2024 Best General Business/Commerce Schools in the Great Lakes Region
85Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
9,301General Business Degrees Awarded
$46,236Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a degree in general business/commerce, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #16 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 85 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for general business/commerce students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 9,301 degrees in general business/commerce during the 2020-2021 academic year.
The general business program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Business/Commerce rankings. We derive our Best Overall General Business/Commerce School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
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.
General Business/Commerce Rankings by Degree Level
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best General Business/Commerce Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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.
Best Schools for General Business/Commerce in the Great Lakes Region
The schools below may not offer all types of general business degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
12 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in General Business
Every student who is interested in general business/commerce needs to take a look at 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 approximately 114 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the general business/commerce degree program at Northwestern University get $116,242 above the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Indiana University - Bloomington is a wonderful choice for students interested in a degree in general business/commerce. 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 roughly 3071 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available. General Business/Commerce degree recipients from Indiana University - Bloomington earn a boost of approximately $39,685 above the average earnings of general business/commerce majors.
It's difficult to beat University of Notre Dame if you wish to pursue a degree in general business/commerce. 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 roughly 120 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general business/commerce degree program at University of Notre Dame make $18,035 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
University of Chicago is a good option for students pursuing a degree in general business/commerce. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were approximately 14 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent data year.
UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the city of Madison. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were roughly 221 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general business/commerce degree program at University of Wisconsin - Madison make $66,154 more than the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
IWU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the rural area of Marion. A Best Colleges rank of #291 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means IWU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 235 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at IWU in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, general business degree recipients typically make an average of $45,673 at the beginning of their careers.
IUPUI is a very large public university located in the city of Indianapolis. A Best Colleges rank of #274 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means IUPUI is a great university overall.
There were roughly 785 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at IUPUI in the most recent data year. General Business/Commerce degree recipients from Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis get an earnings boost of about $32,863 over the typical earnings of general business/commerce graduates.
Macomb Community College is a fairly large public college located in the city of Warren. A Best Colleges rank of #377 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Macomb Community College is a great college overall.
There were roughly 199 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Macomb Community College in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, general business degree recipients generally earn about $36,547 in their early careers.
Ball State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Muncie. A Best Colleges rank of #205 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Ball State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 289 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Ball State in the most recent year we have data available. Those general business/commerce students who get their degree from Ball State University make $13,606 more than the average general business grad.
Illinois Wesleyan is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Bloomington. This university ranks 20th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 43 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Illinois Wesleyan in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the town of Whitewater, UW - Whitewater is a public university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #359 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UW - Whitewater is a great university overall.
There were approximately 284 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at UW - Whitewater in the most recent year we have data available. General Business/Commerce degree recipients from University of Wisconsin - Whitewater earn a boost of approximately $13,561 above the typical earnings of general business/commerce graduates.
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 120 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent year we have data available. General Business/Commerce degree recipients from Michigan State University receive an earnings boost of about $80,264 over the average income of general business/commerce graduates.
Here are some additional great schools for General Business/Commerce students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best General Business/Commerce 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).