2025 Best Zoology Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Zoology isn't the most popular master's program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #183 in popularity out of 343 majors in the country. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for zoology students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 62 master's degrees in zoology during the 2021-2022 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on zoology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other zoology students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for zoology to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized zoology related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for zoology students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Zoology Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Zoology Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Zoology in the Great Lakes Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in zoology.

Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Master's in Zoology

1

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI

10 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in zoology has to check out University of Wisconsin - Madison. UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the city of Madison.More information about a master’s in zoology from University of Wisconsin - Madison

2

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, IL

13 Annual Graduates

$44,661 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in zoology has to take a look at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Located in the distant town of Carbondale, SIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the zoology program report average early career income of $44,661.

More information about a master’s in zoology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Best Zoology Colleges by State

Explore the best zoology schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	221	15
Michigan	211	8
Ohio	207	13
Indiana	191	4
Wisconsin	173	10

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Zoology

Zoology is one of 14 different types of Biological & Biomedical Sciences programs to choose from.

Zoology Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Zoology/Animal Biology	29
Entomology	27
Animal Physiology	6

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General Biology	902
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	467
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics	215
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	187
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other)	164
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	161
Biotechnology	134
Pharmacology & Toxicology	132
Genetics	130
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	128

Notes and References

• 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.
• 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.