Illinois College

Illinois College is a small residential liberal arts college offering exceptional education at an affordable cost on a safe and beautiful campus. For over 180 years, Illinois College has prepared young men and women for lives of leadership and service.
True to its founding vision in 1829, Illinois College is a community committed to the highest scholarship and integrity standards in the liberal arts. The College develops in its student's qualities of mind and character needed to fulfill leadership and service lives.Illinois College will build an international reputation for inspiring achievement and empowering students to make a difference in the world.
Prospective students, current students, and community members are encouraged to review the following information, which provides a comprehensive overview of the College and its practices, including information on financial aid, student privacy, crime statistics, essential college policies, and student outcomes.
Do you dream of teaching English in Japan? Passionate about improving community recycling programs? Interested in research that could cure a disease? How about an internship at a professional sporting event? At Illinois College, our students are achieving all of this and more — before graduation.
Internships, student-faculty research, service-learning projects, and professional practice in your field will prepare you with the skills to succeed in any 21st-century career. Decades of research have proven active learning experiences to have a strong connection to student learning and retention. These hands-on activities cultivate the traits that today's employers most value: the abilities to read, write, speak, and problem-solve effectively and the power to apply these skills in a professional setting.
Employers today are looking for applicants who have a diverse set of skills for 21st-century careers. The Illinois College BLUEprint is your personalized general education plan to help you master the critical skills that will set you apart in the job market and prepare you to land your first job. Today, employers are looking for graduates with strong written and oral communication skills, understanding of diverse cultures, working with people with different beliefs, and, most importantly, the competence to solve problems effectively through inquiry, analysis, synthesis, creative and critical thinking collaboration.
From the time of its founding, Illinois College has embraced diversity and inclusion principles, and we will continue to do so. We believe that our joint work is enhanced by people's varied perspectives from a range of ethnic, national, and religious backgrounds. These values guide us in interactions with one another, and fundamental respect for every individual undergirds our work together.
Illinois College values the unique experiences all of our students bring to campus and prepares graduates as global citizens ready for fulfilling lives of leadership and service. Sixty-nine international students are attending Illinois College this year, including eight with dual citizenship. They hail from these countries: Bangladesh, China, Ecuador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zambia.
As an international student, you have several options for joining Illinois College's diverse campus. Apply as a first-year student to spend four years on campus, earning an undergraduate degree or apply as a transfer student to finish your degree at Illinois College.
Your experiences in and beyond the classroom are all part of the value of your Illinois College education. Having your classmates as neighbors help build friendships and a sense of belonging among students. The goal of the residential life program is to foster openness, respect, honesty, and community.
You will find countless ways to get involved outside of class at Illinois College — with over 80 student organizations, from community service, sports, and spirit clubs to historic literary societies. The Center for Student Involvement serves as a resource for student leaders through advising, leadership development programs, and administrative support services. Through your involvement in co-curricular activities, you will round out your academic experience by learning new skills to make your education complete while you create lifelong friendships.
Illinois College, the first College in the state to conduct classes and grant a baccalaureate degree, sustains a 180-year heritage of excellence in the liberal arts.
The events and characters that tell our story are extraordinary. The Rev. John M. Ellis, a Presbyterian missionary in the East, saw the need for a "seminary of learning" in Illinois's new state. His plans drew the attention of Congregational students at Yale University, and seven of them, in one of the famous "Yale Bands," came westward to help found the College. The first president of Illinois College was Edward Beecher. He left his position at the Park Street Church in Boston and firmly imbued the new College with New England traditions and academic foundations. His sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the influential anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, visited the campus, and his brother, Henry Ward Beecher, preached and lectured here. Beecher Hall, the first college building in Illinois, was built in 1829 and is still used today.