2025 Best Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Ranked #34 in popularity,
music is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 54 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 2,245 bachelor's degrees in music to qualified students.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
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Featured Music Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
MBA in Music Business
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Learn More
Choosing a Great Music School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of music for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality music 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 many resources a school devotes to music students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other music students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
- 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 easy is it for music to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized music related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for music students working on their bachelor's degree.
One Size Does Not Fit All
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 Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.
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.
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Featured Music Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
MBA in Music Business
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Learn More
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Music in the Great Lakes Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in music. 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 Music
Northwestern University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in music. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.
Bachelor's recipients from the music program at Northwestern University make $5,641 above the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a bachelor’s in music from Northwestern University
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is a great decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in music. U-M is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the music program make around $22,272 in their early career salary.
More information about a bachelor’s in music from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Michigan State University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in music. Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those music students who get their bachelor's degree from Michigan State University receive $9,474 more than the average music grad.
More information about a bachelor’s in music from Michigan State University
It's hard to beat Indiana University - Bloomington if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in music. IU Bloomington is a fairly large public university located in the city of Bloomington.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the music program earn an average of $15,911 in the first couple years of working.
More information about a bachelor’s in music from Indiana University - Bloomington
Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in music from University of Notre Dame
UC is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Cincinnati.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the music program report average early career earnings of $12,875.
More information about a bachelor’s in music from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
After graduating, music bachelor's recipients usually make an average of $13,128 in the first five years of their career.
More information about a bachelor’s in music from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Located in the fringe town of Oberlin, Oberlin is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the music program state that they receive average early career earnings of $17,141.
More information about a bachelor’s in music from Oberlin College
Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbus.
After graduating, music bachelor's recipients usually earn about $26,084 in their early careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in music from Ohio State University - Main Campus
Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
After graduation, music bachelor's recipients generally earn an average of $19,155 in their early careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in music from DePaul University
