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2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region

15 Ranked Colleges
135 Degrees Awarded
$44,382 Avg Salary
Schools for a Master's Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Area Studies is the 115th most popular major in the country with 6,966 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, area studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $33,127 and had an average of $20,927 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Great Lakes region, there were 808 area studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $34,342 and $21,486 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 135 area studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $58,892 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region” ranking, we looked at 15 colleges that offer a degree in area studies. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in area studies.

See our ranking methodology to learn more.

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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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region” list to help you make the college decision.

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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region”.

Top 15 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Area Studies in the Great Lakes Region

1
UChicago crest
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Chicago. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region list. This fairly large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 30 masters’s area studies degrees in 2020-2021.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 100%. With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Area Studies at University of Chicago

2

Out of the 15 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Northeastern Illinois University landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Chicago, Illinois, this medium-sized public school awarded 5 diplomas to qualified masters’s area studies students in 2020-2021.

Read full report on Area Studies at Northeastern Illinois University

3
IU Bloomington crest
Indiana University - Bloomington
Bloomington, Indiana

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Indiana University - Bloomington. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region list. This large school is located in Bloomington, Indiana, and it awarded 26 masters’s area studies degrees in 2020-2021.

With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.4% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read more about Area Studies at Indiana University - Bloomington

4

Out of the 15 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Ohio University - Athens Campus landed the #4 spot on the list. Located in Athens, Ohio, this large public school handed out 20 diplomas to qualified masters’s area studies students in 2020-2021.

Read full report on Area Studies at Ohio University - Athens Campus

5
Valpo crest
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, Indiana

Out of the 15 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Valparaiso University landed the #5 spot on the list. Valparaiso University is located in Valparaiso, Indiana and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 2 masters’s area studies degrees to qualified students.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Area Studies at Valpo

6

With a ranking of #6, Bowling Green State University - Main Campus did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in Bowling Green, Ohio, this fairly large public school handed out 5 diplomas to qualified masters’s area studies students in 2020-2021.

Read full report on Area Studies at BGSU

7

With a ranking of #7, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region list. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a large public school situated in Champaign, Illinois. It awarded 14 masters’s area studies degrees in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Area Studies at UIUC

8

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor did quite well in the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking, coming in at #8. Ann Arbor, Michigan is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s area studies degrees to 11 students in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Area Studies at U-M

9

With a ranking of #9, University of Wisconsin - Madison did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region list. UW - Madison is a large public school situated in Madison, Wisconsin. It awarded 12 masters’s area studies degrees in 2020-2021.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 95%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Area Studies at University of Wisconsin - Madison

10

With a ranking of #10, University of Illinois at Chicago did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region list. UIC is located in Chicago, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 6 masters’s area studies degrees to qualified students.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Area Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago

11

Ohio State University - Main Campus landed the #11 spot on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Ohio State University - Main Campus is located in Columbus, Ohio and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 3 masters’s area studies degrees to qualified students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.6% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Area Studies at Ohio State University - Main Campus

12
Purdue crest
Purdue University - Main Campus
West Lafayette, Indiana

Purdue University - Main Campus came in at #12 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Purdue is a large public school situated in West Lafayette, Indiana. It awarded 1 masters’s area studies degrees in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Area Studies at Purdue

13

Youngstown State University came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Youngstown State University is a public institution located in Youngstown, Ohio. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 0 masters’s degrees in 2020-2021.

Read full report on Area Studies at Youngstown State University

13
Northwestern crest
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois

Northwestern University landed the #13 spot on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This large school is located in Evanston, Illinois, and it awarded 17 masters’s area studies degrees in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Read more about Area Studies at Northwestern

13
DePaul crest
DePaul University
Chicago, Illinois

DePaul University ranked #13 on this year’s Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Area Studies Major in the Great Lakes Region list. This large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 11 masters’s area studies degrees in 2020-2021.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Area Studies at DePaul University

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