Liberal Arts General Studies at Western Illinois University

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

WIU is located in Macomb, Illinois and approximately 7,490 students attend the school each year. In 2021, 167 liberal arts majors received their bachelor's degree from WIU.

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

WIU Liberal Arts General Studies Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts
• Master’s Degree in Liberal Arts

Online Classes Are Available at WIU

If you are a working student or have a busy schedule, you may want to consider taking online classes. While these classes used to be mostly populated by returning adults, more and more traditional students are turning to this option.

WIU does offer online education options in liberal arts for the following degree levels for those interested in distance learning:

• Bachelor’s Degree

WIU Liberal Arts General Studies Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the liberal arts progam at WIU compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: Rankings don't always give a complete picture of a school's strengths and weaknesses, so it's a good idea to extend your research and also look at other factors when trying to decide if the school is right for you.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The liberal arts major at WIU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Liberal Arts General Studies. 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 Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	31
Most Popular Liberal Arts General Studies Master’s Degree Schools	121
Best Value Liberal Arts General Studies Schools	334

In 2021, 2 students received their master’s degree in liberal arts from WIU. This makes it the #121 most popular school for liberal arts master’s degree candidates in the country.

Earnings of WIU Liberal Arts Graduates

The median salary of liberal arts students who receive their bachelor's degree at WIU is $36,956. This is 15% higher than $32,253, which is the national average for all liberal arts bachelor's degree recipients.

Liberal Arts Student Demographics at WIU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the liberal arts majors at Western Illinois University.

WIU Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 47% of liberal arts bachelor's degrees went to men and 53% went to women. The typical liberal arts bachelor's degree program is made up of only 35% men. So male students are more repesented at WIU since its program graduates 11% more men than average.

About 62% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in liberal arts at WIU 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 Western Illinois University with a bachelor's in liberal arts.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	3
Black or African American	36
Hispanic or Latino	13
White	103
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	12

WIU Liberal Arts General Studies Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 2 liberal arts majors earned their master's degree from WIU. Of these graduates, 100% were men and 0% were women. Nationwide, master's degree programs only see 35% men graduate in liberal arts each year. WIU does a better job at serving the male population as it supports 65% more men than average.

In the liberal arts master's program at this school, racial-ethnic minorities make up 50% of degree recipients. That is 2% better than the national average.*

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	1
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

WIU also has a doctoral program available in liberal arts. In 2021, 0 student graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Careers That Liberal Arts Grads May Go Into

A degree in liberal arts 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 Western Illinois University.

Occupation	Jobs in IL	Average Salary in IL
Professors	3,040	$66,970

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 IlliniGradResearch under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.