Students seeking a graduate degree in Illinois have a variety of options from which to choose. Using data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), we divided the schools into the categories below.
Illinois Schools near Large Cities
There are over thirty schools that offer a doctoral program in or near a large city, all of which are located in Chicago. Listed in order of closest to downtown:
- Adler University (in downtown)
- National Louis University (0.2 miles from downtown)
- Argosy University-Chicago (0.3 miles from downtown)
- DePaul University (0.4 miles from downtown)
- Columbia College-Chicago (1.3 miles from downtown)
Largest Schools in Illinois
The five largest schools in Illinois by student population range from 20,000 to 56,000. If you are looking for a large school, one of these may be right for you:
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (56,607 students enrolled)
- University of Illinois at Chicago (34,199 students enrolled)
- DePaul University (21,670 students enrolled)
- Northwestern University (23,409 students enrolled)
- Illinois State University (20,233 students enrolled)
Lowest Graduate Tuition
If tuition is a major factor in your decision making process, these schools offered some of the lowest graduate tuition for the 2021-2022 academic year. Note that tuition costs will vary based on whether you live in-state or out-of-state. For example, The University of Illinois at Chicago's average in-state tuition was $13,927, while its out-of-state tuition was $25,118. This list is for in-state:
- Chicago State University ($5,850)
- Governors State University ($6,354)
- Northeastern Illinois University ($7,947)
- University of Illinois at Springfield ($8,375)
- National Louis University ($11,646)
Highest Graduation Rate
The graduation rate is calculated by the NCES as the percentage of full-time first-time undergraduate students who completed their program within 150% of the normal time it usually takes to complete that program. The top five in Illinois are:
- University of Chicago (96%)
- Northwestern University (95%)
- Wheaton College (88%)
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (85%)
- Bradley University (76%)
Students looking for doctoral programs in Illinois have a wide variety of choices. There are several options to consider, from schools in Chicago, to schools with large student populations, low graduate tuition, and/or high graduation rates.
