General Biology at Northern Illinois University

What traits are you looking for in a biology school? To help you decide if Northern Illinois University is right for you, we've gathered the following information about the school's biology program.

NIU is located in Dekalb, Illinois and has a total student population of 16,769. Of the 3,080 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University in 2021, 83 of them were general biology majors.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in General Biology section at the bottom of this page.

NIU General Biology Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Biology
• Master’s Degree in Biology
• Doctorate Degree in Biology

NIU General Biology Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks biology programs across the country. The following shows how NIU performed in these rankings.

Note: Although rankings can help you see some information about a school, it's not a good idea to depend on them alone. Be sure to check out other things about the school before making your decision to attend.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The biology major at NIU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for General Biology. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Best Value General Biology Doctor’s Degree Schools	2
Best Value General Biology Master’s Degree Schools	9
	59
Best General Biology Schools	132
Most Popular General Biology Doctor’s Degree Schools	161
Most Focused General Biology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	1,061
Most Focused General Biology Schools	1,144

In 2021, 6 students received their master’s degree in biology from NIU. This makes it the #252 most popular school for biology master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 1 student who received their doctoral degrees in biology, making the school the #162 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

How Much Do Biology Graduates from NIU Make?

The median salary of biology students who receive their bachelor's degree at NIU is $35,021. This is great news for graduates of the program, since this figure is 29% higher than the national average of $27,253 for all biology bachelor's degree recipients.

Biology Student Demographics at NIU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the biology majors at Northern Illinois University.

NIU General Biology Bachelor’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 83 biology majors earned their bachelor's degree from NIU. Of these graduates, 39% were men and 61% were women. The typical biology bachelor's degree program is made up of only 33% men. So male students are more repesented at NIU since its program graduates 6% more men than average.

About 53% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in biology at NIU are white. This is above average for this degree on the nationwide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a bachelor's in biology.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	9
Black or African American	10
Hispanic or Latino	13
White	44
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	5

NIU General Biology Master’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 50% of biology master's degrees went to men and 50% went to women. Nationwide, master's degree programs only see 33% men graduate in biology each year. NIU does a better job at serving the male population as it supports 17% more men than average.

Of the students who received a biology master's degree from NIU, 100% were white. This is above average for this degree on the natiowide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a master's in biology.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	6
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

NIU also has a doctoral program available in biology. In 2021, 1 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

Careers That Biology Grads May Go Into

A degree in biology can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for IL, the home state for Northern Illinois University.

Occupation	Jobs in IL	Average Salary in IL
High School Teachers	43,720	$72,370
Medical Scientists	3,510	$87,660
Biological Science Professors	2,530	$78,400
Natural Sciences Managers	1,950	$118,480
Biological Scientists	590	$84,180

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Andy McMurray under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.