10 of the Most Diverse Colleges in Illinois

Diversity has been a symbol of pride for the U.S., as it is for many of the nation's colleges, which are increasingly recognized for having an ethnically, culturally, religiously and socio-economically diverse student body and faculty.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

One of the most important parts of college -- beyond getting an academic education -- is learning about people who are different from yourself. That kind of learning can be done in a classroom, living around, and working with different kinds of people is an effective way to inject some diversity into a college student's life.

Diversity has been a symbol of pride for the U.S., as it is for many of the nation's colleges, which are increasingly recognized for having an ethnically, culturally, religiously and socio-economically diverse student body and faculty.

Niche.com ranked a total of 936 colleges that are considered to be the most diverse, 36 of which are located in Illinois. Seven statistics, as well as student surveys, were used to determine the rankings.

Here's more on the group's methodology:

The Most Diverse Campus ranking provides a comprehensive assessment of the diversity at traditional four-year colleges and universities in the United States. It uses data sourced from various government and public data sets, Niche's own proprietary data, and 777,115 opinion-based survey responses about campus diversity from 99,714 current students and recent alumni.

A high ranking in diversity generally indicates that:

  • Students report that the campus is extremely diverse and fosters a community that accepts and promotes a diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic statuses;
  • Enrolled students come from all over the United States and the world, representing various backgrounds and ethnicities;
  • The college employs a diverse faculty, both in terms of gender and ethnicity.

Check out 10 of the most diverse colleges in Illinois.

2015-01-05-diverse36.JPG

2015-01-05-diverse35.JPG

2015-01-05-diverse35.JPG

2015-01-05-diverse33.JPG

2015-01-05-diverse32.JPG

2015-01-05-diverse31.JPG

2015-01-05-diverse30.JPG

2015-01-05-diverse29.JPG

2015-01-05-diverse28.JPG

2015-01-05-diverse27.JPG

Finish off the list and see the 26 most diverse colleges in Illinois at Reboot Illinois.

Sign up for our daily email to stay up to date with Illinois politics.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot