Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private institution that was founded in 1851. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 8,688, its setting is suburban, and the campus size is 231 acres. It utilizes a quarter-based academic calendar. Northwestern University's ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 13. Its tuition and fees are $47,251 (2014-15).

What began as farmland and swampland in the 1850s became the Northwestern campus and the city of Evanston, Ill. Northwestern University is a Division I school in the Big Ten athletic conference. Northwestern's women's lacrosse team has won multiple NCAA national championships. The school has hundreds of campus organizations fulfill students' varied interests. Freshmen are guaranteed on-campus housing if requested in their applications. The school's 11 residential colleges offer thematic living quarters for social and academic programming. Northwestern's main campuses are located along Lake Michigan in Evanston and Chicago. In 2008, Northwestern opened a third branch in Doha, Qatar.

Of Northwestern’s dozen schools, nine offer undergraduate programs and 10 offer graduate and professional programs. Northwestern’s highly-ranked graduate schools include the Kellogg School of Management, the School of Education and Social Policy, the School of Law, the Feinberg School of Medicine, the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Interdepartmental Biological Sciences Program. Northwestern’s Medill School is known for its strong journalism graduate program. Northwestern’s Dance Marathon, created in 1975, is one of the largest student-run philanthropies in the country and has raised more than $14 million for Chicago-area charities. Notable alumni include the 55th mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel; retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens; actor, writer and director Zach Braff; comedian Stephen Colbert; and Tony Award-winning actress Heather Headley.