Northwestern stopped requiring the SAT five years ago, and the SAT scores it reports have gone up. The middle half of the last class admitted under the requirement, which entered in Fall 2020, scored 1430 to 1540. The middle half of the Fall 2025 class scored 1520 to 1560, even though fewer than half of those students sent an SAT score at all.
Both numbers are accurate, and neither means what a quick reading suggests. Under a test-optional policy, the published range describes only the students who chose to submit. Northwestern has kept that policy while Brown and Penn, profiled earlier in this series, brought their requirements back. In a March 25, 2026, letter to counselors, Northwestern said it received more than 54,000 first-year applications for the Class of 2030, admitted around 7 percent, and remains test-optional.
This profile draws on Northwestern’s Common Data Set filings from the 2018-19 through 2025-26 editions, which cover the classes that entered from Fall 2018 to Fall 2025. The 2025-26 edition is the most current available. Earlier editions are also collected in the College Transitions Common Data Set repository. Northwestern has published only rounded figures for the Class of 2030, so the charts and tables stop at Fall 2025. Rates describe applicant pools rather than the odds facing any one student.
Applications
The application count rose sharply in the first test-optional cycle. Northwestern received 39,263 applications for Fall 2020, the last test-required class, and 47,636 for Fall 2021, an increase of 21.3 percent in one cycle. The pool reached 52,676 for Fall 2025, 30 percent above Fall 2018, and passed 54,000 for the Class of 2030, according to Northwestern.
Figure 1. First-year applications by testing policy, Fall 2018 to Fall 2025. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set, item C1.
The entering class barely grew while the pool did. Northwestern enrolled between 1,901 and 2,139 first-years in every year shown, so the admit rate fell from 9.3 percent for Fall 2020 to 7.0 percent for Fall 2021 and has stayed between 7.0 and 7.7 percent since. The timing matches the policy change, but the Common Data Set cannot show how many additional applicants applied because testing became optional.
| Class | Applied | Admits | Rate | Enrolled | From waitlist | ED applied | ED admits | ED rate |
| Fall 2018 | 40,425 | 3,422 | 8.5% | 1,931 | 24 | 4,057 | 1,077 | 26.5% |
| Fall 2019 | 40,585 | 3,673 | 9.1% | 2,006 | 55 | 4,399 | 1,096 | 24.9% |
| Fall 2020 | 39,263 | 3,654 | 9.3% | 1,901 | 108 | 4,411 | 1,105 | 25.1% |
| Fall 2021 | 47,636 | 3,321 | 7.0% | 2,086 | 69 | 4,545 | 1,105 | 24.3% |
| Fall 2022 | 51,261 | 3,695 | 7.2% | 2,038 | 83 | 5,021 | 1,109 | 22.1% |
| Fall 2023 | 51,769 | 3,739 | 7.2% | 2,111 | 55 | 5,207 | 1,174 | 22.5% |
| Fall 2024 | 49,474 | 3,806 | 7.7% | 2,105 | 59 | 5,154 | 1,186 | 23.0% |
| Fall 2025 | 52,676 | 3,933 | 7.5% | 2,139 | 167 | 5,939 | 1,212 | 20.4% |
Table 1. Northwestern first-year admissions, Fall 2018 to Fall 2025. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set, items C1, C2 and C21. Admit counts include waitlist admits. Rates computed by College Transitions.
Northwestern admitted 167 students from its waitlist for Fall 2025, the most in any year shown and 4.2 percent of all admits. The prior high was 108, for Fall 2020. Northwestern does not report how many students were offered or accepted a waitlist spot, so no waitlist admit rate can be computed, and the count says nothing about any one waitlisted student’s chances. Counts also vary by source. The Daily Northwestern reported more than 53,000 applications for the Class of 2029, while the Common Data Set lists 52,676 for the same class. The gap may reflect different reporting dates or definitions, and Northwestern has not explained it.
Test Scores
Figure 2 puts the score ranges side by side. In the two test-required years shown, the bottom of the middle range sat at 1450 and 1430. In every test-optional year it has been 1490 or higher, reaching 1520 for Fall 2025. The top of the range moved less, from 1540 to 1560.
Figure 2. Middle 50 percent SAT composite range of enrolled first-years who submitted the SAT, and the share who submitted, Fall 2019 to Fall 2025. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set, item C9.
The higher range does not necessarily mean Northwestern’s students became stronger test-takers. When scores are optional, students with lower scores are less likely to report them, which can raise the published range without an equivalent change in the class as a whole. The likeliest contributor is who chose to report. In the two test-required years shown, 58 to 64 percent of first-years sent the SAT, and the range included whatever those students scored. Since Fall 2021, 43 to 50 percent have sent it, and a student with a lower score could leave it off. For Fall 2025, 48 percent submitted the SAT and 25 percent the ACT. Some students sent both, so the filing does not show how many sent neither. The Common Data Set cannot separate a change in who submits from a change in the students Northwestern admitted, and both may have moved the range.
| Class | Testing | Sent SAT | Sent ACT | SAT middle 50% | Median | ACT middle 50% |
| Fall 2019 | Required | 64% | 53% | 1450–1540 | – | 33–35 |
| Fall 2020 | Required | 58% | 55% | 1430–1540 | – | 33–35 |
| Fall 2021 | Optional | 43% | 39% | 1490–1550 | – | 33–35 |
| Fall 2022 | Optional | 47% | 31% | 1500–1560 | 1530 | 33–35 |
| Fall 2023 | Optional | 50% | 29% | 1500–1560 | 1530 | 33–35 |
| Fall 2024 | Optional | 46% | 23% | 1510–1560 | 1540 | 34–35 |
| Fall 2025 | Optional | 48% | 25% | 1520–1560 | 1540 | 34–35 |
Table 2. Testing profile of enrolled first-years, Fall 2019 to Fall 2025. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set, item C9. Score ranges are 25th to 75th percentiles for students who submitted each test; submission shares overlap because students could submit both.
Northwestern’s 2025-26 filing rates standardized test scores as “considered,” the third of four levels, while rigor of the high school record, class rank, GPA, essays, recommendations, extracurricular activities, talent and character are all rated “very important.” The same filing says the SAT or ACT will remain optional for students entering in Fall 2027. For an applicant, the published range is a benchmark for submitters only. A score below 1520 sits under three-quarters of the enrolled students who sent the SAT.
Early Decision
Northwestern offers one binding early decision round, with a November 1 deadline and a December 15 notification date, and no early action option. In every year shown, early decision admits equaled between 53 and 58 percent of the eventual entering class size. That ratio compares two counts, and the Common Data Set does not report the precise share of enrolled students who entered through early decision. Northwestern separately told counselors that it admitted more than half of the Class of 2030 in the binding round.
Figure 3. Admit rate for early decision applicants and for all other applicants, Fall 2018 to Fall 2025. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set, items C1 and C21. Non-ED rates computed by College Transitions.
The early decision rate has fallen as the early pool grew. Early applications rose 46 percent between Fall 2018 and Fall 2025, from 4,057 to 5,939, while early admits rose 12.5 percent, from 1,077 to 1,212. The early rate fell from 26.5 percent to 20.4 percent. The rate for everyone else ranged from 5.1 to 7.3 percent, so the early rate ran 3.4 to 4.7 times higher depending on the year. The non-ED figure was computed by subtracting early applicants and admits from the totals and includes waitlist admits.
These are pool-level rates, and the gap between them is not a measure of how much applying early raises any one student’s chances. The early pool can differ from the regular pool in academic profile, in the share of recruited athletes and in other applicants the university prioritizes, and the Common Data Set reports none of those breakdowns. The Daily Northwestern reported about 5,600 early applications for the Class of 2030, down from the prior year.
Cost and Aid
Northwestern’s billed charges for 2026-27 total $96,003, covering tuition of $71,802, fees of $1,260 and on-campus food and housing of $22,941. Its undergraduate aid office lists a full on-campus budget of $99,375 once books and supplies ($1,239), personal expenses ($2,079) and loan fees ($54) are added. Transportation varies by student and is not included, and neither is health insurance, which the office estimates at $5,996 for students who enroll in the university plan.
Northwestern’s filings report meeting 100 percent of need for first-years with need in every year from Fall 2021 to Fall 2025. Meeting full need does not make attendance free. Northwestern sets each family’s expected contribution using its own aid methodology, and that contribution can be substantial. Its admissions office says its need-based aid awards do not include loans, although the Common Data Set separately records first-years who received need-based self-help aid, which includes work-study and any need-based loans a student takes. Merit aid is close to nonexistent. The 2025-26 filing lists seven first-years receiving institutional non-need-based grants, apart from 86 first-years who received athletic scholarships, which Northwestern awards as an NCAA Division I member of the Big Ten.
Figure 4. First-year billed charges and the average need-based grant for first-years awarded one, 2023-24 to 2025-26. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set, items G1 and H2. A comparison of two averages, not a net price estimate.
Between 2023-24 and 2025-26, the first-year bill rose by $6,233 while the average need-based grant rose by $719. The average grant equaled 75.6 percent of the bill in 2023-24 and 71.2 percent in 2025-26. That compares an average for one group with a standard charge, so it does not mean a typical aid recipient pays the remainder, and it cannot show whether individual families paid more. Northwestern labels its 2025-26 aid figures as estimates rather than final numbers, so the Fall 2025 averages may change slightly when final figures are reported.
The share of enrolled first-years determined to have financial need also fell. For Fall 2025, 868 of 2,138 full-time first-years were found to have need, 40.6 percent and the lowest share in the five years shown, down from 1,008 students and 47.7 percent for Fall 2023. Fewer students applied, too. Aid applications from first-years fell 10.2 percent over the same two years, from 1,276 to 1,146. The data do not show how many students who skipped the application would have qualified, and the filings do not say why the count fell.
| Class | Full-time first-years | Applied for aid | Found to have need | Share with need | Average aid package | Average need-based grant | Need met |
| Fall 2021 | 2,086 | 1,166 | 918 | 44.0% | $61,907 | $60,424 | 100% |
| Fall 2022 | 2,038 | 1,221 | 961 | 47.2% | $63,954 | $62,898 | 100% |
| Fall 2023 | 2,111 | 1,276 | 1,008 | 47.7% | $65,612 | $65,227 | 100% |
| Fall 2024 | 2,105 | 1,200 | 950 | 45.1% | $67,785 | $65,983 | 100% |
| Fall 2025 | 2,138 | 1,146 | 868 | 40.6% | $67,935 | $65,946 | 100% |
Table 3. Need-based aid for first-time, full-time first-years, Fall 2021 to Fall 2025. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set, item H2. Fall 2025 figures are labeled as estimates in the 2025-26 filing. Shares computed by College Transitions.
A family’s own figure comes from Northwestern’s cost and aid estimators, not from these averages.
Who Enrolls
Table 4 shows Northwestern’s enrolled first-year classes in the Common Data Set reporting categories. Students on student visas or other temporary status are reported as nonresidents, separately from the race and ethnicity categories. Under the guidance in the 2025-26 edition, DACA recipients, undocumented students and other eligible noncitizens are not classified as nonresidents. Each student appears in exactly one category. Fall 2024 was the first class admitted after the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling ending race-conscious admissions.
| Category | Fall 2021 | Fall 2022 | Fall 2023 | Fall 2024 | Fall 2025 |
| White | 34.7% | 33.3% | 28.8% | 25.1% | 25.3% |
| Asian | 19.2% | 21.4% | 23.2% | 19.7% | 24.6% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 16.8% | 14.9% | 17.3% | 18.1% | 14.4% |
| Nonresident | 10.4% | 10.1% | 10.4% | 13.1% | 11.8% |
| Black | 7.4% | 8.3% | 8.6% | 10.9% | 8.9% |
| Two or more races | 7.9% | 8.2% | 8.6% | 7.5% | 8.2% |
| Unknown | 3.6% | 3.4% | 3.2% | 5.1% | 6.6% |
| Other | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| First-years reported | 2,086 | 2,038 | 2,111 | 2,105 | 2,138 |
Table 4. First-time, first-year students by CDS race and ethnicity category, Fall 2021 to Fall 2025. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set, item B2. “Other” combines American Indian or Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Shares computed by College Transitions from the B2 totals.
Northwestern’s Black share rose in the first post-ruling class, from 8.6 percent in Fall 2023 to 10.9 percent in Fall 2024, then fell to 8.9 percent in Fall 2025. The Asian share moved the other way, from 23.2 to 19.7 to 24.6 percent, and the Hispanic share fell from 18.1 to 14.4 percent between Fall 2024 and Fall 2025. The share of students whose race or ethnicity was unreported also rose, from 3.2 percent in Fall 2023 to 6.6 percent in Fall 2025. Because these are enrolled students rather than admitted applicants, the shifts reflect both admissions decisions and which admitted students chose to enroll, and the figures cannot establish whether the ruling caused any of them. The white share fell from 34.7 percent in Fall 2021 to about a quarter in each of the last two classes.
Fields of Study
Northwestern’s professional schools show up in its degree mix. In its reported distribution of bachelor’s degree fields for July 2024 to June 2025, communication and journalism, the home fields of the Medill School of Journalism and the School of Communication, accounted for 10.8 percent of reported fields. Engineering, the main field of the McCormick School of Engineering, accounted for 10.6 percent. The social sciences, a CDS category that includes economics, political science and sociology, led at 19.9 percent.
Figure 5. Northwestern’s reported distribution of bachelor’s degree fields, July 2024 to June 2025. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set 2025-26, item J1.
The Common Data Set lets colleges compute these shares from first and second majors combined or from first majors only, and Northwestern’s filing does not say which it used, so the figures are best read as field shares rather than counts of students. Compared with the prior year, engineering fell from 12.4 percent and interdisciplinary studies rose from 2.6 percent. One-year moves like these can reflect changes in what students chose to study or in how degrees were coded, and the filings do not show which.
Classes and Graduation
In Fall 2025, 1,814 of Northwestern’s 2,363 undergraduate class sections, or 76.8 percent, had fewer than 20 students, and 42 sections, or 1.8 percent, had 100 or more. Those figures count sections, not seats, so a student who takes several large introductory courses will sit in more big rooms than the section share suggests. Northwestern reported a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1.
| Filing | First-year retention | Six-year graduation cohort | Six-year graduation rate | Pell recipients |
| 2021-22 | 98.6% | Entered 2015 | 95.2% | 92.2% |
| 2022-23 | 97.8% | Entered 2016 | 96.5% | 96.9% |
| 2023-24 | 97% | Entered 2017 | 96% | 96% |
| 2024-25 | 98% | Entered 2018 | 95% | 94% |
| 2025-26 | 98% | Entered 2019 | 96% | 96% |
Table 5. Retention and six-year graduation rates, as reported in each filing. Source: Northwestern Common Data Set, item B22 and the graduation rate tables in section B. Some filings round to whole percentages.
Retention ranged from 97 to 98.6 percent across the last five filings, and six-year graduation from 95 to 96.5 percent. Pell Grant recipients graduated within about a percentage point of the full cohort, which includes them, in four of the last five filings. For students who entered in 2019, 394 of 409 Pell recipients graduated within six years, 96.3 percent, compared with 1,928 of 2,006 students, or 96.1 percent, for the cohort as a whole.
One Applicant’s Choices
Take a hypothetical junior, call her Maya, with a 1490 SAT and a 34 ACT, who plans to apply to Northwestern next fall. Her 34 ACT falls within Northwestern’s reported middle 50 percent, while her 1490 SAT falls below the reported 25th percentile of 1520. Those figures favor sending the ACT rather than the SAT, though she should also check how the two scores line up on the official concordance table and how they fit the rest of her application. She should weigh early decision before the November 1 deadline knowing that early admits have equaled more than half the entering class but the early admit rate has fallen to about 20 percent. Before she commits, a parent should run Northwestern’s estimator, since only 40.6 percent of enrolled first-years were found to have need for Fall 2025 and the bill for 2026-27 tops $96,000. For more on applying, see our guide to how to get into Northwestern.
Sources
Northwestern University Common Data Set, 2018-19 through 2025-26 editions (Fall 2018 to Fall 2025 entering classes; degrees conferred through June 2025; charges through 2026-27), from Northwestern’s Office of Enrollment. Class of 2030 figures from Northwestern’s March 25, 2026, regular decision letter to counselors and The Daily Northwestern (March 25, 2026). 2026-27 budget, books, personal and health insurance figures from Northwestern Undergraduate Financial Aid. Loan policy from Northwestern Admissions. Brand colors from Northwestern’s brand guidelines. All rates not reported directly by Northwestern were computed by College Transitions from the counts shown.
Northwestern University, Common Data Set (all editions). https://www.enrollment.northwestern.edu/data/common-data-set.html
Northwestern Admissions, regular decision context letter, Class of 2030 (Mar. 25, 2026). https://admissions.northwestern.edu/docs/northwestern-regular-decision-context-2026.pdf
The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern admit rate stays around 7% for Class of 2030 (Mar. 25, 2026). https://dailynorthwestern.com/2026/03/25/lateststories/northwestern-admit-rate-stays-around-7-for-class-of-2030/
Northwestern Undergraduate Financial Aid, cost of attendance. https://undergradaid.northwestern.edu/aid-basics-eligibility/cost-of-attendance.html
Northwestern Admissions, tuition and financial aid. https://admissions.northwestern.edu/tuition-aid/index.html
