Niche.com ranked the “best overall” colleges in Illinois for 2015 using 50 sets of statistics from various government and public sources; the website’s own “proprietary data;” as well as nearly 12 million opinion-based survey responses covering 20 topics from roughly 300,000 current and former students.
Check out which schools are considered the best overall based on Niche’s methodology, which you can read more about following this list.
The overall best colleges in Illinois for 2015, according to Niche.
1. University of Chicago
- Academics: A+
- Campus quality: A
- Diversity: A+
- Health and Safety: C+
- Local area: B+
- Party Scene: B
- Average net price: $31,917
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4.1/5 (90 respondents)
2. Northwestern University
- Academics: A+
- Campus quality: A-
- Diversity: A
- Health and safety: B-
- Local area: B+
- Party Scene: A-
- Average net price: $28,868
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4/5 (90 respondents)
3. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Academics: A
- Campus quality: A
- Diversity: A-
- Health and safety: B-
- Local area: B
- Party Scene: A-
- Average net price: $16,495
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4.1/5 (277 respondents)
4. Wheaton College
- Academics: A
- Campus quality: A+
- Diversity: B-
- Health and safety: A+
- Local area: B-
- Party Scene: C-
- Average net price: $24,623
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4.5/5 (26 respondents)
5. Moody Bible Institute
- Academics: B+
- Campus quality: B
- Diversity: B-
- Health and safety: B+
- Local area: A
- Party Scene: B
- Average net price: $14,636
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4.5/5 (23 respondents)
6. DePaul University
- Academics: B+
- Campus quality: A
- Diversity: B+
- Health and safety: C+
- Local area: A+
- Party Scene: A
- Average net price: $27,561
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4.1/5 (229 respondents)
7. Illinois Wesleyan University
- Academics: A-
- Campus quality: B
- Diversity: C+
- Health and safety: B-
- Local area: B+
- Party Scene: A-
- Average net price: $28,434
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4/5 (33 respondents)
8. North Central College
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B+
- Diversity: C+
- Health and safety: A-
- Local area: A-
- Party Scene: A
- Average net price: $22,434
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4.1/5 (71 respondents)
9. Lake Forest College
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B
- Diversity: A
- Health and safety: B+
- Local area: C
- Party Scene: C+
- Average net price: $23,331
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4/5 (24 respondents)
10. University of Illinois at Chicago
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B
- Diversity: A
- Health and safety: C-
- Local area: A+
- Party Scene: A-
- Average net price: $11,932
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.8/5 (156 respondents)
11. Illinois State University
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: B+
- Diversity: C
- Health and safety: B-
- Local area: A-
- Party Scene: A+
- Average net price: $16,293
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4/5 (125 respondents)
12. Augustana College
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B-
- Diversity: C+
- Health and safety: C
- Local area: B-
- Party Scene: A-
- Average net price: $23,548
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4.2/5 (32 respondents)
13. Illinois Institute of Technology
- Academics: A-
- Campus quality: C
- Diversity: A+
- Health and safety: B-
- Local area: A-
- Party Scene: C+
- Average net price: $19,394
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.5/5 (32 respondents)
14. North Park University
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B-
- Diversity: B+
- Health and safety: C+
- Local area: B+
- Party Scene: B
- Average net price: $20,568
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4/5 (36 respondents)
15. Loyola University Chicago
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B
- Diversity: B+
- Health and safety: C+
- Local area: A+
- Party Scene: B
- Average net price: $29,671
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.8/5 (173 respondents)
16. Elmhurst College
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: B+
- Diversity: C+
- Health and safety: A-
- Local area: A-
- Party Scene: B+
- Average net price: $19,300
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.7/5 (59 respondents)
17. School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B
- Diversity: A
- Health and safety: B
- Local area: A
- Party Scene: B+
- Average net price: $44,838
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4/5 (50 respondents)
18. Roosevelt University
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: B+
- Diversity: A
- Health and safety: C+
- Local area: A+
- Party Scene: A-
- Average net price: $27,723
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.8/5 (83 respondents)
19. Lewis University
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B
- Diversity: B-
- Health and safety: B+
- Local area: C
- Party Scene: C
- Average net price: $17,638
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.9/5 (49 respondents)
20. Olivet Nazarene University
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: B+
- Diversity: C+
- Health and safety: B+
- Local area: C
- Party Scene: C-
- Average net price: $19,929
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4/5 (59 respondents)
21. University of Illinois at Springfield
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B+
- Diversity: B+
- Health and safety: B
- Local area: C+
- Party Scene: C-
- Average net price: $13,513
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.8/5 (32 respondents)
22. McKendree University
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: C+
- Diversity: B+
- Health and safety: B
- Local area: B-
- Party Scene: C+
- Average net price: $16,450
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.9/5 (49 respondents)
23. Eastern Illinois University
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B+
- Diversity: B-
- Health and safety: C+
- Local area: C+
- Party Scene: A
- Average net price: $15,528
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.7/5 (77 respondents)
24. Western Illinois University
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: B-
- Diversity: B
- Health and safety: C
- Local area: C+
- Party Scene: A
- Average net price: $15,088
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.9/5 (106 respondents)
25. Bradley University
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: C+
- Diversity: C+
- Health and safety: C-
- Local area: C+
- Party Scene: B+
- Average net price: $24,155
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.7/5 (46 respondents)
26. Millikin University
- Academics: B
- Campus quality: B-
- Diversity: B-
- Health and safety: C-
- Local area: C-
- Party Scene: B+
- Average net price: $19,765
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.8/5 (46 respondents)
27. Saint Xavier University
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: B-
- Diversity: B-
- Health and safety: A
- Local area: B
- Party Scene: C+
- Average net price: $16,111
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.8/5 (51 respondents)
28. Columbia College Chicago
- Academics: C+
- Campus quality: B-
- Diversity: A
- Health and safety: C-
- Local area: A+
- Party Scene: A-
- Average net price: $26,414
- Student Survey on overall experience: 4.1/5 (147 respondents)
29. Southern Illinois University Carbondale
- Academics: C+
- Campus quality: B
- Diversity: B
- Health and safety: C-
- Local area: B
- Party Scene: A
- Average net price: $13,537
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.9/5 (116 respondents)
30. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
- Academics: C+
- Campus quality: B+
- Diversity: B-
- Health and safety: B
- Local area: B
- Party Scene: B-
- Average net price: $14,294
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.8/5 (86 respondents)
31. Benedictine University
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: C+
- Diversity: B
- Health and safety: B+
- Local area: B-
- Party Scene: C
- Average net price: $18,383
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.7/5 (37 respondents)
32. Dominican University
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: C
- Diversity: B-
- Health and safety: B+
- Local area: B
- Party Scene: C+
- Average net price: $17,124
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.6/5 (34 respondents)
33. Northern Illinois University
- Academics: B-
- Campus quality: B-
- Diversity: B
- Health and safety: C-
- Local area: C+
- Party Scene: A-
- Average net price: $18,552
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.7/5 (146 respondents)
34. Aurora University
- Academics: C
- Campus quality: C+
- Diversity: C+
- Health and safety: B-
- Local area: B-
- Party Scene: C
- Average net price: $17,406
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.7/5 (54 respondents)
35. Northeastern Illinois University
- Academics: C+
- Campus quality: C
- Diversity: A-
- Health and safety: B+
- Local area: B
- Party Scene: C-
- Average net price: $14,895
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.6/5 (73 respondents)
36. Chicago State University
- Academics: C
- Campus quality: C
- Diversity: C+
- Health and safety: C-
- Local area: B-
- Party Scene: B-
- Average net price: $12,355
- Student Survey on overall experience: 3.7/5 (45 respondents)
For more information, here is Niche’s complete methodology and process used to compute the rankings.
The editors at Niche explained:
Many of the factors below are themselves made up of several key factors. In total, more than 50 key statistics, as well as student surveys across 20 topics, are incorporated into this ranking. Of the dozens of factors that go into our Best Overall ranking, either directly (as a factor below) or indirectly (as a factor of a factor), no one statistical factor accounts for more than 7 percent of the overall ranking. SAT/ACT scores have the highest impact, accounting for 6.3 percent of the Best Overall ranking—these account for 18 percent of the Academics score, which is weighted at 35 percent in the Best Overall ranking.
Click on the following links to view the methodology for a particular factor.
Factors:
Academics (35%): acceptance rates; student survey responses; composite SAT/ACT; research expenditures; six-year graduation rates; professor salary index; freshmen retention rate; yield; diversity grade; faculty national academy membership; freshman national merit scholars; faculty awards; student-faculty ratio.
Campus quality (8%): student survey responses; campus food grade; campus housing grade; technology grade.
Diversity (5%): student survey responses; most represented ethnicity; percent international students; percent out-of-state students; faculty diversity; faculty gender ratio; student gender ratio.
Health and safety (4%): student survey responses; campus crime rates; freshmen retention rate; six-year graduation rates; most drug-free campus ranking.
Local area (5%): student survey responses; off-campus dining; transportation; weather; off-campus grade.
Party scene (4%): student survey responses.
Average net price (5%): Average cost after financial aid for students receiving grant or scholarship aid, according to the latest available data from the U.S. Department of Education.
Student survey responses (12%):
Student opinions about the quality of the overall experience at the college they currently or recently attend(ed). Includes 121,626 opinions about overall experience from 25,090 unique students. Minimum 10 unique students required at each college. Note: A total of 11,857,508 opinions from 294,497 unique students were used across all of the factors in this table.
Here are the additional factors that were not listed above.
NEXT ARTICLE: The top 30 hardest Illinois colleges to get accepted into for 2015, according to Niche
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Kevin Hoffman is a Reboot Illinois staff writer who graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in journalism, political science and international studies. He believes keeping citizens informed and politicians in check is the best way to improve Illinois and bring about common sense reform. Follow us on Facebook.