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2024 Best Music Theory & Composition Schools in the Great Lakes Region

29 Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
163 Music Composition Degrees Awarded
Music Theory & Composition is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #390 most popular degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual reviewed 29 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of music theory & composition. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 163 degrees in music theory & composition during the 2021-2022 academic year.

What's on this page: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Music Theory & Composition School

Best Music Theory & Composition Schools in the Great Lakes Region Your choice of music theory & composition 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 music theory & composition 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.

Music Theory & Composition Rankings by Degree Level

Associate Degrees in Music Composition
Bachelor's Degrees in Music Composition
Master's Degrees in Music Composition
Doctor's Degrees in Music Composition

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Music Theory & Composition Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision. If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

If you want to learn more about how we derive our rankings, see College Factual's Methodology.

Best Schools for Music Theory & Composition in the Great Lakes Region

The schools below may not offer all types of music composition degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Music Composition

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In IL
14.3% Growth in Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in music theory & composition needs to check out Northwestern University. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.

There were about 7 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from Northwestern University

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In MI

Michigan State University is a wonderful option for students interested in a degree in music theory & composition. Michigan State is a very large public university located in the city of East Lansing. A Best Colleges rank of #74 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.

There were roughly 11 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from Michigan State University

3
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In MI
38.1% Growth in Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in music theory & composition needs to check out University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.

There were approximately 21 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

4
Oberlin crest
Oberlin College
Oberlin, OH
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
9th Most Popular In OH
60.0% Growth in Graduates

Every student who is interested in music theory & composition has to look into Oberlin College. Oberlin is a small private not-for-profit college located in the town of Oberlin. A Best Colleges rank of #226 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Oberlin is a great college overall.

There were about 5 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at Oberlin in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from Oberlin College

5
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In IL

UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Champaign. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.

There were approximately 1 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

6
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In IL

Located in the large suburb of Wheaton, Wheaton College Illinois is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #257 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Wheaton College Illinois is a great college overall.

There were about 1 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at Wheaton College Illinois in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from Wheaton College Illinois

7
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In OH

Located in the city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #166 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UC is a great university overall.

There were roughly 22 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at UC in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

8
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
9th Most Popular In OH
33.3% Growth in Graduates

Located in the large city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #69 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.

There were roughly 3 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from Ohio State University - Main Campus

9
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
6th Most Popular In OH

Located in the city of Cleveland, Cleveland Institute of Music is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

There were roughly 1 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at Cleveland Institute of Music in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from Cleveland Institute of Music

10
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In OH

Located in the town of Athens, OHIO Athens is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #239 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means OHIO Athens is a great university overall.

There were about 5 music theory & composition students who graduated with this degree at OHIO Athens in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in music theory & composition from Ohio University - Athens Campus

Best Music Theory & Composition Colleges by State

Explore the best music theory & composition colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

StateCollegesDegrees Awarded
Ohio93974
Michigan91548
Illinois87023
Indiana73713
Wisconsin6725

View All Rankings >

Music Theory & Composition is one of 17 different types of Music programs to choose from.

Related MajorAnnual Graduates
Music Performance1,574
General Music1,283
Other Music148
Music Technology133
Music Pedagogy131
Voice Performance95
Keyboard Instruments74
Jazz Studies69
Stringed Instruments63
Conducting53

View All Music Composition Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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