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Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools

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2023 Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools

25 Colleges

In 2020-2021, 73,813 people earned a degree or certificate in parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies, making the major the #15 most popular in the United States.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

The Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 25 schools in the United States to see which online graduate certificate programs were the most popular for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from schools with online programs.

The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Graduate Certificate Colleges.

#1

Western Kentucky University

Bowling Green, KY

Our analysis found Western Kentucky University to be the most popular school for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students who want to pursue an online graduate certificate in the United States. WKU is a large public school located in the city of Bowling Green.

Of the 42 students majoring in parks and rec at WKU, 62% are male and 38% are female.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Western Kentucky University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Missouri State University - Springfield. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the city of Springfield, Missouri State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Women make up 43% of the parks and rec majors at the school.

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Out of the 25 online programs at schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, American Public University System landed the # 3 spot on the list. American Military University is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the fringe town of Charles Town.

Of the 12 students majoring in parks and rec at American Military University, 83% are male and 17% are female.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at American Public University System

#4

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Liberty University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. Liberty University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Lynchburg.

Of the 11 students majoring in parks and rec at Liberty University, 55% are male and 45% are female.

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#5

East Carolina University

Greenville, NC

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend East Carolina University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. ECU is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Greenville.

Women make up 25% of the parks and rec majors at the school.

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California University of Pennsylvania did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the suburb of California, Cal U is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

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

University of Western States ranked #7 on this year’s Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the large city of Portland, Western States Chiropractic College is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Of the 3 students majoring in parks and rec at Western States Chiropractic College, 67% are male and 33% are female.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of Western States Report

Colorado State University - Fort Collins landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online graduate certificate parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. Located in the midsize city of Fort Collins, Colorado State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Of the 3 students majoring in parks and rec at Colorado State, 67% are male and 33% are female.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Colorado State University - Fort Collins

#7

University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY

University of Kentucky landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online graduate certificate parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies programs. UK is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Lexington.

Of the 8 students majoring in parks and rec at UK, 75% are male and 25% are female.

Read More…

#10

Drexel University

Philadelphia, PA

With a ranking of #10, Drexel University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students working on their online graduate certificate. Drexel is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Philadelphia.

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

View the Most Popular Online Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Graduate Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

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

Majors Similar to Parks & Rec

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.

  • 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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