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2025 Best Art History Schools in the Great Lakes Region

31 Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
406 Art History Degrees Awarded
Art History is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #192 most popular degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 31 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Art History Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 406 degrees in art history to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Art History School

Best Art History Schools in the Great Lakes Region Your choice of art history school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Art History 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.

Art History Rankings by Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Art History
Master's Degrees in Art History
Doctor's Degrees in Art History

The art history school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Art History Schools in the Great Lakes Region. 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.

If you want to learn more about how we derive our rankings, see College Factual's Methodology.

Best Schools for Art History in the Great Lakes Region

The schools below may not offer all types of art history degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Art History

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In MI
35 Art History Degrees Awarded

It's difficult to beat University of Michigan - Ann Arbor if you wish to pursue a degree in art history. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very 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 about 35 art history students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in art history from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In IL

Any student pursuing a degree in art history needs to check out Northwestern University. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.

There were roughly 12 art history students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in art history from Northwestern University

3
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In IN

University of Notre Dame is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in art history. Notre Dame is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the 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 approximately 7 art history students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in art history from University of Notre Dame

4
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In WI
46 Art History Degrees Awarded

University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in art history. UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the large 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 about 46 art history students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in art history from University of Wisconsin - Madison

5
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In OH
31.8% Growth in Graduates

Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #70 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.

There were roughly 22 art history students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in art history from Ohio State University - Main Campus

6
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In IN

Located in the small 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 approximately 13 art history students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in art history from Indiana University - Bloomington

7
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
4th Most Popular In IL

UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Champaign. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.

There were roughly 9 art history students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in art history from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

8
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In IL

Located in the city of Chicago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

There were roughly 22 art history students who graduated with this degree at School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in art history from School of the Art Institute of Chicago

9
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
9th Most Popular In IL
50.0% Growth in Graduates

Columbia is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the large city of Chicago. This college ranks 9th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.

There were about 6 art history students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in art history from Columbia College Chicago

10
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
7th Most Popular In OH

Located in the large city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 6th out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.

There were approximately 7 art history students who graduated with this degree at UC in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in art history from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

Best Art History Colleges by State

Explore the best art history colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Ohio 939 137
Michigan 915 74
Illinois 870 137
Indiana 737 47
Wisconsin 672 45

View All Rankings >

One of 13 majors within the Fine & Studio Arts area of study, Art History has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine Arts 2,050
Art Studies 1,552
Other Fine Arts & Art Studies 107
Painting 52
Intermedia/Multimedia 40
Drawing 37
Sculpture 23
Printmaking 21
Ceramic Arts & Ceramics 15
Jewelry Arts 9

View All Art History Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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