Personal-finance website WalletHub recently released their list of 2019's Best College & University Rankings, including the institutions they say are Illinois' best.

With the first “early decision” college-application deadline looming on November 1st and tuition costs having more than doubled since the 1980s, WalletHub's numbers-crunchers know how big the "college decision" is.

Here's what the WalletHub analysts looked at to make their determinations:

Attending higher education requires more than just the grades to get in. You’ll also need the financial resources to attend. On average, tuition and room and board at a four-year college costs around $21,000 - $47,000 per year. It varies depending on the school’s public or private status and whether it’s in-state. For those prices, students want to know they are getting a good deal. WalletHub compared nearly 1,000 higher-education institutions in the U.S. across 30 key measures. The data set is grouped into seven categories, such as Student Selectivity, Cost & Financing and Career Outcomes. The metrics range from student-faculty ratio to graduation rate to post-attendance median salary.

These are WalletHub's top ten best colleges and universities in Illinois:

  1. University of Chicago
  2. Northwestern University
  3. Illinois Institute of Technology
  4. University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
  5. Illinois Wesleyan University
  6. Wheaton College
  7. Lewis University
  8. Bradley University
  9. Dominican University
  10. University of St. Francis

Along with a breakdown of the top 3:

School Snapshot: University of Chicago (1 = Best; 17 = Average; 34 = Worst)

  • 1st – Admission Rate
  • 34th – Net Cost
  • 1st – Student-Faculty Ratio
  • 6th – On-Campus Crime
  • 3rd – Gender & Racial Diversity
  • 2nd – Graduation Rate
  • 3rd – Post-Attendance Median Salary

School Snapshot: Northwestern University (1 = Best; 17 = Average; 34 = Worst)

  • 1st – Admission Rate
  • 33rd – Net Cost
  • 2nd – Student-Faculty Ratio
  • 9th – On-Campus Crime
  • 5th – Gender & Racial Diversity
  • 1st – Graduation Rate
  • 2nd – Post-Attendance Median Salary

School Snapshot: Illinois Institute of Technology (1 = Best; 17 = Average; 34 = Worst)

  • 7th – Admission Rate
  • 27th – Net Cost
  • 15th – Student-Faculty Ratio
  • 34th – On-Campus Crime
  • 8th – Gender & Racial Diversity
  • 8th – Graduation Rate
  • 1st – Post-Attendance Median Salary

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