Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #123 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
College Factual reviewed 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of parks, recreation & leisure studies. Combined, these schools handed out 358 bachelor's degrees in parks, recreation & leisure studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The parks & rec bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality parks & rec 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 much a school focuses on parks, recreation & leisure studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other parks, recreation & leisure studies 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 parks, recreation & leisure studies 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 parks, recreation & leisure studies related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for parks, recreation & leisure studies students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools
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 Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.
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 Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the Great Lakes Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies.
Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Parks & Rec
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the parks, recreation & leisure studies major at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign get $6,808 more than the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Indiana University - Bloomington is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. IU Bloomington is a very large public university located in the small city of Bloomington.
Bachelor's recipients from the parks, recreation & leisure studies major at Indiana University - Bloomington make $5,101 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies has to check out Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Located in the small city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public university with a large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn around $25,457 in their early career salary.
BGSU is a large public university located in the fringe town of Bowling Green.
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Bowling Green State University - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of around $2,286 over the typical income of parks, recreation & leisure studies graduates.
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.
college factual
The parks & rec bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality parks & rec program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
