2026 Best Best Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Best degree programs prepare students for a range of careers in the field. While the number of schools offering the program varies, there are still top-quality ones to be found.
College Factual analyzed 4 schools to build this 2026 ranking of the best best schools.
What’s on this page:
Best Schools for Best in the Great Lakes Region
If you are not interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the best degrees they offer, see the list below.
Top Schools in Best
Our analysis ranked Southern Illinois University Edwardsville the best school in the country for a degree in best. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is a large public school located in the suburb of Edwardsville. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville graduates 55% of students within six years. There were roughly 17 best students who graduated with this degree at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the most recent data year. Graduates of the best program make about $16,892 in their early career. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville graduates carry a median of $26,010 in student loans.
See the full best program report for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
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Notes and References
The ranking above is published by College Factual (MF_RANKING_2025), 2026 edition. The methodology weighs graduation rate, post-graduation earnings, cost, and program quality, drawn primarily from the U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS and College Scorecard).
Ranking method: College Major Top Ranked · 4 schools evaluated.
- 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).
More about our data sources and methodologies.
