If you pursue a master's degree in general business/commerce, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #28 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 15 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Business/Commerce Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 2,650 master's degrees in general business/commerce to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great General Business/Commerce School for Your Master's Degree
The general business master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on general business/commerce students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of general business/commerce students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for general business/commerce to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general business/commerce related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for general business/commerce students working on their master's degree.
The general business 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 General Business/Commerce Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region.
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Northwestern University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in general business/commerce. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the general business/commerce program at Northwestern University make $79,465 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in general business/commerce has to check out Indiana University - Bloomington. Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a very large student population.
Those general business/commerce students who get their master's degree from Indiana University - Bloomington earn $16,063 more than the average general business grad.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is a wonderful option for individuals interested in a master's degree in general business/commerce. UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Madison.
General Business/Commerce master's degree recipients from University of Wisconsin - Madison receive an earnings boost of around $17,839 above the average income of general business/commerce graduates.
Michigan State University is a wonderful decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in general business/commerce. Michigan State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of East Lansing.
General Business/Commerce master's degree recipients from Michigan State University get an earnings boost of approximately $24,567 above the average earnings of general business/commerce majors.
IUPUI is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Indianapolis.
Those general business/commerce students who get their master's degree from Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis make $7,989 more than the average general business student.
GVSU is a very large public university located in the town of Allendale.
Master's recipients from the general business/commerce program at Grand Valley State University make $3,040 above the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
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).
The general business master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
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