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Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in California

27 Colleges
$41,687 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Master's Degree School for You

With 1,097 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies is the #16 most popular major in California.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. 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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master's Degree Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 27 schools in California to see which ones were the most popular master's degree programs 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 master's degree.

Our analysis found Concordia University, Irvine to be the most popular school for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students who want to pursue a master’s degree in California. Located in the large city of Irvine, Concordia University, Irvine is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

About 29% of the students majoring in parks and rec at the school are women while 71% are male.

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

Out of the 27 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California Baptist University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the city of Riverside, Cal Baptist is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

About 53% of the students majoring in parks and rec at the school are women while 47% are male.

Read More…

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means California State University - Long Beach is a great place for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a fairly large student population.

About 41% of the students majoring in parks and rec at the school are women while 59% are male.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at California State University - Long Beach

#4

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of San Francisco. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in California list. USFCA is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Francisco.

About 40% of the students majoring in parks and rec at the school are women while 60% are male.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of San Francisco Report

#5

National University

La Jolla, CA

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means National University is a great place for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. National University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of La Jolla.

Of the 68 students majoring in parks and rec at National University, 63% are male and 37% are female.

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Point Loma Nazarene University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular master’s degree parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. Located in the city of San Diego, PLNU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Women make up 67% of the parks and rec majors at the school.

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With a ranking of #7, California State University - Fullerton did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Of the 37 students majoring in parks and rec at Cal State Fullerton, 57% are male and 43% are female.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at California State University - Fullerton Report

California State University - Northridge came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. CSUN is a fairly large public school located in the city of Northridge.

Of the 36 students majoring in parks and rec at CSUN, 53% are male and 47% are female.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at California State University - Northridge

San Jose State University ranked #9 on this year’s Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public college with a very large student population.

About 57% of the students majoring in parks and rec at the school are women while 43% are male.

Read More…

California State University - Fresno came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Fresno State is a very large public school located in the city of Fresno.

Women make up 42% of the parks and rec majors at the school.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at California State University - Fresno Report

Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 122
Oregon 67
Nevada 13
Hawaii 12
Alaska 5

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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