a bachelor's degree in philosophy is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #61 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Philosophy Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 323 bachelor's degrees in philosophy during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great Philosophy School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of philosophy for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on philosophy students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other philosophy students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for philosophy to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized philosophy related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for philosophy students working on their bachelor's degree.
The philosophy school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Philosophy Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Philosophy in Illinois
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in philosophy.
Top Illinois Schools for a Bachelor's in Philosophy
University of Chicago is a good option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in philosophy. Located in the large city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the philosophy program earn an average of $28,698 for their early career.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a great decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in philosophy. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the philosophy program state that they receive average early career income of $22,831.
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in philosophy needs to check out Wheaton College Illinois. Wheaton College Illinois is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Wheaton.
Those philosophy students who get their bachelor's degree from Wheaton College Illinois receive $5,651 more than the average philosophy student.
DePaul University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in philosophy. Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the philosophy program report average early career income of $29,611.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.