Marketing is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #11 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 132 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Marketing Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 8,627 bachelor's degrees in marketing to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Marketing School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The marketing bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality marketing program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to marketing students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other marketing students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt marketing students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized marketing related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for marketing students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Marketing Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Marketing in the Great Lakes Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in marketing. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
19 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Marketing
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in marketing needs to check out University of Notre Dame. Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the marketing degree program at University of Notre Dame get $11,656 above the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
It's hard to beat University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in marketing. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the marketing program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earn $12,769 more than the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is a great decision for students interested in a bachelor's degree in marketing. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the marketing degree program at University of Wisconsin - Madison earn $10,971 more than the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in marketing has to take a look at Purdue University - Main Campus. Purdue is a fairly large public university located in the city of West Lafayette.
Bachelor's recipients from the marketing degree program at Purdue University - Main Campus make $15,488 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a very large student population.
Marketing bachelor's degree recipients from Michigan State University get an earnings boost of around $15,218 above the average earnings of marketing graduates.
Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Columbus.
Those marketing students who get their bachelor's degree from Ohio State University - Main Campus receive $7,039 more than the typical marketing graduate.
Miami University - Oxford is a large public university located in the fringe town of Oxford.
Marketing bachelor's degree recipients from Miami University - Oxford earn a boost of approximately $9,509 over the average income of marketing graduates.
Located in the large city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the marketing degree program at DePaul University earn $5,166 above the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Marketing bachelor's degree recipients from Loyola University Chicago get an earnings boost of approximately $3,630 above the typical income of marketing majors.
Located in the large city of Milwaukee, Marquette is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the marketing degree program at Marquette University get $8,145 more than the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Kalamazoo, WMU is a public university with a large student population.
Marketing bachelor's degree recipients from Western Michigan University receive an earnings boost of around $3,672 over the typical income of marketing majors.
Located in the city of Toledo, University of Toledo is a public university with a large student population.
Marketing bachelor's degree recipients from University of Toledo get an earnings boost of approximately $3,216 over the average earnings of marketing majors.
Located in the small city of Eau Claire, UW - Eau Claire is a public university with a large student population.
Those marketing students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire make $2,737 more than the standard marketing graduate.
Case Western is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Cleveland.
Marketing bachelor's degree recipients from Case Western Reserve University earn a boost of approximately $6,803 above the typical income of marketing majors.
Located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Marketing bachelor's degree recipients from Illinois State University receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,541 above the typical income of marketing graduates.
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These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Marketing Bachelor's Degree 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).