Northwestern is a top 10 university in the United States in Evanston, Illinois. Evanston is frequently named one of the best college towns in the country, with beaches along Lake Michigan, abundant arts and culture resources, and easy access to Chicago. Northwestern offers a big university experience and a small college environment all in one. There are six undergraduate schools, Arts & Sciences, Communication, Education & Social Policy, Engineering, Journalism & Marketing, and Music, and more than 100 majors and minors to choose from. The university is known for offering amazing research opportunities, and outstanding study abroad programs. But it is also a world-class institution for music education, so you have the best in STEM, the humanities, and the arts all in one place. This brings together diverse minds that don’t like to be put in a box, and students are encouraged to take a personalized journey.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that all this adds up to Northwestern being super popular — with the low acceptance rate that comes with it. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2028 was only 7.5%.
In this post, we’ll talk through the top 5 majors at Northwestern across all six undergraduate colleges. If you’re considering applying to Northwestern, treat them as a starting point. If something sparks your interest, explore it more and dig deeper. Learn as much as you can, and then go even further. You’ll discover that when you think you know everything Northwestern has to offer, you’ve often only just begun to scratch the surface.
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What do we mean by best major?
With over 100 majors and minors, it’s hard to pick five at Northwestern that are worthy of spotlighting as the ‘best.’ After all, they are all exceptional. For this list, we’ve selected these as the best based on a few factors including the depth of the program, the popularity of the major among Northwestern students, the rarity of the major (i.e., it isn’t common at top colleges), and the post-graduation outcomes and resources.
While we’re spotlighting 5 majors, it’s worth noting that Northwestern offers more than just majors. Students can pursue double majors, dual degrees, minors, and certificates. Both minors and certificates are added onto a major, and popular ones include the certificate in Managerial Analytics in the Kellogg School of Management and the undergraduate certificate in Sustainability and Energy through the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy. There are also adjunct majors, which have to be pursued as a dual major in partnership with another, primary major. But, without further ado, here are the top five majors at Northwestern, in no particular order.
Human Communication Sciences
Human Communication Sciences is a major designed for those passionate about improving people’s lives, and who have an eye on medical school or graduate school programs in the health or science fields, like “speech language pathology, audiology, neuroscience, psychology, and dentistry.” Most students in the Human Communication Sciences major go to medical or graduate school, while others go straight to work in cutting-edge laboratories or other health-related businesses. This is not a common major, so this program in the School of Communication is highly-prized by Northwestern Students who often pair it with a second major in STEM.
The Human Communication Sciences major is a small program that prioritizes tight relationships between professors and students, and first-years are able “to apply for an Early Research Experience Award,” which pairs eligible students with a faculty member specialized in their area of interest. The Award includes at least 100 hours of research work, and a financial award.
Legal Studies
The Legal Studies program is in the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, but is open to students in any undergraduate school at Northwestern. This is an outstanding option for a double major for students who are considering a career in the law, but it is not a ‘pre-law’ program. It’s not designed to simply prepare a student for law school, but to build deep understanding of “legal institutions, legal actors, and legal processes.” Students take classes from world-renowned legal scholars and legal professionals, covering topics ranging from constitutional law to the legal complexities of reality television. All students in the program complete a half-year-long socio-legal research project and write a thesis.
If this major is interesting to you, it’s important to know that the major is highly in demand, and so entry into the program is by application-only. Students must have taken LEGAL ST 206 “Law in Society” and have started at least one other course related to the law prior to applying for the major.
Creative Writing
Northwestern has one of the oldest, largest, and most well-respected creative writing programs in the country. While many colleges have creative writing courses, or even a minor, very few actually offer majors in Creative Writing. Northwestern does. Graduates of the program have gone on to rise to the pinnacle of their respective fields, whether it be in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction and across all genres. This includes Karen Russell, a MacArthur “Genius” Award Winner, and Veronica Roth, who drafted “Divergent” as a student. While in the program, students study styles and forms while practicing deploying them in their own work, crafting a strong authorial voice in workshops. Undergraduates also have access to ample publication opportunities, too, both at Northwestern publications and other literary journals.
Music
Ok, so this isn’t one major — but the group of majors that make up the Northwestern music program really needs to be on this list. Northwestern has been recognized as the #2 college for music in all of America, and the collection of programs that students at Northwestern have access to are both broader and deeper than the vast majority of what undergraduates can typically access anywhere else. There are programs in Music Cognition, Composition, Criticism, and Education; Musicology; Music Performance in Brass, Jazz, Percussion, Piano, Strings, Voice, and Woodwinds; Music Studies in Education and Theory; Music Technology; and even a certificate in Music Theatre. In most cases, an audition is required as part of the application process, and the application deadlines are a little different than ‘normal,’ so look at them well in advance to confirm deadlines for submitting applications and for audition scheduling.
McCormick Integrated Engineering Studies (MIES)
The McCormick Integrated Engineering Studies program, or MIES, empowers outstanding students to “explore new, emerging connections between fields.” This program looks beyond the typical sub-discipline structure of engineering programs, giving students in the program the ability to bridge between fields, like civil, mechanical, and chemical engineering. Northwestern knows that many of the most important advances in engineering don’t subscribe to these strict sub-divisions, but involve different forms and fields. The MIES program embraces this. The program is highly selective, and students must apply to be accepted into the program. Entry is determined based on how you’ve performed at Northwestern up to that point, and there is a minimum GPA of 3.25. You can apply at the end of your freshman year, or until the beginning of your junior year.
Northwestern is one of the best colleges in the country, but the real reason we’re obsessed with it is the breadth of what it offers, and the flexibility students have to combine courses of study that otherwise may be partitioned off from each other. If you are passionate, driven, and like to learn outside of the box, Northwestern may be your perfect match.
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