Profile

Northwestern University is a private research university located in Evanston, IL, with campuses in Chicago and Qatar. Consistently ranked as one of the most elite schools in the Midwest and beyond – 11% of undergraduates are international – Northwestern is renowned for its law, medicine, journalism and art programs. It offers roughly 190 majors at six prominent undergraduate schools. Northwestern follows a quarter system, where students have three 10-week terms. The university has an annual budget of over $2 billion, plus $620 million for sponsored research. Approximately 40% of undergraduates participate in Greek life; students can also join the more than 450 organizations and clubs. At 9 p.m. on the night before each quarter’s finals week, students take a break from studying to scream as loud as they can; this tradition, started in 1982, is known as the “Primal Scream.” The Northwestern Wildcats have 19 varsity sports teams that compete in the NCAA Division I Big 10 Conference. Prominent alumni include comedian Stephen Colbert, IBM CEO Virginia Rometty and SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell.