2025 Best Ethnic Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

a bachelor's degree in ethnic studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #73 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 9 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Ethnic Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 559 bachelor's degrees in ethnic studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Ethnic Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The ethnic studies bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality ethnic studies program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 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 bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor'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:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on ethnic studies students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other ethnic studies students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
• 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 easy is it for ethnic studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized ethnic studies related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for ethnic studies students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Ethnic Studies Schools

The ethnic studies 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 Ethnic Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Ethnic Studies in the Great Lakes Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for ethnic studies students seeking a a bachelor's degree.

Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Ethnic Studies

1

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI

30 Annual Graduates

$33,991 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in ethnic studies needs to check out University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. U-M is a very large public university located in the city of Ann Arbor.

Bachelor's recipients from the ethnic studies program at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn $3,173 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in ethnic studies from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

2

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI

38 Annual Graduates

$28,841 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in ethnic studies has to look into University of Wisconsin - Madison. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the ethnic studies program report average early career wages of $28,841.

More information about a bachelor’s in ethnic studies from University of Wisconsin - Madison

3

University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN

25 Annual Graduates

University of Notre Dame is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in ethnic studies. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in ethnic studies from University of Notre Dame

4

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

28 Annual Graduates

$32,856 Median Starting Salary

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a wonderful option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in ethnic studies. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those ethnic studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign make $2,038 more than the typical ethnic studies grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in ethnic studies from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

5

Indiana University - Bloomington
Bloomington, IN

19 Annual Graduates

IU Bloomington is a very large public university located in the city of Bloomington.More information about a bachelor’s in ethnic studies from Indiana University - Bloomington

6

Ohio State University - Main Campus
Columbus, OH

30 Annual Graduates

$31,179 Median Starting Salary

Ohio State is a very large public university located in the large city of Columbus.

After graduating, ethnic studies bachelor's recipients generally earn an average of $31,179 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in ethnic studies from Ohio State University - Main Campus

7

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

51 Annual Graduates

$33,366 Median Starting Salary

UIC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Chicago.

Ethnic Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of Illinois at Chicago earn a boost of around $2,548 over the typical earnings of ethnic studies graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in ethnic studies from University of Illinois at Chicago

8

Oberlin College
Oberlin, OH

14 Annual Graduates

Located in the fringe town of Oberlin, Oberlin is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a bachelor’s in ethnic studies from Oberlin College

9

Grand Valley State University
Allendale, MI

11 Annual Graduates

Located in the fringe town of Allendale, GVSU is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in ethnic studies from Grand Valley State University

Best Ethnic Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best ethnic studies colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	261	137
Ohio	252	158
Illinois	241	160
Indiana	235	84
Wisconsin	213	104

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Ethnic Studies

One of 2 majors within the Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies area of study, Ethnic Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Ethnic Studies Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Women’s Studies	259
Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, & Group Studies, Other	105
African American Studies	97
Disability Studies	40
Latino Studies	29
Native American Studies	12
Ethnic Studies	7
Deaf Studies	4
Asian-American Studies	3
Folklore Studies	3

Most Popular Majors Related to Ethnic Studies

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Area Studies	401
Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies (Other)	33

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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to G. MГјtzel. More about our data sources and methodologies.