2023 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Wildlife Management in the Great Lakes Region

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Wildlife Major in the Great Lakes Region” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

In 2020-2021, 2,449 people earned their degree in wildlife management, making the major the 186th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, wildlife management graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $26,447 and had an average of $23,043 in loans still to pay off.

Across the Great Lakes region, there were 245 wildlife management graduates with average earnings and debt of $25,120 and $23,552 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 12 wildlife management graduates with average earnings and debt of $58,892 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Wildlife Major in the Great Lakes Region” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in wildlife management. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their wildlife management program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The wildlife 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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Wildlife Major in the Great Lakes Region”.

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.

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

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

Top 2 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Wildlife Management in the Great Lakes Region

1

Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan

#14 overall quality in Great Lakes

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Michigan State University. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Wildlife Major in the Great Lakes Region list. Michigan State is a public institution located in East Lansing, Michigan. The school has a large population, and it awarded 8 masters’s degrees in 2020-2021.

With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Michigan State Wildlife Management Report

2

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, Wisconsin

#6 overall quality in Great Lakes

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Wisconsin - Madison. The school came in at #2 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Wildlife Major in the Great Lakes Region. This large school is located in Madison, Wisconsin, and it awarded 4 masters’s wildlife degrees in 2020-2021.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.9% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 95%.

Read full report on Wildlife Management at UW - Madison

• Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Wildlife Management

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Nicholas A. Tonelli.