Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies degree programs are on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of popularity. In fact, the major ranks #30 out of the 38 majors we look at each year. This may make is a little harder to find a school that is a good fit for you.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 9 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,043 degrees in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies annually.
Explore societal similarities and differences as seen through cultural, biological, archaeological and linguistic lenses when you earn one of your degrees in anthropology from Southern New Hampshire University.
Gain a rich foundation of knowledge ranging from early history to modern times with this online bachelor's degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University.
Choosing a Great Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies School
The area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies rankings. We derive our Best Overall Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Rankings by Degree Level
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
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.
Explore societal similarities and differences as seen through cultural, biological, archaeological and linguistic lenses when you earn one of your degrees in anthropology from Southern New Hampshire University.
Gain a rich foundation of knowledge ranging from early history to modern times with this online bachelor's degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University.
Best Schools for Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies in the Great Lakes Region
The schools below may not offer all types of area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were approximately 113 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies program state that they receive average early career earnings of $32,049.
Any student pursuing a degree in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies needs to take a look at University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Notre Dame. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.
There were roughly 53 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies program state that they receive average early career earnings of $35,304.
Explore societal similarities and differences as seen through cultural, biological, archaeological and linguistic lenses when you earn one of your degrees in anthropology from Southern New Hampshire University.
Any student who is interested in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies has to take a look at University of Wisconsin - Madison. UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the city of Madison. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were roughly 586 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies program make about $28,841 in their early career salary.
Every student pursuing a degree in area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies needs to take a look at Miami University - Oxford. Located in the fringe town of Oxford, Miami University - Oxford is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 5th out of 91 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 49 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students who graduated with this degree at Miami University - Oxford in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies degree program at Miami University - Oxford get $16,050 more than the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Champaign. This university ranks 3rd out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 56 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies program make about $26,580 in their early career salary.
Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were about 68 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies program at Indiana University - Bloomington earn $33,914 above the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 45 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies program make around $31,179 in the first couple years of working.
Gain a rich foundation of knowledge ranging from early history to modern times with this online bachelor's degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University.
Oberlin is a small private not-for-profit college located in the town of Oberlin. This college ranks 17th out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 53 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students who graduated with this degree at Oberlin in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies program make around $20,905 in their early career salary.
Located in the large city of Chicago, UIC is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 10th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 82 area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies students who graduated with this degree at UIC in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, area, ethnic, culture, & gender studies degree recipients typically earn about $33,366 in the first five years of their career.
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. Mützel.