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Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in the Great Lakes Region

67 Colleges
$32,191 Avg Salary
$25,844 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School for You

Out of all the majors we analyze each year, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies was ranked #18 in the country. In fact 10,452 degrees and certificates were handed out in 2020-2021.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in the Great Lakes Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 67 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which programs were the most popular for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies program at each school on the list.

The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges.

#1

Concordia University, Chicago

River Forest, IL

Our 2023 rankings named Concordia University, Chicago the most popular school in the Great Lakes Region for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students. Located in the large suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Concordia University, Chicago

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Ohio University - Athens Campus is a great place for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students. OHIO Athens is a very large public school located in the distant town of Athens.

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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Illinois State University is a great place for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students. Located in the midsize suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Illinois State University Report

The excellent programs at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the large suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

#5

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Northwestern University is a great place for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.

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Indiana University - Bloomington came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the small city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public college with a very large student population.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Indiana University - Bloomington

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. UIUC is a very large public school located in the small city of Champaign.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ohio State University - Main Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students. It came in at #8 on the list. Ohio State is a very large public school located in the large city of Columbus.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Ohio State University - Main Campus Report

University of Cincinnati - Main Campus ranked #9 on this year’s Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the city of Cincinnati, UC is a public college with a very large student population.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

#10

Wayne State University

Detroit, MI

Wayne State University ranked #10 on this year’s Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the large city of Detroit, Wayne State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Wayne State University Report

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also popular but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.

Rank College Location
11 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
12 Western Illinois University Macomb, IL
13 Miami University - Oxford Oxford, OH

Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Illinois 797
Indiana 192
Ohio 478
Wisconsin 117
Michigan 222

Parks & Rec Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Health & Physical Education 9,742
Recreation Administration 441
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 206
Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 35
Outdoor Education 28

Majors Similar to Parks & Rec

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Administration & Social Service 53,252
Legal Professions 45,189
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 13,045
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 1,613

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to NPS Photo/Zurbuch.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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