Reshma Ravishanker

US & News Report in its Best Colleges Rankings 2025 ranks Purdue #46 in America — the only public university to be ranked among the Top 50.

Sited in West Lafayette (a two-hour drive from Chicago), Purdue is one of America’s top-ranked public universities with a global reputation for the quality of academics and research, especially in the sciences and engineering. Twenty-seven of its alumni have been selected for space missions and four awarded the Nobel Prize in physics and chemistry. US & News Report in its Best Colleges Rankings 2025 ranks Purdue #46 in America — the only public university to be ranked among the Top 50 with 12 undergraduate programs ranked among the nation’s Top 10. Internationally, Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2025) ranks it #86 and QS #89 in their latest 2025 league tables.

Promoted in 1869 as a land-grant university, Purdue is named after industrialist John Purdue who generously endowed $150,000 and 100 acres of land for establishing the university. Currently, Purdue is one of the largest varsities in the US with an enrolment of 75,000 students across five physical campuses, extension centers in each of Indiana’s 92 counties, and continuing education programmes. Its flagship West Lafayette campus hosts over 50,000 students including 8,956 from overseas representing more than 135 countries.

Purdue’s 12 colleges — agriculture, business, education, engineering, exploratory studies, health and human sciences, liberal arts, pharmacy, science, veterinary medicine, John Martinson Honors College and Purdue Polytechnic Institute — offer over 200 undergraduate majors and 160 graduate/doctoral programmes.

The Purdue roll call of illustrious alumni include astronauts Neil Armstrong and  Eugene Cernan; Stephen Bechtel, Jr, promoter of Bechtel Corporation; Abigail Anne Spanberger, American politician and  Don Thompson, president of McDonald’s. Purdue also has a strong India connection. Its Indian alumni include Bharat Ratna and eminent scientist Dr. CNR Rao; GV Prasad, co-chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories; Ravi Venkatesan, former chairman of Microsoft India, and Venu Srinivasan, Chairman Emeritus of TVS Motor Company.

West Lafayette. Purdue’s main campus is in West Lafayette (pop.44,595) in Indiana state abutting the scenic Great lakes region of the United States. Situated 600 ft. above sea level, West Lafayette is just an hour from Indianapolis (105 km), the state capital of Indiana and two hours from Chicago (203 km). The town has an outstanding municipal parks system with hundreds of acres of parkland plus an outdoor riverfront ice skating rink, community and nature centres, and a nationally-recognised trails network.

Moreover, the West Lafayette civic authorities and Purdue University have collaboratively built an innovative, knowledge-based still-evolving economy. The 725-acre West Lafayette Purdue Research Park, less than 3 km north of Purdue campus is the largest university-affiliated research park in the United States. It hosts over 140 companies, world-class research facilities and scenic walking trails and lakes.

West Lafayette enjoys four diverse seasons — snowy winters; vibrant springs; warm, bright summers and colourful autumns. Temperatures range between -6⁰C to 29⁰C.

Campus facilities. Purdue University’s flagship campus is sited in West Lafayette near the western bank of River Wabash. While academic buildings are mostly located in the eastern and southern parts of the campus, residence halls and intramural fields are to the west and athletic facilities to the north. The sprawling 2,500-acre campus hosts over 160 major buildings. Prominent among them are the Steven C. Berring Hall of Liberal Arts and Education hosting state-of-the-art classrooms and teaching labs; Academy Park, a landscaped pedestrian green space; Founders Park, an aesthetic pedestrian mall designed around Purdue’s historical Loeb Fountain; Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering; Purdue Memorial Union and University Hall. The Hicks Undergraduate Library, the Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center, and six subject-oriented libraries, offering access to over 3.3 million printed volumes and electronic books, 227,814 electronic and print journals; and 400,000 government documents and microforms.

Sports facilities include the Ross-Ade Stadium, Alexander Field, Folk Field, Bittinger Stadium, Morgan J Burke Aquatic Centre and Mackey Arena which offer over 30 sports including badminton, basketball, soccer, hockey, tennis, squash, swimming and handball. Moreover, students have the option of choosing membership from 1,000 student clubs and organisations.

In July, Purdue University inaugurated a campus in downtown Indianapolis. This 28-acre campus is an extension of the West Lafayette campus and offers STEM degree programmes.

Admission. The minimum eligibility requirement for admission into Purdue’s undergrad programmes is successful completion of Plus Two (class XII). Together with the Common Application, international applicants must submit the following documentation: certified (attested true) copies of academic documents from all secondary and post-secondary schools attended (class IX-XII); application fee of $75; attested copy of class X and XII board exam results; proof of proficiency in the English language (IELTS score: 6.5 or TOEFL: 80); SAT score of 1450 and above or ACT score of 34 and above; and personal essay. The last date for submitting applications is January 15.

The minimum eligibility requirement for admission into postgrad programmes is completion of a bachelor’s degree and English language proficiency. However certain graduate programmes have specific admission criteria.

For further information, contact the Office of Admissions on [email protected] and for graduate programs email [email protected].

Accommodation. Purdue offers students several housing options. They include residence halls and apartments. There are three all-female, three all-male and 11 co-ed residences halls and over 15 apartment complexes on-campus. In addition, the university has a listing of off-campus housing options.

Degree programmes. Purdue’s 12 colleges offer over 200 undergraduate majors and 160 postgrad programmes (see box).

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Purdue University’s 12 colleges offer a wide range of undergrad and postgraduate programmes. They include: College of Agriculture; Daniels School of Business; College of Education; College of Engineering; Exploratory Studies; College of Health and Human Sciences; College of Liberal Arts; College of Pharmacy; Purdue Polytechnic Institute; College of Science; College of Veterinary Medicine; John Martinson Honors College.

At the undergraduate level, Purdue awards the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees. At the postgraduate level, Purdue offers over 160 graduate programmes, including Master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees.

Tuition fees & living expenses (per year): $49,354 NB $=Rs.85