Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIU) vs NorthWestern

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIU-C) and Northwestern University (NU) are two distinct institutions of higher learning, each offering unique educational experiences. SIU-C, a public research university, boasts an acceptance rate of 88%, while NU, a private research university, has a highly selective acceptance rate of 9%. SIU-C's popular majors include Business, Education, and Engineering, while NU's popular majors include Economics, Engineering, and Political Science. SIU-C's student body is predominantly White (58%) and female (56%), while NU's student body is more diverse, with a larger proportion of Asian (18%) and male (52%) students. SIU-C has a graduation rate of 56%, while NU's graduation rate is significantly higher at 91%. Explore the comparison table below to delve deeper into the differences between these two universities and determine which one aligns best with your academic

	Northwestern University	Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
Overview
Location	Evanston, Illinois	Carbondale, Illinois
Campus setting	City: Small	City: Small
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Private (Non Profit)	Public
Calendar system	Quarter	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate and Graduate	Undergraduate and Graduate
Students retention rate	99.0%	75.0%
Common app member	Yes	Yes
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	7.0%	95.1%
Application fees	Undergraduate: $75 Graduate: $95	Undergraduate: $40 Graduate: $65
SAT range	1470 - 1570	930 - 1160
ACT range	34 - 35	20 - 28
Students submitting SAT score	43.0%	43.0%
Students submitting ACT score	39.0%	18.0%
Total number of applicants	47,636	6,987
Total number of admissions given out	3,321	6,648
Admitted students who chose to enroll	2,086	1,422
Yield rate	62.8%	21.4%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Not required	Required
Recommendation letters	Required	Not required
High school transcript	Not required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Required	Not required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	$83,838	$29,903
Average net price	$29,999	$15,976
Tuition	$60,276	$9,638
Room & board	Room/dormitory: $11,271 Meal plan: $6,993	Room/dormitory: $6,292 Meal plan: $4,330
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Guaranteed tuition plan Tuition payment plan Other alternative tuition plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	57.0% Average amount $51,087	91.0% Average amount $13,301
Students receiving federal student loan	23.0% Average amount $4,625	55.0% Average amount $5,362
Students taking out private loans	2.0% Average amount $38,595	8.0% Average amount $12,619

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	8,847 Men 46.1% Women 53.9%	8,147 Men 51.4% Women 48.6%
Graduate students	14,562 Men 47.3% Women 52.7%	3,119 Men 46.3% Women 53.7%
Racial/ethnic diversity	Moderate	Low
Out-of-state students	N/A	17.5%
International students	17.8%	7.7%
Campus local/setting	City: Small	City: Small
Dormitory capacity	4,409	4,492
First year students are required to live on campus?	No	No
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	N/A	Illinois Missouri Indiana Tennessee Wisconsin

Academics
Popular study areas	Business Communication and Journalism Engineering Health Professions Legal Profession	Health Professions Education Engineering Technologies Biological and Biomedical Sciences Transportation and Logistics
Students to faculty ratio	6:1	10:1
Institutional accreditation	Higher Learning Commission	Higher Learning Commission

Outcome
Graduation rate	95.2%	45.3%
Dropout rate	4.2%	53.2%
Transferred out	N/A	N/A
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Medical Clinical Sciences/Graduate Medical Studies (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $150,242 Year 2: $188,472 Year 3: $221,242 Business/Commerce, General (First Professional Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $188,472 Year 3: $216,176 Law (First Professional Degrees) Year 1: $187,194 Year 2: $170,971 Year 3: $206,288 Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $120,709 Year 2: $189,565 Year 3: $194,961 Business/Commerce, General (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $162,478 Year 2: $163,561 Year 3: $177,652 Engineering-Related Fields (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $111,200 Year 2: $157,779 Year 3: $159,304 Engineering, Other (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $140,321 Year 2: $141,586 Year 3: $154,556 Medical Illustration and Informatics (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $88,288 Year 2: $118,465 Year 3: $132,325 Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $118,780 Year 2: $111,323 Year 3: $130,124 Community Organization and Advocacy (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $115,760 Year 2: $113,668 Year 3: $128,046	Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $101,053 Year 2: $104,597 Year 3: $108,594 Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $65,138 Year 2: $65,905 Year 3: $75,851 Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $63,097 Year 2: $64,068 Year 3: $70,959 Medicine (First Professional Degrees) Year 1: $55,319 Year 2: $57,318 Year 3: $66,942 Computer Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $54,274 Year 2: $58,673 Year 3: $66,280 Civil Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $59,465 Year 2: $58,221 Year 3: $62,788 Architecture (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $52,426 Year 2: $53,219 Year 3: $62,608 Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/Technicians (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $57,372 Year 2: $55,211 Year 3: $62,306 Accounting and Related Services (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $52,213 Year 2: $55,061 Year 3: $62,169 Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technologies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $49,024 Year 2: $49,840 Year 3: $62,089

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