2025 Best Illustration Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois

Illustration is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #153 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for illustration students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 64 bachelor's degrees in illustration during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on illustration students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other illustration students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized illustration related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for illustration students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Illustration Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Illustration Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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 Illustration in Illinois

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for illustration students seeking a a bachelor's degree.

Top Illinois Schools for a Bachelor's in Illustration

1

Columbia College Chicago
Chicago, IL

47 Annual Graduates

Columbia College Chicago is a wonderful decision for students interested in a bachelor's degree in illustration. Columbia is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a bachelor’s in illustration from Columbia College Chicago

2

American Academy of Art
Chicago, IL

17 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat American Academy of Art if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in illustration. The Academy is a small private for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a bachelor’s in illustration from American Academy of Art

Best Illustration Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Illustration Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	629	82
Ohio	612	73
Indiana	535	4
Wisconsin	435	51

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Rankings in Majors Related to Illustration

Illustration is one of 9 different types of Design & Applied Arts programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Illustration

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Graphic Design	328
Game & Interactive Media Design	118
Fashion Design	75
Interior Design	64
Visual Communications	47
Industrial Design	22
Commercial & Advertising Art	17

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). More about our data sources and methodologies.