2024 Best Geological & Earth Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois

If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #80 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 7 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for geological & earth sciences students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 88 bachelor's degrees in geological & earth sciences during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Geological & Earth Sciences School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of geological & earth sciences 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

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.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 geological & earth sciences students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other geological & earth sciences 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 geological & earth sciences 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 geological & earth sciences related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for geological & earth sciences students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Geological & Earth Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Geological & Earth Sciences in Illinois

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences.

Top Illinois Schools for a Bachelor's in Geology

1

University of Chicago
Chicago, IL

6 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat University of Chicago if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from University of Chicago

2

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

11 Annual Graduates

Northwestern University is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Evanston.More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from Northwestern University

3

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

11 Annual Graduates

$23,250 Median Student Debt

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

4

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

19 Annual Graduates

$36,736 Median Starting Salary

$27,000 Median Student Debt

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences needs to look into University of Illinois at Chicago. UIC is a very large public university located in the city of Chicago.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the geology program report average early career wages of $36,736.

More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from University of Illinois at Chicago

5

Illinois State University
Normal, IL

7 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from Illinois State University

6

Northern Illinois University
Dekalb, IL

5 Annual Graduates

NIU is a fairly large public university located in the small suburb of Dekalb.More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from Northern Illinois University

7

Western Illinois University
Macomb, IL

3 Annual Graduates

WIU is a moderately-sized public university located in the town of Macomb.More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from Western Illinois University

Best Geological & Earth Sciences Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Geological & Earth Sciences Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	261	155
Ohio	252	159
Indiana	235	59
Wisconsin	213	111

View All Rankings >

Geological & Earth Sciences Related Rankings by Major

Geological & Earth Sciences is one of 8 different types of Physical Sciences programs to choose from.

Geology Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Geology & Earth Sciences	82
Geophysics & Seismology	6

Majors Similar to Geology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Chemistry	606
Physics	325
Astronomy & Astrophysics	47
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology	29
Materials Sciences	2
Other Physical Science	1

Notes and References

• 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.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Kelvinsong. More about our data sources and methodologies.