Ranked #4 in popularity, general biology is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 36 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for general biology students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 2,241 bachelor's degrees in general biology to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great General Biology School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of general biology 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 general biology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of general biology students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
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 much debt general biology students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general biology related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for general biology students working on their bachelor's degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best General Biology Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college 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.
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University of Chicago is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in general biology. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the biology program state that they receive average early career earnings of $35,275.
University of Illinois at Chicago is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in general biology. UIC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Chicago.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the biology program earn about $28,768 in the first couple years of working.
It is difficult to beat Loyola University Chicago if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in general biology. Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Soon after graduating, biology bachelor's recipients usually make about $31,964 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the general biology program at Illinois State University make $3,044 more than the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
NIU is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Dekalb.
Those general biology students who get their bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois University receive $4,844 more than the average biology graduate.
Located in the large suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those general biology students who get their bachelor's degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville earn $4,774 more than the average biology grad.
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.
Your choice of general biology 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.
