2025 Best Geological & Earth Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Geological & Earth Sciences is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #80 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 20 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for geological & earth sciences students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 649 bachelor's degrees in geological & earth sciences during the 2022-2023 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Geological & Earth Sciences School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The geology bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality geology program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to geological & earth sciences students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of geological & earth sciences students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How much debt geological & earth sciences 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 geological & earth sciences related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for geological & earth sciences students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Geological & Earth Sciences Schools
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 Geological & Earth Sciences Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.
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 Bachelor’s Students to Study Geological & Earth Sciences in the Great Lakes Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences.
10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Geology
University of Wisconsin - Madison is a great option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences. UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the large city of Madison.
Bachelor's recipients from the geological & earth sciences program at University of Wisconsin - Madison make $4,102 above the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from University of Wisconsin - Madison
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences needs to take a look at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Geological & Earth Sciences bachelor's degree recipients from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor get an earnings boost of approximately $7,008 over the typical earnings of geological & earth sciences majors.
More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ohio State University - Main Campus is a great decision for students interested in a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences. Located in the large city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population.
Those geological & earth sciences students who get their bachelor's degree from Ohio State University - Main Campus make $2,190 more than the typical geology grad.
More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from Ohio State University - Main Campus
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in geological & earth sciences needs to take a look at Michigan State University. Michigan State is a fairly large public university located in the city of East Lansing.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the geology program report average early career income of $39,997.
More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from Michigan State University
UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Champaign.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the geology program earn an average of $38,867 in their early career salary.
More information about a bachelor’s in geological & earth sciences from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
