With all of the options student athletes have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual has developed its Best Colleges for Division I Women's Basketball in Illinois ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.
After analyzing 12 schools in Illinois, we came up with our list of those that offered the best educational experiences for D1 Women's Basketball athletes in Illinois. Instead of depending on subjective information, we focus on objective factors to determine this ranking. These factors include such things as the athletic competitiveness of the school and the school's overall quality. This means that a school must provide students with a great education in addition to having a good sports team if it wants to rank well.
Since one ranking on its own is not enough to give you a complete understanding of your educational options, you can refine this list by location. We've also developed a number of other tools and rankings based on other factors. These other rankings highlight colleges that excel in other factors such as value or diversity as well as schools that excel in serving different groups of students such as online students or returnings adults.
We've created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don't have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.
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Top Colleges in Illinois for D1 Women's Basketball athletes in Illinois
Our analysis found Northwestern University to be the best school for D1 Women’s Basketball athletes in Illinois in this year’s ranking. This large private not-for-profit school is located in Evanston, Illinois, and it awarded 2,688 bachelor’s degrees in .
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Basketball team at Northwestern made $250,122 in revenue. The team had a perfect academic progress rate of 1000.
With a freshman retention rate of 99%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Northwestern not only placed well in this ranking, but it is also #1 on our overall quality list.
Full Northwestern University Sports Report
A rank of #2 on our list means DePaul University is a great place for D1 Women’s Basketball athletes in Illinois working on their bachelor’s degree. This large private not-for-profit school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 3,047 bachelor’s degrees in .
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Basketball team at DePaul made $3,850,261 in revenue. Sports aren’t the only thing that the team excels at - they had a perfect academic progress rate of 1000.
DePaul excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our overall quality list.
Read full sports report on DePaul University
The excellent sports programs at Bradley University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best schools for D1 Women’s Basketball athletes in Illinois. Located in Peoria, Illinois, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school handed out 1,190 bachelor’s degrees in .
The D1 Women’s Basketball team at Bradley brought home $1,781,915 in revenue in a single year. The great academic progress rate of 995 shows that team members perform well in the classroom, too.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Bradley also is in the top 15% of our overall quality ranking.
Read full sports report on Bradley University
Out of the 12 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #4 spot on the list. Located in Champaign, Illinois, the large public school handed out 9,150 bachelor’s degrees in .
Speaking financially, the D1 Women’s Basketball team at UIUC took home $832,527 in revenue. The team has a great academic progress rate of 995, signifying that team members care about their grades.
With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. UIUC also made our overall quality list, coming in at #3.
Read full sports report on University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Out of the 12 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Northern Illinois University landed the #5 spot on the list. NIU is located in Dekalb, Illinois and, has a fairly large student population. In , this school awarded 2,844 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates.
Speaking financially, the D1 Women’s Basketball team at NIU took home $1,238,310 in revenue. The team members aren’t slouches in the classroom either, since the team academic progress rate is an excellent 991.
Read full sports report on Northern Illinois University
Western Illinois University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. WIU is a medium-sized public school situated in Macomb, Illinois. It awarded 1,237 bachelor’s degrees in .
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Basketball team at WIU made $971,815 in revenue. The team members aren’t slouches in the classroom either, since the team academic progress rate is an excellent 995.
Read full sports report on Western Illinois University
Loyola University Chicago came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. This fairly large private not-for-profit school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 3,286 bachelor’s degrees in .
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Basketball team at Loyola Chicago made $2,071,018 in revenue. The great academic progress rate of 989 shows that team members perform well in the classroom, too.
With a freshman retention rate of 88%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Loyola Chicago also claimed a spot on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.
Read full sports report on Loyola University Chicago
Illinois State University landed the #8 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. Located in Normal, Illinois, the large public school awarded 4,495 diplomas to qualified bachelor’s degree students in .
The D1 Women’s Basketball team at Illinois State brought home $1,483,527 in revenue in a single year. The academic progress rate of the team is 971.
Read full sports report on Illinois State University
Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #9 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. Located in Carbondale, Illinois, the fairly large public school handed out 2,016 bachelor’s degrees in .
On the financial side of things, the D1 Women’s Basketball team at SIUC made $1,278,813 in revenue. The great academic progress rate of 982 shows that team members perform well in the classroom, too.
Read full sports report on Southern Illinois University Carbondale
University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #10 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. UIC is a public institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 5,250 bachelor’s degrees in .
The D1 Women’s Basketball team at UIC brought home $1,838,416 in revenue in a single year. The great academic progress rate of 977 shows that team members perform well in the classroom, too.
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Eastern Illinois University landed the #11 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. Located in Charleston, Illinois, the medium-sized public school handed out 1,132 bachelor’s degrees in .
Speaking financially, the D1 Women’s Basketball team at EIU took home $873,063 in revenue. The team has a great academic progress rate of 991, signifying that team members care about their grades.
Read full sports report on Eastern Illinois University
Chicago State University landed the #12 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Women’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. CSU is a public institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 301 bachelor’s degrees in .
Speaking financially, the D1 Women’s Basketball team at CSU took home $737,875 in revenue. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 931.
Read full sports report on Chicago State University
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*Avg Tuition and Fees and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top 12 schools only.
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.
The academic progress rate (APR) of each team was made available by the NCAA.
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%.
