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2025 Best Business, Management & Marketing Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

153 Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
30,811 Master's Degrees
$78,832 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a master's degree in business, management & marketing, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #1 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual looked at 153 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Business, Management & Marketing Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 30,811 master's degrees in business, management & marketing during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Business, Management & Marketing School for Your Master's Degree

Best Business, Management & Marketing Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region Your choice of business, management & marketing for getting your master'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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

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 for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

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

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for business, management & marketing students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Business, Management & Marketing Rankings Other Ranking Categories

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Business, Management & Marketing Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Business, Management & Marketing in the Great Lakes Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in business, management & marketing. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

25 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Master's in Business, Management & Marketing

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
2,865 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in business, management & marketing has to check out Northwestern University. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Northwestern University

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1,142 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in business, management & marketing has to take a look at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the city of Ann Arbor.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

3
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1,403 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in business, management & marketing has to take a look at Indiana University - Bloomington. IU Bloomington is a fairly large public university located in the city of Bloomington.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Indiana University - Bloomington

4
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
3,008 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in business, management & marketing. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

5
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
341 Annual Graduates

Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbus.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Ohio State University - Main Campus

6
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
664 Annual Graduates

Purdue is a fairly large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Purdue University - Main Campus

7
DePaul crest
DePaul University
Chicago, IL
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
669 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from DePaul University

8
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
522 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from University of Notre Dame

9
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
404 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from University of Wisconsin - Madison

10
Marquette crest
Marquette University
Milwaukee, WI
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
152 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Milwaukee, Marquette is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Marquette University

11
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
335 Annual Graduates

OHIO Athens is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Athens.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Ohio University - Athens Campus

12
Michigan State crest
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
705 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Michigan State University

13
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
361 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Loyola University Chicago

14
Xavier crest
Xavier University
Cincinnati, OH
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
153 Annual Graduates

Xavier is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cincinnati.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Xavier University

15
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
361 Annual Graduates

Located in the rural area of Marion, IWU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global

16
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
445 Annual Graduates

Case Western is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cleveland.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Case Western Reserve University

17
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
121 Annual Graduates

Miami University - Oxford is a large public university located in the town of Oxford.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Miami University - Oxford

18
Central Michigan crest
Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
471 Annual Graduates

Central Michigan is a large public university located in the town of Mount Pleasant.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Central Michigan University

19
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
520 Annual Graduates

UC is a very large public university located in the city of Cincinnati.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

20
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
109 Annual Graduates

UW - Platteville is a moderately-sized public university located in the town of Platteville.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from University of Wisconsin - Platteville

21
Oakland crest
Oakland University
Rochester Hills, MI
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
141 Annual Graduates

Oakland is a large public university located in the suburb of Rochester Hills.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Oakland University

22
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
376 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Lisle, Benedictine U is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Benedictine University

23
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
205 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Indianapolis, IUPUI is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis

24
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
117 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Kalamazoo, WMU is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Western Michigan University

25
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
304 Annual Graduates

NIU is a large public university located in the suburb of Dekalb.More information about a master’s in business, management & marketing from Northern Illinois University

Rest of the Top Best Business, Management & Marketing Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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27
28
29
Ferris crest
Ferris State University
Big Rapids, MI
30

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Business, Management & Marketing students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Business, Management & Marketing Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.

Rank College Location
31 Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL
32 University of Southern Indiana Evansville, IN
33 Kent State University at Kent Kent, OH
34 University of Dayton Dayton, OH
35 Butler University Indianapolis, IN
36 Davenport University Grand Rapids, MI
37 Concordia University, Wisconsin Mequon, WI
38 Ashland University Ashland, OH
39 Elmhurst University Elmhurst, IL
40 University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, IL
41 Calvin University Grand Rapids, MI
42 University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh Oshkosh, WI
43 Northwood University Midland, MI
44 Illinois State University Normal, IL
45 Concordia University, Chicago River Forest, IL
46 University of Wisconsin - Whitewater Whitewater, WI
47 Ball State University Muncie, IN
48 Baldwin Wallace University Berea, OH
49 Purdue University Global West Lafayette, IN
50 University of Toledo Toledo, OH
51 Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI

Best Business, Management & Marketing Colleges by State

Explore the best business, management & marketing schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Illinois 34 12,463
Indiana 33 5,086
Ohio 32 5,239
Michigan 31 5,374
Wisconsin 31 2,220

View All Rankings >

Business, Management & Marketing Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Business Administration & Management 15,707
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 7,639
General Business/Commerce 2,650
Accounting 1,646
Human Resource Management 947
Finance & Financial Management 815
Marketing 680
Management Information Systems 257
Other Business, Management & Marketing 110
Taxation 79

Notes and References

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