2023 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for International Relations & National Security in Illinois

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Illinois” ranking - to help you make that decision.

International Relations & National Security is the 67th most popular major in the country with 14,306 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, international relations and national security graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $41,288 and had an average of $21,455 in loans still to pay off.

Across Illinois, there were 389 international relations and national security graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,470 and $21,784 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 66 international relations and national security graduates with average earnings and debt of $59,317 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Illinois” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in international relations and national security. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in international relations and national security.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The international relations 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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Illinois”.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois master’s degree international relations students.

Top 2 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for International Relations & National Security in Illinois

1

University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

#2 overall quality in Illinois

$44,115 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Chicago landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this fairly large private not-for-profit school handed out 48 degrees to qualified masters’s international relations students in 2020-2021.

With a freshman retention rate of 100%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Read more about International Relations & National Security at UChicago

2

DePaul University
Chicago, Illinois

#7 overall quality in Illinois

$47,563 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend DePaul University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on International Relations Major in Illinois list. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out masters’s international relations degrees to 18 students in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full DePaul University International Relations & National Security Report

• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for International Relations & National Security in the Great Lakes Region
• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for International Relations & National Security

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

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