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Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

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2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

66 Colleges
$28,979 Avg Salary
$24,973 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor's Degree School for You

Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is the #15 most popular major in the country with 73,813 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. This report analyzed 66 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to see which ones offered the best bachelor's degree programs for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor's Degree Colleges.

Top 10 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools

#1

Syracuse University

Syracuse, NY

Our analysis found Syracuse University to be the best school for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the Middle Atlantic Region . Syracuse is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Syracuse.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Syracuse University Report

#2

Seton Hall University

South Orange, NJ

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Seton Hall University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Located in the suburb of South Orange, Seton Hall is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Seton Hall University Report

#3

McDaniel College

Westminster, MD

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend McDaniel College. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Located in the suburb of Westminster, McDaniel is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at McDaniel College

The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at St. Joseph’s College - New York helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in the Middle Atlantic Region . SJC is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Brooklyn.

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#5

St. John Fisher College

Rochester, NY

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend St. John Fisher College. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Located in the suburb of Rochester, Fisher is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at St. John Fisher College Report

#6

Robert Morris University

Moon Township, PA

Robert Morris University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best bachelor’s degree parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. RMU is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Moon Township.

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#7

Drexel University

Philadelphia, PA

Drexel University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Located in the city of Philadelphia, Drexel is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

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With a ranking of #8, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania did quite well on this year’s best schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their bachelor’s degree. SRU is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Slippery Rock.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

University of Maryland - College Park did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the suburb of College Park, UMCP is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Maryland - College Park Report

#10

Towson University

Towson, MD

Towson University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best bachelor’s degree parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. Located in the small city of Towson, Towson is a public school with a very large student population.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Towson University Report

Honorable Mentions

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 Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region award.

Rank College Location
11 Howard University Washington, DC
12 University of Delaware Newark, DE
13 California University of Pennsylvania California, PA

Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic region.

State Degrees Awarded
New Jersey 1,047
Pennsylvania 2,734
New York 2,477
Maryland 832
Delaware 342
District of Columbia 319

Parks & Rec Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Health & Physical Education 67,146
Recreation Administration 3,122
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 3,106
Outdoor Education 265
Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 174

Related Major Annual Graduates
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 142,610
Public Administration & Social Service 98,583
Legal Professions 61,055
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 4,477

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to NPS Photo/Zurbuch.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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