Is Purdue or George Washington harder to get into?

The biggest practical tradeoff is that Purdue tends to be tougher in many of its high-demand academic programs, while George Washington can feel more selective in a broader private-school applicant pool. Overall, Purdue is often considered harder to get into for majors like engineering, computer science, and some business-related tracks, whereas George Washington is selective in a more general sense across the university. The answer also depends a lot on whether you are applying by major at Purdue, because that can change the difficulty significantly.

Purdue admits students into specific colleges and programs, and some of those are notably competitive. A student applying to engineering or computer science at Purdue is usually facing a harder admissions hurdle than a student applying to many programs at George Washington.

George Washington, on the other hand, is a private university with strong appeal because of its Washington, DC location, internships, and international affairs reputation. Its applicant pool is broad and self-selecting, which can make it feel quite selective overall. But it is not usually thought of as harder to enter than Purdue’s most sought-after programs.

So for a broad comparison, Purdue is often the harder admit in the areas it is best known for, while George Washington is competitive but usually not seen as more difficult overall. If you mean the university as a whole without focusing on major, the two are both selective, but Purdue often has the tougher edge once major-specific admissions are part of the picture.