Accounting is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #8 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 124 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of accounting. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 6,561 bachelor's degrees in accounting during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Choosing a Great Accounting School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of accounting for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to accounting students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of accounting students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt accounting students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized accounting related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for accounting students working on their bachelor's degree.
The accounting school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Accounting Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Accounting in the Great Lakes Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in accounting. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
24 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Accounting
University of Notre Dame is a great decision for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in accounting. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from University of Notre Dame receive an earnings boost of approximately $20,752 above the typical income of accounting graduates.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in accounting. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those accounting students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earn $18,605 more than the typical accounting student.
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in accounting has to look into Ohio State University - Main Campus. Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbus.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from Ohio State University - Main Campus get an earnings boost of approximately $6,273 above the average income of accounting majors.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in accounting. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting program at University of Wisconsin - Madison make $12,783 above the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting program at DePaul University make $13,124 above the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Miami University - Oxford is a fairly large public university located in the fringe town of Oxford.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from Miami University - Oxford receive an earnings boost of around $11,617 over the typical earnings of accounting graduates.
Purdue is a fairly large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting degree program at Purdue University - Main Campus earn $6,895 more than the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Case Western is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Cleveland.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from Case Western Reserve University receive an earnings boost of about $11,704 above the typical earnings of accounting graduates.
NIU is a large public university located in the small suburb of Dekalb.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from Northern Illinois University receive an earnings boost of approximately $7,617 above the average income of accounting majors.
UIC is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Chicago.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting major at University of Illinois at Chicago earn $9,554 more than the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the suburb of University Heights, John Carroll is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Accounting bachelor's degree recipients from John Carroll University get an earnings boost of about $6,019 over the typical earnings of accounting graduates.
UW - Whitewater is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Whitewater.
Bachelor's recipients from the accounting degree program at University of Wisconsin - Whitewater make $5,800 more than the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Accounting Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.
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).
Your choice of accounting for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
