Northwestern University 

Northwestern University was chartered as an independent institution of higher education in 1851, and its growth has paralleled the dynamic rise of Chicago, the metropolitan focus of its old Northwest Territory. Northwestern's development has fulfilled the expectations of its founders, whose purpose was to establish "a university of the highest order of excellence." Today, Northwestern is one of the largest privately controlled universities in the United States. It has an annual enrollment of about 17,000 men and women on its Evanston and Chicago campuses. Full-time undergraduate enrollment in Evanston is held to approximately 7,500. Full-time graduate students in Evanston number about 4,700. Total enrollment on the Chicago campus is approximately 4,800. The educational aim of Northwestern University is to be a community of scholars in which faculty and students can acquire the knowledge, competence, and wisdom to live full lives and contribute to the well-being of their fellow men.