2025 Best Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #91 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 9 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 304 bachelor's degrees in ecology, evolution & systematics biology during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The ecology bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality ecology 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 much a school focuses on ecology, evolution & systematics biology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other ecology, evolution & systematics biology 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 ecology, evolution & systematics biology 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 ecology, evolution & systematics biology related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for ecology, evolution & systematics biology 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 Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology 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.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology in the Great Lakes Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for ecology, evolution & systematics biology students seeking a a bachelor's degree.

Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Ecology

1

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI

30 Annual Graduates

$22,844 Median Starting Salary

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the ecology program report average early career earnings of $22,844.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

2

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI

74 Annual Graduates

$28,856 Median Starting Salary

University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.

Those ecology, evolution & systematics biology students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Wisconsin - Madison earn $3,161 more than the typical ecology grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from University of Wisconsin - Madison

3

Indiana University - Bloomington
Bloomington, IN

16 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Indiana University - Bloomington if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology. IU Bloomington is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Bloomington.More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from Indiana University - Bloomington

4

Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI

35 Annual Graduates

$29,318 Median Starting Salary

It is hard to beat Michigan State University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in ecology, evolution & systematics biology. Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those ecology, evolution & systematics biology students who get their bachelor's degree from Michigan State University earn $3,623 more than the typical ecology student.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from Michigan State University

5

Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL

13 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from Loyola University Chicago

6

Purdue University - Main Campus
West Lafayette, IN

17 Annual Graduates

Purdue is a very large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette.More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from Purdue University - Main Campus

7

Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI

27 Annual Graduates

Central Michigan is a large public university located in the town of Mount Pleasant.More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from Central Michigan University

8

University of Dayton
Dayton, OH

21 Annual Graduates

$23,609 Median Starting Salary

UDayton is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Dayton.

After graduation, ecology bachelor's recipients generally earn an average of $23,609 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from University of Dayton

9

Ferris State University
Big Rapids, MI

11 Annual Graduates

Located in the town of Big Rapids, Ferris is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a bachelor’s in ecology, evolution & systematics biology from Ferris State University

Best Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology Colleges by State

Explore the best ecology, evolution & systematics biology schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	261	163
Ohio	252	32
Illinois	241	12
Indiana	235	46
Wisconsin	213	51

View All Rankings >

Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology Related Rankings by Major

One of 14 majors within the Biological & Biomedical Sciences area of study, Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Ecology Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Conservation Biology	99
Evolutionary Biology	85
Environmental Biology	81
Epidemiology	16
Ecology	12
Marine Biology	6
Aquatic Biology/Limnology	3
Evolutionary Biology	2

Most Popular Majors Related to Ecology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General Biology	10,572
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	2,551
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	1,980
Zoology	758
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	663
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	442
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other)	395
Microbiological Sciences & Immunology	263
Genetics	259
Botany/Plant Biology	100

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• 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 Ernst Haeckel. More about our data sources and methodologies.