Quick Stats
Location: Peoria, IL
Closest Big City/Airport: Peoria, IL
School Size: 4,600
Athletic Division: NCAA DI - Non-Football
Athletic Conference: MVC (Missouri Valley Conference)
Tuition & Fees : $35,940
Total Cost of Attendance: $51,428
Average Cost After Aid: $25,634
Percent of Financial Aid Need Met: 75%
Average High School GPA: 3.6
Average SAT/ACT Combined: SAT - 1175 // ACT - 26
Acceptance Rate: 73%
Popular Degrees: Nursing, Engineering, Game Design, Business
Personal Tour Blog
Bradley University sits on roughly one square mile of Peoria, IL. Peoria is a city you may not have heard of before, as it sits roughly three hours away from Chicago in the more rural section of Illinois. While Peoria has not been a major tourist destination in the past, the city itself is incredibly charming. With a minor league baseball team, growing downtown, and Bradley University roughly eight minutes from the riverfront there are a lot of reasons to love this small Illinois city.
Bradley itself is roughly one square mile, and while it’s set in a mostly residential area, the campus itself has somewhat of a ring around it that keeps campus life vibrant inside. With an undergrad population of roughly 4,600, Bradley has a great sense of community.
During my tour, my student guide was incredibly excited to share the class size and professor accessibility. She raved about the commonly smaller classes and indicated that no classes were taught by TAs. Students who sign up to work with certain professors will work with those professors. Bradley had also just opened their business and engineering building, and I found the philosophy of those two departments fascinating because they understand those two worlds collide almost inevitably in the real world. Therefore, all business and engineering majors will work on a capstone project together, combining the two departments for that particular class.
The campus itself is beautiful, with a strong stone tone across most buildings, and they’ve even kept the classic style of older buildings within the new renovations and additions as the school has grown. In one building, an old external stone wall serves as an internal wall diving into the old and new sections of the building which I found pretty cool!
Peoria itself is located within driving distance between three major cities (Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis) so the opportunity to intern in major cities during traditional summer internships is quite accessible, and for health-related majors - especially nursing - there is an incredible opportunity in Peoria itself. Home to the only Trauma I hospital in the area, OSF Saint Francis works with Bradley to provide opportunities for nursing majors to get clinical experience at the highest level.
As for athletics, the Bradley students I talked to were most excited about the men’s basketball team, followed by soccer and baseball. Bradley currently plays in a large stadium downtown, so while it is not on campus it does appear to be a focal point of the city. Athletes, along with all other students, are able to come in undecided and will meet with an advisor weekly to drill down into what they want to study. Students are able to leave this “major” designation at any time to dive into their major or choice.
Students and Student-Athletes also have an opportunity to study abroad either in traditional semesters OR via short stints (for full class credit) in January or May. this is something that can make study abroad possible for student-athletes.
All in all, Bradley was a great campus to tour, and the students I spoke with both on the tour and naturally seemed incredibly satisfied with their college choice. You may not have the hustle and bustle of a large city or large university, but Bradley and the city of Peoria provide a great community for their students.
Fun Facts
- Peoria is home to the only Level 1 Trauma center in its surrounding area and works closely with Bradley’s health degrees.
- Bradley has a “Hollywood Semester” where students can study abroad with an emphasis on movie production opportunities
Athlete Fun Fact
Bradley is officially known as the Bradley Braves, but the university changed its mascot to a Gargoyle in 2014, representative of the gargoyles located around campus. The name of their new mascot is Kaboom!
Sports Offered
Men
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Cross Country
- Golf
- Soccer
- Track and Field
Women
- Basketball
- Cross Country
- Golf
- Softball
- Tennis
- Track and Field
- Volleyball
