Roosevelt University

Roosevelt University offers accessible undergraduate admission, but its standing in national rankings has trended downward in recent years. In the 2027 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, the university placed at 382, falling from 293 in 2020. Gaining admission is relatively straightforward, as the university accepted 97.2% of applicants in 2025. However, the institution experiences significant difficulty in converting offers of admission into matriculated students. The university recorded an undergraduate yield rate of 8.7% in 2025, which is higher than only 11% of peer schools in its comparison group of similarly ranked private national universities. This low yield indicates that the school does not exert a strong draw on accepted students, with the vast majority choosing to enroll elsewhere. For prospective applicants, these figures mean that admission is largely unselective, providing a very high probability of acceptance for those who meet basic application requirements.

Applicants to Roosevelt University encounter modest standardized testing expectations compared to peer institutions. In 2025, the university recorded a median SAT score of 985, which is lower than all peer schools among reporting institutions in its group of similarly ranked private national universities. For applicants who submitted ACT results, the middle 50% composite score range spanned from 18 to 26. Standardized testing has become a selective reporting option among incoming undergraduates, as only 23% of the 2025 freshman cohort chose to submit SAT scores. Achieving a composite score at or above 26 places an applicant in the top quarter of the matriculating class, while scores closer to 18 sit near the twenty-fifth percentile. Because overall undergraduate admission is highly accessible, students presenting consistent high school coursework and test results within or slightly above this middle band are well aligned with the academic profile of admitted students.

Undergraduate degrees at Roosevelt University are broadly distributed rather than concentrated in a few fields, while graduate study shows heavy international participation in technical disciplines. In 2025, the top three bachelor's programs—Psychology, General, Musical Theatre, and Biology/Biological Sciences, General—accounted for 24.1% of all bachelor's degrees awarded. The university's largest undergraduate major is not among its highest-ranked fields; undergraduate psychology ranked 570 in U.S. News for 2027, whereas higher placements appear at the graduate level, where U.S. News ranked Pharmacy at 125 and Clinical Psychology at 141 in 2026. At the master's level, Computer Science represents the largest cohort, where international students made up 95.7% of graduates. Career outcomes vary significantly across disciplines. In 2023 earnings data, bachelor's graduates in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing earned a median of $82,760 one year after graduation. For prospective applicants, these patterns indicate that Roosevelt emphasizes practical career pathways in healthcare, technical fields, and the arts rather than high-ranking national programs.

Roosevelt University maintains an urban, ethnically diverse student body with distinct demographic profiles across undergraduate and graduate divisions. In 2025, total enrollment reached 4,281 students. The undergraduate population is predominantly domestic, with Hispanic, White, and Black students comprising the majority of enrollment across freshman, transfer, and returning classes. At the graduate level, however, international students constitute the single largest group, totaling 498 students and representing 35.2% of all graduate enrollment. In contrast, international representation remains under seven percent in each undergraduate division. Asian students represent smaller domestic shares across all divisions, including 96 students at the graduate level alongside small cohorts among incoming freshmen, continuing students, and transfer undergraduates. Women form the majority in both undergraduate and graduate divisions, accounting for well over sixty percent of enrollment. This composition creates an undergraduate environment rooted largely in regional diversity alongside a graduate community characterized by substantial global representation.

The age profile at Roosevelt University reflects a sharp contrast between undergraduate and graduate student routines. In 2025, undergraduate education centered predominantly on traditional college-age students, with 32% aged 18 to 19 and 27.5% aged 20 to 21. Students aged 22 to 24 formed the next largest segment, indicating that daytime undergraduate campus life revolves around standard post-secondary cohorts. In the graduate division, students are older and largely in early career stages. Individuals aged 22 to 24 made up 36.8% of graduate enrollment, closely followed by those aged 25 to 29 at 34.7%. A smaller share of graduate students is aged 30 and above. This distribution suggests an undergraduate environment shaped by traditional campus-based learning, alongside a graduate community focused on pre-professional and early-career advanced training.

International student enrollment at Roosevelt University has followed sharply divergent trajectories across degree levels. At the undergraduate level, international representation expanded modestly to 5.9% in 2025, rising from previous years. In contrast, the graduate division experienced substantial growth, with international enrollment climbing to 35.2% in 2025. This divide is equally visible among degree recipients. In 2025, international students earned only a tiny fraction of bachelor's degrees, but accounted for 41.6% of all master's degrees conferred. International graduate completion is heavily concentrated in technical fields; in the master's program in Computer Science, 95.7% of graduates were international students, with similar heavy representation in quantitative management fields. Conversely, popular undergraduate programs such as Psychology and Biology awarded virtually no degrees to international students. For prospective international applicants, these patterns show that graduate cohorts in technology offer an established global student presence, whereas undergraduate study remains overwhelmingly domestic.

Applicants evaluating Roosevelt University can consider several other four-year universities located within the surrounding Chicago metropolitan area. Just steps away, DePaul University is a private institution located 0.2 kilometers from campus and ranked 169 among National Universities in the 2027 U.S. News rankings. A short distance west sits University of Illinois Chicago, a major public research institution located 1.3 kilometers away and ranked 95. Slightly south in the city is Illinois Institute of Technology, a private national university located 3.1 kilometers away and holding a rank of 121. Further south along Lake Michigan, University of Chicago is located 6.2 kilometers away, holding a rank of 9 among National Universities. These institutions offer distinct academic profiles and admissions standards right across the city.

Campus safety records at Roosevelt University indicate that reported offenses have decreased substantially over recent years. The crime rate per 1,000 students stood at 1.4 in 2025, reaching its lowest recorded level over the past decade. Across the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, institutional reports show that the large majority of documented campus incidents involved internal behavioral violations rather than violent crimes. Disciplinary actions made up the primary share, consisting of 50 drug disciplinary referrals and 47 alcohol disciplinary referrals across those three years. More serious offenses occurred at low volumes over the same timeframe, including 10 robberies alongside occasional vehicle thefts and dating violence reports. For students and families evaluating safety in an urban setting, these records show that incident tracking on campus is predominantly driven by policy enforcement regarding substance use rather than widespread criminal activity.