Purdue University-Main Campus

Overview

Rankings

• #2 Best Engineering Colleges in Indiana
• #3 Best Bachelor's Programs in Indiana
• #3 Best Master's Programs in Indiana
• #3 Best Computer Science Colleges in Indiana
• #3 Best Data Science Colleges in Indiana
• #10 Best Online Colleges in Indiana
• #13 Largest Colleges in America
• #14 Best Biology Colleges in Indiana

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into Purdue University-Main Campus? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

Purdue University-Main Campus, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, reviews applications selectively. The acceptance rate runs near 50%. Admitted students typically arrive with an average SAT score near 1,364. The graduation rate is roughly 83%.

Acceptance Rate

50%

Retention Rate

93%

SAT Average

1364

ACT Midpoint

30

SAT Range

1200–1480

ACT Range

27–34

Full-Time Faculty

96%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$14,473

Student–Faculty Ratio

14:1

Diversity Index

0.67

First-Gen Students

19%

Applicants

68,582

Admitted

36,146

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2025-26

The acceptance rate tells you how hard Purdue University-Main Campus is to get into. Its Common Data Set tells you what happens once you are admitted: how many students say yes, how many arrived without test scores, and whether applying early tilts the odds. 49% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school more than half of admitted students choose.

Yield Rate

49%

of admits enroll

Submitted SAT

84%

of enrolled freshmen

Submitted ACT

23%

of enrolled freshmen

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend Purdue University-Main Campus? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at Purdue University-Main Campus is $28,794, but few families pay that. The number to watch is net price, what students actually pay each year after federal grants and institutional scholarships. Here it averages about $14,600. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $5,098 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $19,500 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$9,992

Out-of-State

$28,794

Avg Net Price

$14,600

Median Debt

$19,500

Pell Grant Rate

13%

Federal Loan Rate

22%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at Purdue University-Main Campus — the net price for your income, your admission odds, and the outcomes that follow. These are patterns from federal data, not predictions.

Graduate Outcomes

Is Purdue University-Main Campus Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of Purdue University-Main Campus earn a median of $72,424, well above the national average for bachelor's degree holders.

6 Years After Entry

$60,838

8 Years

$66,951

10 Years

$72,424

Debt-to-Earnings

0.27x

Earning > $25K

80%

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Purdue University-Main Campus? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at Purdue University-Main Campus. Its economic connectedness score is 1.67, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (0.00), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 7% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.67

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

0.00

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

6.9%

Support Ratio

0.99

Community support

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Investment Income

$-193,767,427

Top Programs

The fields Purdue University-Main Campus awards the most degrees in, by share of completions. Where federal field-of-study data exists, we show what graduates in that major earned early in their careers. Each links to its degree guide — or see what someone with your income, scores, and major would pay and earn here in the Students Like You simulator.

• Engineering 25% $93,087 early-career
• Business & Marketing 16% $76,041 early-career
• Computer Science & IT 12% $102,162 early-career
• Biology & Biomedical 6% $47,169 early-career
• Health Professions 4% $69,178 early-career
• Social Sciences 4% $60,079 early-career
• Psychology 3% $32,489 early-career
• Mathematics & Statistics 3% $63,400 early-career

Early-career median earnings by major (typically 1–2 years after completion, bachelor's level where available), in today's dollars (CPI-adjusted). Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard field of study. Distinct from the school-wide 10-year median; suppressed for small programs.