2024 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region
5Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region
284Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
$34,534Avg Early-Career Salary
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies is about average in terms of popularity for degree programs. That is, it ranks #166 out of the 395 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 5 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for parks, recreation & leisure studies students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 284 degrees in parks, recreation & leisure studies during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for parks, recreation & leisure studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Rankings by Degree Level
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 Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the Middle Atlantic Region
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the parks & rec degrees they offer, see the list below.
SUNY Cortland is a great decision for students interested in a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. SUNY Cortland is a moderately-sized public school located in the distant town of Cortland. A Best Colleges rank of #700 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means SUNY Cortland is a great school overall.
There were roughly 23 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at SUNY Cortland in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation & leisure studies program at SUNY Cortland make $8,277 above the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
York College of Pennsylvania is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. YCP is a small private not-for-profit college located in the medium-sized suburb of York. This college ranks 51st out of 109 schools for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were approximately 13 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at YCP in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, parks & rec degree recipients generally make an average of $33,556 in the first five years of their career.
It's hard to beat Gallaudet University if you wish to pursue a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the large city of Washington, Gallaudet is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #134 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Gallaudet is a great university overall.
There were approximately 14 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Gallaudet in the most recent year we have data available.
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is a great decision for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Kutztown University is a moderately-sized public university located in the town of Kutztown. A Best Colleges rank of #783 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Kutztown University is a great university overall.
There were about 95 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Kutztown University in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, parks & rec degree recipients typically make around $33,459 in the first five years of their career.
Any student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies has to check out Lehman College. Lehman is a fairly large public college located in the city of Bronx. This college ranks 57th out of 142 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were about 26 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Lehman in the most recent data year.
Paul Smith's College is a fairly small private not-for-profit college located in the rural area of Paul Smiths. This college ranks 1587th out of 2,217 schools for overall quality nationwide.
There were approximately 9 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Paul Smith's College in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program state that they receive average early career earnings of $28,309.
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).
college factual
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for parks, recreation & leisure studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
