If you plan on getting your master's degree in general english literature, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #47 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 6 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General English Literature Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 142 master's degrees in general english literature during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great General English Literature School for Your Master's Degree
The english master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality english program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to general english literature students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other general english literature students want to attend this school to pursue a master'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 general english literature to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general english literature related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for general english literature students working on their master's degree.
The english 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 General English Literature Master's Degree Schools in Illinois.
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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.
by our College Data Analytics Team
The english master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality english program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
