2024 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Southwest Region
6Colleges in the Southwest Region
247Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
If you plan on majoring in parks, recreation & leisure studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #218 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 6 schools in the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for parks, recreation & leisure studies students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 247 degrees in parks, recreation & leisure studies during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School
Your choice of parks, recreation & leisure studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
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.
Pick Your Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Degree Level
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Southwest Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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 Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the Southwest Region
The schools below may not offer all types of parks & rec degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
Every student who is interested in parks, recreation & leisure studies has to take a look at Arizona State University - Tempe. Located in the city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #119 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means ASU - Tempe is a great university overall.
There were approximately 18 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent year we have data available.
Oklahoma State University - Main Campus is a great choice for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the town of Stillwater, OSU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #227 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means OSU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 35 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at OSU in the most recent data year.
Northern Arizona University is a wonderful option for students interested in a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. NAU is a very large public university located in the small city of Flagstaff. A Best Colleges rank of #278 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means NAU is a great university overall.
There were about 59 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at NAU in the most recent data year.
Arizona State University - Skysong is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. ASU - Skysong is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Scottsdale. This university ranks 8th out of 26 schools for overall quality in the state of Arizona.
There were roughly 25 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Skysong in the most recent year we have data available.
Southeastern Oklahoma State University is a medium-sized public university located in the distant town of Durant. This university ranks 9th out of 32 schools for overall quality in the state of Oklahoma.
There were about 8 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in the most recent data year.
MSU Texas is a medium-sized public school located in the midsize city of Wichita Falls. This school ranks 66th out of 115 colleges for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were approximately 12 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at MSU Texas in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the suburb of Edmond, UCO is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 8th out of 32 colleges for overall quality in the state of Oklahoma.
There were roughly 8 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UCO in the most recent data year.
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Related Rankings by Major
One of 0 majors within the Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies area of study, Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.
Notes and References
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).