2024 Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region
124Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
35,887Liberal Studies Degrees Awarded
If you pursue a degree in liberal arts, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #2 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 124 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 35,887 degrees in liberal arts during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Your choice of liberal arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for liberal arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
The liberal studies school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Liberal Arts in the Great Lakes Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the liberal studies degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
18 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Liberal Studies
University of Chicago is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in liberal arts. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were approximately 20 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent year we have data available.
It is difficult to beat University of Notre Dame if you wish to pursue a degree in liberal arts. Notre Dame is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Notre Dame. A Best Colleges rank of #20 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.
There were about 32 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent year we have data available.
University of Wisconsin - Green Bay is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in liberal arts. UW - Green Bay is a medium-sized public university located in the medium-sized city of Green Bay. This university ranks 27th out of 46 colleges for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were approximately 127 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at UW - Green Bay in the most recent data year.
It's difficult to beat Vincennes University if you want to pursue a degree in liberal arts. Located in the town of Vincennes, Vincennes University is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 14th out of 42 colleges for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were approximately 562 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Vincennes University in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Grayslake, College of Lake County is a public college with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #247 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means College of Lake County is a great college overall.
There were about 1787 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at College of Lake County in the most recent year we have data available.
Ball State is a large public university located in the city of Muncie. A Best Colleges rank of #205 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Ball State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 171 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Ball State in the most recent data year.
Macomb Community College is a large public college located in the medium-sized city of Warren. A Best Colleges rank of #377 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Macomb Community College is a great college overall.
There were roughly 277 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Macomb Community College in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large suburb of Palatine, Harper College is a public college with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #512 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Harper College is a great college overall.
There were approximately 1706 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Harper College in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the town of Macomb, WIU is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 39th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 9 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at WIU in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Cincinnati, Xavier is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #316 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Xavier is a great university overall.
There were about 47 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Xavier in the most recent year we have data available.
Cincinnati State is a medium-sized public college located in the large city of Cincinnati. A Best Colleges rank of #442 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Cincinnati State is a great college overall.
There were about 265 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Cincinnati State in the most recent year we have data available.
Harold Washington College is a moderately-sized public college located in the large city of Chicago. This college ranks 34th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 1245 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Harold Washington College in the most recent data year.
Illinois State is a very large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal. A Best Colleges rank of #231 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Illinois State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 24 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Illinois State in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Rochester Hills, Oakland is a public university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #447 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Oakland is a great university overall.
There were roughly 7 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Oakland in the most recent data year.
Located in the small city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were approximately 189 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent data year.
ECC is a moderately-sized public college located in the medium-sized city of Elgin. This college ranks 29th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 1019 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at ECC in the most recent year we have data available.
Indiana University - Southeast is a small public university located in the suburb of New Albany. This university ranks 32nd out of 42 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were approximately 27 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Indiana University - Southeast in the most recent year we have data available.
Waubonsee is a moderately-sized public college located in the rural area of Sugar Grove. This college ranks 45th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 454 liberal arts students who graduated with this degree at Waubonsee in the most recent data year.
Here are some additional great schools for Liberal Arts students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Liberal Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of liberal arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for liberal arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
