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Best Colleges in Illinois

The strongest colleges and universities in Illinois, ranked by graduation rate and selectivity, with verified acceptance rates, net price, and test scores for this admissions cycle.

How this list is ranked

The strongest colleges and universities in Illinois, ranked by graduation rate and selectivity, with verified acceptance rates, net price, and test scores for this admissions cycle.

Schools on this list 40
Source Federal data, same records as every school page

Admit rate, net price, and SAT in the table are for context. Rank order follows the method above, not those columns.

Rank School Admit Net price SAT
1 Northwestern University Evanston, IL 7.7% $29,167 1510-1570 See record
2 University of Chicago Chicago, IL 4.5% $14,860 1510-1580 See record
3 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 42% $14,355 1310-1520 See record
4 Illinois State University Normal, IL 88% $19,398 990-1210 See record
5 Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL 70% $13,391 - See record
6 Wheaton College Wheaton, IL 87% $26,975 1260-1470 See record
7 Lake Forest College Lake Forest, IL 57% $28,673 1190-1393 See record
8 Pacific College of Health and Science Chicago, IL - - - See record
9 Bradley University Peoria, IL 77% $22,719 - See record
10 Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL 55% $18,425 1180-1440 See record
11 Illinois Wesleyan University Bloomington, IL 39% $28,199 1120-1340 See record
12 Principia College Elsah, IL - - - See record
13 Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL 82% $36,079 1170-1360 See record
14 Augustana College Rock Island, IL 63% $22,736 1030-1270 See record
15 Elmhurst University Elmhurst, IL 74% $24,185 990-1260 See record
16 DePaul University Chicago, IL 76% $30,902 1140-1330 See record
17 Knox College Galesburg, IL 71% $24,595 1180-1440 See record
18 School of the Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, IL 77% $49,790 - See record
19 University of St Francis Joliet, IL 65% $13,006 1030-1220 See record
20 VanderCook College of Music Chicago, IL 89% $19,780 - See record
21 Lewis University Romeoville, IL 71% $17,028 960-1210 See record
22 Monmouth College Monmouth, IL 91% $17,133 1000-1210 See record
23 North Central College Naperville, IL 77% $21,044 1055-1310 See record
24 Illinois College Jacksonville, IL 78% $18,298 883-1180 See record
25 Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Carbondale, IL 87% $13,297 900-1160 See record
26 Moody Bible Institute Chicago, IL 83% $22,221 - See record
27 University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, IL 77% $10,974 1130-1350 See record
28 Olivet Nazarene University Bourbonnais, IL 56% $20,729 950-1220 See record
29 Aurora University Aurora, IL 81% $18,838 900-1150 See record
30 Judson University Elgin, IL 48% $18,558 816-1118 See record
31 North Park University Chicago, IL 69% $16,948 - See record
32 Blackburn College Carlinville, IL 63% $18,460 - See record
33 Trinity Christian College Palos Heights, IL 85% $19,125 1050-1320 See record
34 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL 98% $14,889 950-1190 See record
35 Saint Xavier University Chicago, IL 84% $10,970 - See record
36 Dominican University River Forest, IL 90% $11,745 880-1100 See record
37 Millikin University Decatur, IL 67% $21,989 860-1130 See record
38 McKendree University Lebanon, IL 72% $24,717 - See record
39 University of Illinois Springfield Springfield, IL 86% $9,833 940-1200 See record
40 Columbia College Chicago Chicago, IL 89% $26,598 - See record