Northwestern College vs University of Maryland-College Park (UMD)

Northwestern College and University of Maryland-College Park, two distinct institutions of higher learning, offer unique educational experiences to prospective students. Northwestern College, a private Christian liberal arts college in Orange City, Iowa, boasts a tight-knit community and a focus on undergraduate teaching. In contrast, the University of Maryland-College Park, a large public research university in College Park, Maryland, provides a diverse student body and a wide range of academic programs. With acceptance rates of 88% and 44%, respectively, these institutions cater to different applicant pools. While Northwestern College excels in popular majors like Business, Education, and Psychology, the University of Maryland-College Park offers a broader selection of programs, including Engineering, Computer Science, and Public Health. Explore the comprehensive comparison table below to delve into further details about these institutions, including student body demographics, graduation rates, and additional factors that may influence your college decision.

	Northwestern College	University of Maryland-College Park
Overview
Location	Orange City, Iowa	College Park, Maryland
Campus setting	Town: Distant	Suburb: Large
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Private (Non Profit)	Public
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate and Graduate	Undergraduate and Graduate
Students retention rate	83.0%	95.0%
Common app member	No	Yes
Religious affiliation	Protestant

Admission
Acceptance rate	83.0%	52.0%
Application fees		Undergraduate: $75 Graduate: $75
SAT range	940 - 1240	1330 - 1510
ACT range	20 - 27	30 - 34
Students submitting SAT score	8.0%	34.0%
Students submitting ACT score	82.0%	9.0%
Total number of applicants	1,172	50,183
Total number of admissions given out	973	26,109
Admitted students who chose to enroll	268	6,072
Yield rate	27.5%	23.3%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Not required	Required
Recommendation letters	Not required	Not required
High school transcript	Not required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Required	Required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	$47,650	In state: $30,997 Out of state: $58,678
Average net price	$24,848	$17,146
Tuition	$33,350	In state: $9,000 Out of state: $36,681
Room & board	$10,000	Room/dormitory: $8,072 Meal plan: $5,578
Available payment plans	Prepaid tuition plan Tuition payment plan	Prepaid tuition plan Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	100.0% Average amount $21,873	56.0% Average amount $10,645
Students receiving federal student loan	69.0% Average amount $5,257	20.0% Average amount $5,065
Students taking out private loans	21.0% Average amount $10,813	4.0% Average amount $22,924

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	1,053 Men 48.7% Women 51.3%	30,922 Men 50.8% Women 49.2%
Graduate students	460 Men 24.3% Women 75.7%	10,350 Men 50.7% Women 49.3%
Racial/ethnic diversity	Very Low	Moderate
Out-of-state students	N/A	29.5%
International students	2.2%	10.3%
Campus local/setting	Town: Distant	Suburb: Large
Dormitory capacity	995	11,846
First year students are required to live on campus?	No	No
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	N/A	Maryland New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Virginia

Academics
Popular study areas	Education Health Professions Biological and Biomedical Sciences Business Visual & Performing Arts	Engineering Business Education Computer and Information Science Social Sciences
Students to faculty ratio	12:1	18:1
Institutional accreditation	Higher Learning Commission	Middle States Commission on Higher Education

Outcome
Graduation rate	70.8%	87.7%
Dropout rate	6.5%	4.0%
Transferred out	22.7%	7.7%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Educational Administration and Supervision (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $55,719 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $37,017 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $49,993 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $20,925 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Health and Physical Education/Fitness (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $33,080 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $59,227 Year 2: $61,516 Year 3: N/A Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $38,185 Year 2: $41,193 Year 3: N/A	Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $108,765 Year 2: $106,102 Year 3: $116,295 Educational Administration and Supervision (Doctoral Degrees) Year 1: $125,155 Year 2: $112,923 Year 3: $112,074 Engineering, General (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $86,533 Year 2: $94,112 Year 3: $102,555 Business/Commerce, General (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $93,018 Year 2: $94,408 Year 3: $101,716 Computer and Information Sciences, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $84,727 Year 2: $84,653 Year 3: $99,501 Physics (Doctoral Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $72,899 Year 3: $92,830 Computer Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $88,418 Year 2: $80,466 Year 3: $92,230 Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $67,675 Year 2: $72,762 Year 3: $83,667 Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $74,798 Year 2: $71,761 Year 3: $82,867 Information Science/Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $67,391 Year 2: $66,485 Year 3: $82,784

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