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Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in Illinois

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2023 Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in Illinois

17 Colleges
$33,264 Avg Salary
$24,988 Avg Student Debt

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

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is the #14 most popular major in Illinois with 797 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in Illinois ranking. Our analysis looked at 17 schools in Illinois 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 colleges and universities below are the most popular for parks and rec majors pursuing a .

#1

Concordia University, Chicago

River Forest, IL

Our 2023 rankings named Concordia University, Chicago the most popular school in Illinois 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 college with a medium-sized student population.

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

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Illinois State University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in Illinois list. Located in the suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public college with a very large student population.

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

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in Illinois list. Located in the large suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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#4

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

The excellent programs at Northwestern University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in Illinois. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Northwestern University Report

Out of the 17 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the # 5 spot on the list. UIUC is a very large public school located in the city of Champaign.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Report

Western Illinois University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. WIU is a moderately-sized public school located in the town of Macomb.

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

Southern Illinois University Carbondale came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the city of Carbondale, SIUC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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

#8

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, IL

Eastern Illinois University 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. EIU is a moderately-sized public school located in the town of Charleston.

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Northern Illinois University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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#10

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

Aurora University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

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

Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
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

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 17 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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