Liberal Arts General Studies is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #13 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 53 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for liberal arts general studies students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 3,789 bachelor's degrees in liberal arts general studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Liberal Arts General Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The liberal arts bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality liberal arts 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 liberal arts general studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of liberal arts general studies 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 liberal arts general studies 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 liberal arts general studies related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for liberal arts general studies students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Liberal Arts General Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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 Liberal Arts General Studies in the Great Lakes Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Liberal Arts
DePaul University is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from DePaul University receive an earnings boost of around $44,572 over the typical earnings of liberal arts general studies graduates.
University of Wisconsin - Green Bay is a good decision for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. UW - Green Bay is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Green Bay.
Those liberal arts general studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Wisconsin - Green Bay make $14,942 more than the standard liberal arts grad.
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies needs to check out University of Wisconsin - Whitewater. UW - Whitewater is a large public university located in the town of Whitewater.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn around $40,494 for their early career.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in liberal arts general studies. U-M is a very large public university located in the city of Ann Arbor.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the liberal arts program earn an average of $38,065 in the first couple years of their career.
Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of Notre Dame get an earnings boost of about $6,085 over the typical earnings of liberal arts general studies graduates.
Located in the rural area of Marion, IWU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global receive an earnings boost of about $4,269 above the average earnings of liberal arts general studies graduates.
Located in the distant town of Marion, IWU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Indiana Wesleyan University earn a boost of approximately $4,269 over the typical income of liberal arts general studies majors.
Located in the city of Indianapolis, IUPUI is a public university with a very large student population.
Liberal Arts General Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,005 over the typical income of liberal arts general studies majors.
Here are some additional great schools for Liberal Arts General Studies students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Liberal Arts General Studies 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.
The liberal arts bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality liberal arts program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
