Northwestern University (Pritzker)

375 E. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 503-8465

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National Comparison: Overview of Facts

#1 in Private Sector Salary

Northwestern Law is tied for #1 in terms of the median starting salary among graduates working in private practice as law firm associates ($180,000).

#2 in Student to Faculty Ratio

Northwestern Law is tied for #2 in terms of lowest student to faculty ratio (3.6:1).

#8 in Median LSAT

Northwestern Law is tied for #8 in terms of the median LSAT score (169) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students. The LSAT measures reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning.

#8 in Median Undergraduate GPA

Northwestern Law ranks #8 in terms of highest median undergraduate GPA (3.84) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students.

#8 in Highest Tuition

Northwestern Law ranks #8 in terms of highest tuition among full-time law students ($64,402). We rank from a total of 283 tuition rates from 194 law schools, ranking twice those law schools that have different in-state and out-of-state tuition rates.

#9 in Acceptance Rate

Northwestern Law ranks #9 in terms of student selectivity with an acceptance rate of 19.3% among those who applied for admission.

#9 in Employment Rate at 10 Months

#11 in Employment Rate at Graduation
Northwestern Law ranks #9 in terms of graduates employed ten months after graduation (91.9%) and #11 in terms of graduates employed at the time of graduation (85.9%) .

#18 in Library Size

Northwestern Law ranks #18 in terms of library size with 827,547 volumes or equivalents.

#21 in Bar Passage Rate

Northwestern Law ranks #21 in terms of bar passage rate among first-time test takers (93.5%), and it outperforms by +14.5% the state of Illinois’s overall bar passage rate of 79.0%. (A national comparison on this metric should be taken in a qualified sense and with caution, because every state has a different bar passage rate.)

#28 in Public Sector Salary

Northwestern Law is tied for #28 in terms of median starting salary among graduates working in government jobs or judicial clerkships at the federal or state level ($60,518).

#44 in Presence of Minority Students

Northwestern Law ranks #44 in terms of the highest percentage of students who are racial or ethnic minority (43.0%).

#127 in Presence of Female Faculty

Northwestern Law is tied for #127 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are female (36.3%).

#137 in Presence of Minority Faculty

Northwestern Law ranks #137 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are racial or ethnic minority (10.4%).

Fall 2020 Application Information

Application Deadline: February 15
Application Fee: $75

Admissions Statistics

2020 2017
Acceptance Rate 19.3% 22.6%
LSAT Score (Median) 169 166
LSAT Score (25th-75th percentile) 164-170 163-169
GPA (Median) 3.84 3.71
GPA Range (25th-75th percentile) 3.58-3.90 3.56-3.85

Bar Exam Statistics

2020 2017
State in which most graduates took bar exam: IL IL
School's bar passage rate: 93.5% 92.4%
State overall bar passage rate: 79.0% 85.0%
School bar pass rate vs. state bar pass rate: +14.5% +7.4%

Employment Statistics

2020 2017
Graduates employed at graduation: 85.9% 79.0%
Graduates employed 10 months after graduation: 91.9% 90.0%

Tuition and Expenses

2020 2017
Tuition: $64,402 $58,398
Room and Board: $16,236 $14,040
Proportion of full-time students receiving grants: 83.6% 65.2%
Median grant amount among full-time students: $30,000 $25,000
Average indebtedness of those who incurred debt: $127,458 $155,796
Proportion of graduates who incurred debt: 67.2% 78.2%
View National Comparison

Students & Faculty

2020 2017
Total Students: 752 658
Men: 46.9% 51.8%
Women: 53.1% 48.2%
Student Racial Demographics:

White: 57.0% N/A
Black: 5.1% N/A
Hispanic: 12.1% N/A
Asian: 9.6% N/A
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 3.6 : 1 N/A
Total Faculty: 270 N/A
Male: 63.7% N/A
Female: 36.3% N/A
Minority: 10.4% N/A

Full-Time Starting Salaries

2020 2017
Private Sector (Median): $180,000 $160,000
Public Sector (Median): $60,518 $58,000
View National Comparison

Library Resources

2020 2017
Volumes and equivalents: 827,547 829,974