2024 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region
56Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region
8,010Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
$32,049Avg Early-Career Salary
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #15 most popular degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
College Factual reviewed 56 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Combined, these schools handed out 8,010 degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School
Your choice of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness 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.
Pick Your Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Degree Level
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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, & Fitness 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.
10 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools in Parks & Rec
Columbia University in the City of New York is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the large city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were about 71 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Columbia University in the City of New York receive $28,652 more than the standard parks & rec student.
Any student who is interested in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies needs to take a look at University of Maryland - College Park. UMCP is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of College Park. A Best Colleges rank of #42 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UMCP is a great university overall.
There were about 239 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UMCP in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, parks & rec degree recipients typically make around $30,536 in their early careers.
It is hard to beat Georgetown University if you wish to pursue a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the city of Washington, Georgetown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Georgetown is a great university overall.
There were about 150 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Georgetown in the most recent year we have data available. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Georgetown University receive $13,768 more than the average parks & rec grad.
Temple University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the city of Philadelphia, Temple is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #147 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Temple is a great university overall.
There were approximately 299 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Temple in the most recent data year. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Temple University earn $5,899 more than the standard parks & rec student.
Rutgers New Brunswick is a fairly large public university located in the small city of New Brunswick. A Best Colleges rank of #98 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Rutgers New Brunswick is a great university overall.
There were approximately 456 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Rutgers New Brunswick in the most recent year we have data available. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Rutgers University - New Brunswick receive $3,974 more than the average parks & rec graduate.
Syracuse is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Syracuse. A Best Colleges rank of #132 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Syracuse is a great university overall.
There were approximately 150 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Syracuse in the most recent year we have data available. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Syracuse University make $5,253 more than the standard parks & rec grad.
UD is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Newark. A Best Colleges rank of #118 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UD is a great university overall.
There were approximately 188 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UD in the most recent year we have data available. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies degree recipients from University of Delaware get an earnings boost of approximately $3,497 above the average earnings of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates.
Cal U is a moderately-sized public university located in the suburb of California.
There were about 374 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Cal U in the most recent year we have data available. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies degree recipients from California University of Pennsylvania get an earnings boost of approximately $4,439 above the typical earnings of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates.
Located in the small city of Towson, Towson is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #248 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Towson is a great university overall.
There were approximately 251 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Towson in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn around $30,593 in the first couple years of working.
WCUPA is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of West Chester. A Best Colleges rank of #241 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means WCUPA is a great university overall.
There were about 214 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at WCUPA in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program report average early career income of $27,786.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Middle Atlantic 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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).