Northwestern University once again has received a record number of applications — a total of 32,755 — for its entering freshmen class.
On the rise for 10 years in a row, applications are up by 2.2 percent from last year for the Class of 2017.
The applications total includes early decision applications, which have increased for eight consecutive years, reflecting the growing interest in Northwestern as a first choice. The number of early decision applications for the Class of 2017 total 2,625 — up by 7 percent from last year.
Northwestern officials say the school is increasingly recognized nationally and internationally for the excellence of its students and its highly diverse education offered inside and outside the classroom.
NU President Morton Schapiro says the school “is likely one of very few institutions that can claim to have had its students, faculty or alumni win all of the following: Nobel Prizes, Academy Awards, Tony Awards, Rhodes Scholarships, MacArthur ‘genius grants,’ Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards and World Series and Super Bowl rings.”
Winning important scholarship competitions is widely used as measures of the quality of undergraduate teaching, and Northwestern students increasingly have been winning Rhodes, Marshall, Churchill and Fulbright scholarships.
For the eighth year in a row, Northwestern is among the top 10 producers of U.S. Fulbright grant recipients at the nation’s research institutions, according to a ranking published last fall by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Northwestern Fulbright winners currently teach, conduct research or study in countries around the world, representing every Northwestern undergraduate school as well as the law and medical schools.