2024 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region
9Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
475Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #218 most popular degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 9 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for parks, recreation & leisure studies students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 475 degrees in parks, recreation & leisure studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for parks, recreation & leisure studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Rankings by Degree Level
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 Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
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 Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the Great Lakes Region
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the parks & rec degrees they offer, see the list below.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a great decision for students interested in a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 142 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available.
Any student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies has to look into Indiana University - Bloomington. IU Bloomington is a very large public university located in the small city of Bloomington. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were roughly 160 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available.
Every student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies needs to check out Ohio University - Athens Campus. OHIO Athens is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Athens. A Best Colleges rank of #239 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means OHIO Athens is a great university overall.
There were approximately 35 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at OHIO Athens in the most recent year we have data available.
Every student who is interested in parks, recreation & leisure studies needs to check out Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Located in the small city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 23rd out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 44 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at SIUC in the most recent data year.
BGSU is a fairly large public university located in the town of Bowling Green. This university ranks 23rd out of 96 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 45 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at BGSU in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Toledo, University of Toledo is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 19th out of 96 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 14 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at University of Toledo in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #354 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Aurora is a great university overall.
There were roughly 4 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Aurora in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the suburb of Bourbonnais, Olivet Nazarene is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 33rd out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 6 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Olivet Nazarene in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the town of Marquette, Northern Michigan University is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 34th out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were approximately 16 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Northern Michigan University in the most recent data year.
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).
college factual
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for parks, recreation & leisure studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
