Northwestern Comparisons

10/10 Overall Rating
4 Year
Evanston, IL
5.0 1 review

#15 Best Colleges in America

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Curious how Northwestern University stacks up against other colleges? Compare Northwestern to any three other US colleges using the College Simply compare tool, or compare with some of the pre-selected schools below.

Frequently Compared

These similar colleges are most often compared with Northwestern University by students and parents using CollegeSimply.

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Compare University of Chicago and Northwestern University

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Compare Northwestern University and University of Notre Dame

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Compare Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University

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Compare Northwestern University and Duke University

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Compare Northwestern University and Washington University in St Louis

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Compare Northwestern University and Cornell University

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Compare Northwestern University and Vanderbilt University

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Compare Georgetown University and Northwestern University

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Compare Loyola University Chicago and Northwestern University

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Compare Northwestern University and University of Michigan Ann Arbor

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Compare Northwestern University and University of Pennsylvania

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Compare University of Southern California and Northwestern University

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Compare Northwestern University and Rice University

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Compare Pomona College and Northwestern University

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Compare Emory University and Northwestern University

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Compare Northwestern University and Case Western Reserve University

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Compare Northwestern University and Carnegie Mellon University

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Compare Northwestern University and Northeastern University

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Compare Northwestern University and Harvard University

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Compare Claremont McKenna College and Northwestern University

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Compare Northwestern University and Carleton College

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Compare with Illinois Public Colleges

Compare with Illinois Public Colleges for Northwestern University
College	In-state tuition	Acceptance rate	Compare
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Champaign, IL	$52,318 lower in-state tuition	34% higher acceptance rate	Compare
University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, IL	$53,984 lower in-state tuition	69% higher acceptance rate	Compare

Compare with Illinois Private Colleges

Compare with Illinois Private Colleges for Northwestern University
College	In-state tuition	Acceptance rate	Compare
University of Chicago Chicago, IL	$2,340 higher in-state tuition	4% lower acceptance rate	Compare
Wheaton College Wheaton, IL	$22,776 lower in-state tuition	79% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL	$15,936 lower in-state tuition	47% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Lake Forest College Lake Forest, IL	$11,920 lower in-state tuition	49% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Knox College Galesburg, IL	$10,419 lower in-state tuition	63% higher acceptance rate	Compare

Compare with Regional Public Colleges

Compare with Regional Public Colleges for Northwestern University
College	In-state tuition	Acceptance rate	Compare
University of Michigan Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	$50,586 lower in-state tuition	8% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Ohio State University Main Campus Columbus, OH	$55,078 lower in-state tuition	53% higher acceptance rate	Compare
University of Wisconsin Madison Madison, WI	$56,719 lower in-state tuition	37% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Purdue University Main Campus West Lafayette, IN	$58,330 lower in-state tuition	42% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Miami University Oxford Oxford, OH	$50,161 lower in-state tuition	67% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Indiana University Bloomington Bloomington, IN	$56,178 lower in-state tuition	70% higher acceptance rate	Compare
University of Minnesota Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN	$51,108 lower in-state tuition	72% higher acceptance rate	Compare
University of Cincinnati Main Campus Cincinnati, OH	$54,346 lower in-state tuition	77% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Truman State University Kirksville, MO	$58,484 lower in-state tuition	76% higher acceptance rate	Compare
University of Minnesota Rochester Rochester, MN	$53,306 lower in-state tuition	63% higher acceptance rate	Compare

Compare with Regional Private Colleges

Compare with Regional Private Colleges for Northwestern University
College	In-state tuition	Acceptance rate	Compare
University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN	$3,297 lower in-state tuition	3% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Washington University in St Louis St. Louis, MO	$2,532 lower in-state tuition	4% higher acceptance rate	Compare
University of Dayton Dayton, OH	$19,182 lower in-state tuition	57% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH	$1,714 lower in-state tuition	29% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Oberlin College Oberlin, OH	$956 lower in-state tuition	26% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Carleton College Northfield, MN	$570 higher in-state tuition	12% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Denison University Granville, OH	$1,322 lower in-state tuition	9% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Grinnell College Grinnell, IA	$216 lower in-state tuition	7% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Kenyon College Gambier, OH	$3,198 higher in-state tuition	23% higher acceptance rate	Compare
DePauw University Greencastle, IN	$9,252 lower in-state tuition	49% higher acceptance rate	Compare
St Olaf College Northfield, MN	$8,562 lower in-state tuition	40% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Saint Louis University Saint Louis, MO	$12,562 lower in-state tuition	67% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Macalester College Saint Paul, MN	$218 lower in-state tuition	21% higher acceptance rate	Compare
University of St Thomas Saint Paul, MN	$13,924 lower in-state tuition	77% higher acceptance rate	Compare
The College of Wooster Wooster, OH	$6,682 lower in-state tuition	52% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Rose Hulman Institute of Technology Terre Haute, IN	$9,673 lower in-state tuition	69% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Milwaukee School of Engineering Milwaukee, WI	$17,842 lower in-state tuition	51% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Augsburg University Minneapolis, MN	$22,870 lower in-state tuition	74% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Hamline University Saint Paul, MN	$18,318 lower in-state tuition	80% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo, MI	$7,272 lower in-state tuition	67% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Ohio Northern University Ada, OH	$28,522 lower in-state tuition	66% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Beloit College Beloit, WI	$7,436 lower in-state tuition	55% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Centre College Danville, KY	$15,502 lower in-state tuition	46% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Luther College Decorah, IA	$16,202 lower in-state tuition	64% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Transylvania University Lexington, KY	$21,452 lower in-state tuition	79% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Lawrence University Appleton, WI	$11,340 lower in-state tuition	56% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Viterbo University La Crosse, WI	$34,072 lower in-state tuition	64% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Hillsdale College Hillsdale, Michigan	$35,133 lower in-state tuition	13% higher acceptance rate	Compare

Compare with National Colleges

Compare with National Colleges for Northwestern University
College	In-state tuition	Acceptance rate	Compare
Harvard University Cambridge, MA	$6,646 lower in-state tuition	4% lower acceptance rate	Compare
University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA	$3,775 higher in-state tuition	2% higher acceptance rate	Compare
New York University New York, NY	$5,526 lower in-state tuition	1% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD	$3,092 lower in-state tuition	2% lower acceptance rate	Compare
Boston University Boston, MA	$220 lower in-state tuition	3% higher acceptance rate	Compare
University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	$364 higher in-state tuition	3% lower acceptance rate	Compare
Cornell University Ithaca, NY	$992 higher in-state tuition	1% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Georgetown University Washington, DC	$305 lower in-state tuition	5% higher acceptance rate	Compare
Northeastern University Boston, MA	$2,160 lower in-state tuition	3% lower acceptance rate	Compare
Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY	$3,523 higher in-state tuition	4% lower acceptance rate	Compare

Data source: NCES / IPEDS https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?id=147767.

Last updated: August 2026