70 members and, as of 2022[update], is chaired byPeter Barris '74.[66] The board delegates its power to an elected president who serves as thechief executive officer of the university.[67] Northwestern has hadseventeen presidents in its history (excluding interim presidents). The former president, legal scholarMichael Schill, succeededMorton O. Schapiro in fall 2022.[68] The president maintains a staff of vice presidents, directors, and other assistants for administrative, financial, faculty, and student matters.[69]Kathleen Haggerty assumed the role of provost for the university on September 1, 2020.[70]
Students are formally involved in the university's administration through theAssociated Student Government, elected representatives of the undergraduate students, and the Graduate Student Association, which represents the university's graduate students.[71][72]
The admission requirements, degree requirements, courses of study, and disciplinary and degree recommendations for each of Northwestern's 12 schools are determined by the voting members of that school's faculty (assistant professor and above).[73]
Northwestern maintains an endowment of $14.3 billion, the eighth-largestuniversity endowment among private universities in the United States.[74] The endowment is sustained through donations and is maintained by investment advisers at the university's Investment Office.[75]
| Undergraduate and graduate schools | Graduate and professional |
|---|---|
Evanston Campus
| Evanston Campus
Chicago Campus
|
| Undergraduate admissions statistics | |
|---|---|
| Admit rate | 7.2% (  −2.02) |
| Yield rate | 56.5% (  +7.8) |
| Test scoresmiddle 50%[i] | |
| SAT Total | 1500–1560 ( +25 median) |
| SATEBRW | 730–770 ( +15 median) |
| SAT Math | 760–790 ( +10 median) |
| ACT Composite | 33–35 ( +0.5 median) |
| High schoolGPA[ii] | |
| Top 10% | 94.0% ( +5) |
| Top 25% | 98.0% (  no change) |
| Average | 4.1 (  −0.03) |
| |
Northwestern University's admissions are characterized as "most selective" byU.S. News & World Report.[79] Northwestern received a record 52,225 applications for its class size of approximately 2,100 students in 2022–2023 academic year. For the Class of 2027, regular decision acceptance rate was approximately 4.6%, while overall acceptance rate remained around 7.0%.[80] For the Class of 2026, theinterquartile range (middle 50%) on the post-2016SAT was a combined (verbal and math) 1500–1560 out of 1600; the interquartile range on the evidence-based reading and writing (EBRW) section of theSAT was 730–770 out of 800 while the interquartile range on the Math section of theSAT was 760–800 out of 800.[81]ACT composite scores for the middle 50% ranged from 33 to 35 out of 36, and 96% ranked in the top ten percent of their respective high school classes.[80][82][81]
Approximately 35–40% percent of the incoming students of the Class of 2027 have been admitted through the Early Decision application round. Northwestern's early decision admission numbers for the Class of 2027 had an early acceptance rate of about 20%, with approximately 1,000 students being admitted out of 5,220 applications.[83]
In April 2016, Northwestern became one of 15 Illinois universities to sign on to the Chicago Star Partnership, aCity Colleges initiative aimed at increasing opportunities for students in the city's public school district. Through this partnership, the university provides scholarships to students who "graduate fromChicago Public Schools, get their associate degree from one of the city's community colleges, and then get admitted to a bachelor's degree program."[84]
The university isneed-blind for domestic applicants.[85]
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Forbes[86] | 16 |
| U.S. News & World Report[87] | 7 (tie) |
| Washington Monthly[88] | 34 |
| WSJ/College Pulse[89] | 50 |
| Global | |
| ARWU[90] | 31 (tie) |
| QS[91] | 42 (tie) |
| THE[92] | 30 |
| U.S. News & World Report[93] | 24 |
Northwestern is a large, residential research university.[94]
The university provides instruction in over 200 formal academic concentrations, 124 undergraduate programs, and 145 graduate and professional programs,[95][96] including variousdual degree programs.[97][98] Although there is no university-widecore curriculum, a foundation in theliberal arts and sciences, sometimes referred as distribution requirements, are required for all majors; individual degree requirements are set by the faculty of each school.[73] The university heavily emphasizesinterdisciplinary learning, with 72% of undergrads combining two or more areas of study.[99] Northwestern's full-time undergraduate and graduate programs operate on an approximately 10-weekacademic quarter system with the academic year beginning in late September and ending in early June. Under the regular academic calendar, each quarter contains a four-day Reading Period in between the end of classes and the beginning of finals.[100] Undergraduates typically take four courses each quarter and twelve courses in an academic year and[101] are required to complete at least twelve quarters on campus to graduate. Northwestern offers honors, accelerated, and joint degree programs in medicine, science, mathematics, engineering, and journalism.[102] The comprehensive doctoral graduate program has high coexistence with undergraduate programs.[94]
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The most popular and prominent majors at Northwestern in 2021 includecommunication,journalism,engineering,computer science,mathematics,statistics,biological sciences,physics, andchemistry.[97][103] It is also prominent inlaw andmedicine. Northwestern isaccredited by theHigher Learning Commission and the respective national professional organizations for chemistry, psychology, business, education, journalism, music, engineering, law, and medicine.[104] Northwestern conferred 2,190 bachelor's degrees, 3,272 master's degrees, 565 doctoral degrees, and 444professional degrees in 2012–2013.[needs update] Since 1951, Northwestern has awarded 520[needs update]honorary degrees.[105][106] Northwestern also has chapters of academic honor societies such asPhi Beta Kappa (Alpha of Illinois),Eta Kappa Nu,Tau Beta Pi,Eta Sigma Phi (Beta chapter),[107]Lambda Pi Eta,[108] andAlpha Sigma Lambda (Alpha chapter).[109]
Northwestern maintains a student-to-faculty ratio of 6:1. 77% of the classes have less than 20 students while 5.5% of the classes have more than 50 students.[97]
The Northwestern library system consists of four libraries on the Evanston campus including the MainUniversity Library, the Boas Mathematics Library, Mudd Library, and the original library building, Deering Library; three libraries on the Chicago campus; and the library affiliated withGarrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.[110] Northwestern Libraries host a total of 8,198,268printed or electronic volumes.[111] In addition, its libraries contain 229,198maps, 211,127audio files, 103,377printed journals, 196,716 electronic journals, 91,334movies or videos, 36,989 manuscripts, 4.6 millionmicroforms, and almost 99,000periodicals.[111] The University Library is the14th-largest university library in North America based on total number of titles held.
Among the library's collection and sections are:
Northwestern, along with 15 other universities, participates in digitizing its collections as part of theGoogle Book Search project.[119] Northwestern University Library is a partner with theNative American Education Services College (NAES), the American Indian Association of Illinois (AIAI), and Northwestern University's Center for Native American and Indigenous Research in the NAES College Digital Library Project, which preserves the NAES College library and archives.[120]
Northwestern was elected to theAssociation of American Universities in 1917 and isclassified as an R1 university, denoting "very high" research activity.[94][121] Northwestern's schools of management, engineering, and communication are among the most academically productive in the nation.[122] The university received $923.8 million in research funding and $421 million in NIH funding in 2022 and houses over 90 school-based and 40 university-wide research institutes and centers.[82][123][124] Northwestern also supports nearly 1,500 research laboratories across two campuses, predominantly in the medical and biological sciences.[124] Also, Northwestern houses more than 50 University Research Institutes & Centers (URICS), which consists of institutes and initiatives that combine multiple areas of study to pursue research across domains such asquantum information, policy research,bioelectronics, and more.[125][126]
Northwestern is home to the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems, Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, Materials Research Center, Center for Quantum Devices, Institute for Policy Research, International Institute for Nanotechnology, Center for Catalysis and Surface Science, Buffet Center for International and Comparative Studies, the Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern,[127] and theArgonne/Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center among other centers for interdisciplinary research.[128]
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The university also shares collaborative research efforts with other universities such as theCZ Biohub Chicago with theUniversity of Chicago andUniversity of Illinois.[129]
In addition, Northwestern University cooperates with research institutions such asArgonne National Laboratory andFermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FermiLab). Proceeding in cooperation with these laboratories, the Center for Applied Physics and Superconducting Technologies (CAPST) and the Initiative at Northwestern for Quantum Information Research and Engineering (INQUIRE) have attracted attention in recent years.[130][131] Northwestern's investment and collaboration areas include particle physics, quantum physics, quantum information technologies, and superconducting technologies.
In 2013, Northwestern researchers disclosed 247 inventions, filed 270 patent applications, received 81 foreign and US patents, started 12 companies, and generated $79.8 million in licensing revenue. The Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO) has been involved in creating the Center for Developmental Therapeutics (CDT)[132] and the Center for Device Development (CD2).[133]
Northwestern files hundreds of patents each year, ranking among the top 20 universities in the world in terms of U.S. utility patents.[134] One of the university's most successful current patents is pregabalin, a synthesized organic molecule developed at the university by chemistry professorRichard Bruce Silverman (for whom Silverman Hall was named).[citation needed] It was ultimately marketed asLyrica, a drug sold byPfizer, to combat epilepsy, neuropathic pain, and fibromyalgia.
Northwestern has an extensive history of producing prominent businessmen and entrepreneurs. Companies founded by Northwesternalumni includeGroupon,The Blackstone Group,Booz Allen Hamilton,U.S. Steel,Kirkland & Ellis,Guggenheim Partners,Accenture,Aon Corporation, andAQR Capital.
The university also runs The Garage, and interdisciplinary innovation and entrepreneurship space and community for student-runstartups. The Garage provides students with resources and programming related to entrepreneurship and mentorship.[135] The Garage houses approximately 90 student-founded startups per academic quarter.[136] Its programs and resources are available to all Northwestern students.
| Race and ethnicity[137] | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 42% | ||
| Asian | 19% | ||
| Hispanic | 13% | ||
| Foreign national | 10% | ||
| Other[b] | 9% | ||
| Black | 6% | ||
| Economic diversity | |||
| Low-income[c] | 20% | ||
| Affluent[d] | 80% | ||
Northwestern enrolls more than 8000 undergraduate students and more than 8000 graduate students each year, as mentioned on the "About Our Students: Recruit at Northwestern" page on Northwestern's website.[needs update] The freshman retention rate for that year was 99%.[138][139] Eighty-six percent of students graduated after four years and 96% graduated after six years.[139][140]
The undergraduate population is drawn from all 50 states and over 75 foreign countries. Twenty percent of students in the Class of 2024 werePell Grant recipients and 12.56% were first-generation college students.[141] Northwestern also enrolls the ninth-mostNational Merit Scholars of any university in the nation.[citation needed]
In Fall 2014,[needs update] 40.6% of undergraduate students were enrolled in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, 21.3% in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, 14.3% in the School of Communication, 11.7% in the Medill School of Journalism, 5.7% in the Bienen School of Music, and 6.4% in the School of Education and Social Policy.[142] The five most commonly awarded undergraduate degrees are economics, journalism, communication studies, psychology, and political science.[143] The Kellogg School of Management'sMBA, the School of Law'sJD, and the Feinberg School of Medicine'sMD are the three largestprofessional degree programs by enrollment.[142] With 2,446 students enrolled in science, engineering, and health fields,[144] the largest graduate programs by enrollment include chemistry, integrated biology, material sciences, electrical and computer engineering, neuroscience, and economics.[145]
Northwestern offers both traditional residence halls and residential colleges for students who share a particular intellectual interest. The residential colleges includeAyers College of Commerce and Industry,Chapin Hall (Humanities),East Fairchild (Communications),Hobart House (women's), thePublic Affairs Residential College, theResidential College of Cultural and Community Studies,Shepard Residential College (multi-thematic),Slivka Residential College for Science and Engineering,West Fairchild (International Studies), andWillard Residential College (multi-thematic). Residence halls include Allison Hall, Bobb-McCulloch, Elder Hall, Foster-Walker Complex (commonly referred to as Plex), Rogers House, and Shapiro Hall (formerly known as 560 Lincoln) among others.
An estimated 20% of undergraduates are affiliated with afraternity orsorority.[146] Northwestern recognizes 21 fraternities and 18 sororities.[147]
All incoming undergraduates at Northwestern University are required to live on campus for their first two years.[148]
One of Northwestern's student charity events isDance Marathon. It has raised over $1 million for charity every year since 2011 and has donated a total of $13 million to children's charities since its conception.[157]
The Northwestern Community Development Corps (NCDC) is a student-run organization that connects hundreds of student volunteers to community development projects in Evanston and Chicago throughout the year. The group also holds a number of annual community events, including Project Pumpkin, aHalloween celebration that provides over 800 local children with carnival events and a safe venue totrick-or-treat each year.[158]
Many Northwestern students participate in the Freshman Urban Program, an initiative for students interested in community service to work on addressing social issues facing the city of Chicago,[159] and the university's Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) programs, including group service-learning expeditions in Asia, Africa, or Latin America in conjunction with the Foundation for Sustainable Development.[160]
Severalinternational nongovernmental organizations were established at Northwestern, including theWorld Health Imaging, Informatics and Telemedicine Alliance, a spin-off from an engineering student'shonorsthesis.[161][162]
Northwestern is a prolific producer of successful entertainers and a nationally reputed hub for collegiate performing arts. The Student Theatre Coalition, or StuCo, organizes nine student theater companies, multiple performance groups, and over sixty independent productions each year.[163] Productions includeThe Waa-Mu Show, an original musical written and produced entirely by students,[164] and theDolphin show. Children's theater is represented on campus by Griffin's Tale and Purple Crayon Players.[165]
Chicago'sLookingglass Theatre Company, which began life inJones Residential College, was founded in 1988 by several university alumni, includingDavid Schwimmer. It received the Regional Tony Award in 2011 and has won over 45Joseph Jefferson Awards in its 30 seasons.[166]
The undergraduate students maintain twelvea cappella groups, including THUNK a cappella, theNorthwestern Undertones, Freshman Fifteen A Cappella, ShireiNU A Cappella, and Purple Haze.[167]
Northwestern's performing arts scene also includes Boomshaka, which is the university's drum, dance, and rhythm ensemble.
The Northwestern Debate Society has won fifteenNational Debate Tournaments, the highest number of any university.[citation needed] Alumni of the society includeErwin Chemerinsky, legal scholar and Dean ofUC Berkeley School of Law, andElliot Mincberg ofPeople For the American Way.
Northwestern'sMock Trial team had two teams qualify for the 2018 National Championship Tournament hosted by the American Mock Trial Association, making Northwestern one of seven schools in the nation to be represented by multiple teams at the competition.[173] One of the two teams finished 9th in their division and is ranked 20th in the country out of roughly 750 teams for the 2018–2019 season.[174][175][176]
Northwestern is a charter member of theBig Ten Conference. It was the conference's only private university until 2024's addition of USC and possesses by far the smallest undergraduate enrollment (the next-smallest member, theUniversity of Iowa, is roughly three times as large, with almost 22,000 undergraduates).
Northwestern fields 19 intercollegiate athletic teams (8 men's and 11 women's) in addition to numerous club sports.[177] Twelve of Northwestern's varsity programs have hadNCAA or bowl postseason appearances. Northwestern is one of five private AAU members to compete in NCAAPower Five conferences (the other four areDuke,Stanford,USC, andVanderbilt) and maintains a 98% NCAA Graduation Success Rate, the highest among Football Bowl Subdivision schools.
In 2018, the school opened the Walter Athletics Center, a $270 million state-of-the-art lakefront facility for its athletics teams.[178]
Before 1924, Northwestern teams were known as "The Purple" and unofficially as "The Fighting Methodists." The name Wildcats was bestowed upon the university in 1924 by Wallace Abbey, a writer for theChicago Daily Tribune, who wrote that even in a loss to the University of Chicago, "Football players had not come down from Evanston; wildcats would be a name better suited to [Coach Glenn]Thistlethwaite's boys."[179] The name was so popular that university board members made "Wildcats" the official nickname just months later. In 1972, the student body voted to change the official nickname to "Purple Haze," but the new name never stuck.[180]
The mascot of Northwestern Athletics isWillie the Wildcat. Prior to Willie, the team mascot had been a live, caged bear cub from theLincoln Park Zoo named Furpaw, who was brought to the playing field on game days to greet the fans. After a losing season, the team decided that Furpaw was to blame for its misfortune and decided to select a new mascot. Willie the Wildcat made his debut in 1933, first as a logo and then in three dimensions in 1947, when members of the Alpha Delta fraternity dressed as wildcats during a Homecoming Parade.
The Northwestern Wildcats football team is aDivision I college football team and member of the Big Ten Conference. The team has a history dating back to 1882. They are known as the Wildcats, a nickname given by aChicago Tribune reporter in 1924 after observing a game where the players displayed a strong and fierce presence, akin to a "wall of purple wildcats."[181]
The team has achieved success, winning three Big Ten championships or co-championships since 1995. Additionally, they have been eligible to participate in bowl games five times between 2015 and 2020. Northwestern takes pride in its academic achievements as well, consistently ranking among the top football teams in graduation rates. They have been honored with the AFCA Academic Achievement Award four times since 2002.[182]
The Wildcats play their home games atRyan Field, formerly known as Dyche Stadium, a venue they have called home since 1926. Given their close proximity to Chicago and strong connections to the city, Northwestern Football is often recognized as "Chicago's Big Ten Team."[183]
Northwestern's football team has made 73 appearances in the top 10 of the AP poll since 1936 (including five at #1) and has won eight Big Ten conference championships since 1903.[184][185][186] At one time, Northwestern had the longest losing streak in Division I-A, losing 34 consecutive games between 1979 and 1982.[187][188] They did not appear in a bowl game after 1949 until the1996 Rose Bowl. The team did not win a bowl since the1949 Rose Bowl until the2013 Gator Bowl. Following the sudden death of football coachRandy Walker in 2006,[189] 31-year-old formerAll-American NorthwesternlinebackerPat Fitzgerald assumed the position, becoming the youngestDivision I FBS coach at the time.[190][191]
In 1882 as a group of Northwestern men played a "football heat" against a group of Lake Forest men. The Wildcats have since achieved an all-time-high rank of No. 1 during the 1936 and 1962 seasons, which has thus far not been duplicated. The team plays home games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. The Wildcats have participated in a total of 16 bowl games, including appearances in 10 seasons between 2008 and 2020. During the 2016–2018 seasons, they won three consecutive bowl games. In 2020, the Wildcats claimed the title of Big Ten West Champions and were champions in their bowl game.
TheHelms Athletic Foundation named the men'sbasketball team the 1931 National Champion.[192] In 2017, the men's basketball team earned an NCAA berth for the first time in the program's history. They won their first-round matchup against Vanderbilt University but lost to number-one seed Gonzaga in the second round.[193]
In 1998, two formerNorthwestern basketball players were charged and convicted for sports bribery, having been paid toshave points in games against three other Big Ten schools during the 1995 season.[194][195][196] The football team became embroiled in a different betting scandal later that year when federal prosecutors indicted four former players for perjury related tobetting on their own games.[197] In August 2001, Rashidi Wheeler, a seniorsafety, collapsed and died during practice from anasthma attack.[198][199] An autopsy revealed that he hadephedrine, astimulant banned by the NCAA, in his system, which prompted Northwestern to investigate the prevalence of stimulants and other banned substances across all of its athletic programs.[200][201] In 2006, the Northwestern women'ssoccer team was suspended and coach Jenny Haigh resigned following the release of images of allegedhazing.[202][203]
The Wildcats men's basketball team is under the direction of Sullivan-Ubben head men's basketball coachChris Collins, a role that he has been in since 2013. Collins led the Wildcats to heights never before reached during the 2016–17 season when the program saw a school-record 24 wins and its first NCAA tournament berth and victory in program history. Collins was named as one of four finalists for the Naismith Men's Coach of the Year award in 2017.[204]
The Wildcats single national championship is from 1931, retro-picked by the Helms Athletic Foundation and, later, by the Premo-Porrett Power Poll. Since then, the Wildcats have played in the National Invitation Tournament seven times, most recently in 2012. The men's basketball program was the first to open the renovated Welsh-Ryan Arena[205] on November 2, 2018, in an exhibition game against McKendree. The facility was built to be the most accessible arena in college athletics and seats 7,039.
In 2017, the Wildcats saw its highest draft pick in program history withNia Coffey, selected fifth overall by theSan Antonio Stars. The first player drafted in program history was Amy Jaeschke in 2011, selected 27th overall by theChicago Sky.[206]
The Northwestern Fencing program competes in theCentral Collegiate Conference and has a tenured history of success. Zach Moss is the programs head coach, a role that he has been in since 2016. Following a historic 2017–18 season, Moss was named the Midwest Fencing Conference Coach of the Year as the Wildcats captured their fifth-ever conference championship and finished with threeAll-Americans at the NCAA Championships. Additionally, the team set the program record for most wins in a season with 47 and the program record for longest win streak at 25. The 2018–19 season saw more milestones for the Wildcats including a 39–5 record, an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, and a second consecutive conference championship. The Wildcats achieved the highest ranking in program history during the season at second in the country and amassed 39 victories at the conference championships.[207]
The Northwestern Field Hockey team plays its home games at Lakeside Field, adjacent to Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium on the lakefront. The Wildcats are led by head coach Tracey Fuchs, a role that she has been in since 2009. Fuchs has led the Wildcats to two Big Ten titles and three NCAA tournament appearances. Under Fuchs' direction, the Wildcats have posted winning seasons in 10 of her 11 seasons.
The Northwestern Wildcats field hockey team has gathered six regular-season Big Ten titles and 1 tournament title in addition to 14 NCAA tournament appearances. In 2021, the team won the NCAA tournament, followed by a championship game appearance in 2022.
Northwestern lacrosse has won thenational championship inwomen's lacrosse five straight times, from 2005 to 2009, and then again in 2011 and 2012, giving them seven championships in eight years. In 2007, the team joinedMaryland as the only other school to three-peat. The run started in 2005, when the team enjoyed a perfect season and defeated many long-established east-coast schools after only five years as a varsity sport to capture the school's first national championship since 1941. In doing so, it became the westernmost institution to ever win the title. Soon after, the team made national news when members appeared in aWhite House photo withPresident Bush wearing thong sandals, orflip-flops, dubbed as the "White House flip-flop flap." The 2009 season also was an undefeated run. In their five consecutive championship seasons, the Wildcats have a 106–3 record. The Wildcats are led by head coachKelly Amonte-Hiller, a role that she has been in since 2002. Most recently, the Wildcats won their first-ever Big Ten Championship in 2019 and won their first-ever Big Ten regular season championship in 2021.[208][209][210]
The Northwestern Wildcats wrestling program hosts home matches in Welsh-Ryan Arena and practices in the Ken Kraft Wrestling Room, located in Anderson Hall. The Wildcats are led by Matt Storniolo, a role that he has been in since 2016. The Wildcats have had 40 Big Ten individual champions in addition to 10 NCAA individual champions and 75-plus All-Americans.[211][212]
The men's golf team has won eight Big Ten Conference championships: 1925, 1937, 1939, 1948, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006. They have twice placed second in theNCAA Championships: 1939, 1945.Luke Donald won the NCAA Individual Championship in 1999. He was Big Ten Conference Player of the year in 1999, andDavid Merkow was named the same in 2006. Donald was rankednumber 1 in theOfficial World Golf Ranking for 56 weeks in 2011 and 2012.
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Northwestern's political alumni include U.S. Senator and presidential candidateGeorge McGovern and Chicago MayorRahm Emanuel.[213] Law school graduates include oratorWilliam Jennings Bryan, U.S. Supreme Court Associate JusticeJohn Paul Stevens, Supreme Court Justice and United Nations AmbassadorArthur Joseph Goldberg, Chicago MayorHarold L. Washington, Governor of Illinois and Democratic presidential candidateAdlai Stevenson,[214] and Cincinnati mayor and tabloid hostJerry Springer.
The number of Northwestern alumni involved in theater, film, and television is also so large that the alumni have been dubbed the "Northwestern mafia."[215][216] Actor alumni includeWarren Beatty,Julia Louis-Dreyfus,Charlton Heston,[217] andBritish royal family memberMeghan, Duchess of Sussex. Other media alumni includeStephen Colbert andSeth Meyers.
Others include Nobel Prize-winning economistGeorge J. Stigler, Nobel Prize-winning novelistSaul Bellow, and Nobel Prize winning biochemistRobert F. Furchgott. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and diaristNed Rorem,A Song of Ice and Fire authorGeorge R. R. Martin, Pulitzer Prize-winning composerHoward Hanson, historian and novelistWilma Dykeman, andNational Prayer Breakfast founderAbraham Vereide are also among its alumni. Among U.S. universities, Northwestern ranks eighth in the number of billionaires produced.[218] Northwestern alumni have founded companies and organizations including theMayo Clinic,The Blackstone Group,U.S. Steel,Accenture,Aon Corporation, andBooz Allen Hamilton.
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The university employs 3,781 faculty members across its eleven schools,[3] including 18 members of theNational Academy of Sciences,[219] 65 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences,[220] 19 members of theNational Academy of Engineering,[221] and 6 members of theInstitute of Medicine.[222]
Faculty include 2010 Nobel Prize-winning economistDale T. Mortensen;[223] nano-scientistsChad Mirkin andSamuel I. Stupp;Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering winnerManijeh Razeghi; Tony Award-winning directorMary Zimmerman; management expertPhilip Kotler; King Faisal International Prize in Science recipient and Nobel laureate SirFraser Stoddart;Steppenwolf Theatre directorAnna Shapiro; sexual psychologistJ. Michael Bailey;[224]Federalist Society co-founderSteven Calabresi;[225] formerWeathermanBernardine Rae Dohrn;[226]ethnographerGary Alan Fine;[227]Pulitzer Prize–winning historianGarry Wills;[228]American Academy of Arts and Sciences fellowMonica Olvera de la Cruz andMacArthur Fellowship recipientsStuart Dybek,Jennifer Richeson, Amy Rosenzweig,John A. Rogers,Mark Hersam,William Dichtel, and Dylan Penningroth.
The faculty also includesHolocaust denierArthur Butz[229] andRichard Bruce Silverman, inventor of Lyrica (Pregabalin). Former faculty include political advisorDavid Axelrod,[230][231] artistsWilliam Conger,Judy Ledgerwood,Ed Paschke,[232] andJames Valerio, writerCharles Newman,[233] Nobel Prize–winning chemistJohn Pople,[234] and military sociologist and "don't ask, don't tell" authorCharles Moskos.[235]
Northwestern's own religious identity stretches back to its genesis. The University began with a prayer — the school's nine founders (all of them Methodists, three of them ministers) knelt in worship before launching their first organizational meeting. During that meeting, they agreed to establish a university under the patronage of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Throughout most of its history, Northwestern kept a strong Methodist tie. Regional church conferences chose a member of the board of trustees, and until 1890 every University president was an ordained Methodist minister.
Although the founders were strong Methodists — three of them were Methodist ministers and before the meeting all those in attendance joined in prayer — they also firmly believed that Northwestern should be an institution that would serve all people. At that time in history, particularly in the Midwest, many religious denominations founded colleges aimed at educating only members of their religion.
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