2025 Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #120 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual reviewed 6 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of specialized sales, merchandising & marketing. Combined, these schools handed out 399 bachelor's degrees in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The specialized marketing bachelor'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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 specialized sales, merchandising & marketing students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of specialized sales, merchandising & marketing students who choose to seek a bachelor'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 much debt specialized sales, merchandising & marketing students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized specialized sales, merchandising & marketing related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for specialized sales, merchandising & marketing students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing in the Great Lakes Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing.

Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Specialized Marketing

1

Northwood University
Midland, MI

35 Annual Graduates

$64,100 Median Starting Salary

$40,707 Median Student Debt

It is hard to beat Northwood University if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing. Located in the city of Midland, Northwood is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Those specialized sales, merchandising & marketing students who get their bachelor's degree from Northwood University make $25,949 more than the average specialized marketing grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing from Northwood University

2

Kent State University at Kent
Kent, OH

232 Annual Graduates

$36,625 Median Starting Salary

$31,105 Median Student Debt

Kent State University at Kent is a good option for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing. Located in the suburb of Kent, Kent State is a public university with a very large student population.

Soon after graduating, specialized marketing bachelor's recipients typically earn about $36,625 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing from Kent State University at Kent

3

Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI

24 Annual Graduates

$29,203 Median Starting Salary

$24,833 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing needs to check out Central Michigan University. Located in the town of Mount Pleasant, Central Michigan is a public university with a large student population.

Soon after graduating, specialized marketing bachelor's recipients generally make an average of $29,203 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing from Central Michigan University

4

Ferris State University
Big Rapids, MI

17 Annual Graduates

$46,695 Median Starting Salary

Ferris State University is a wonderful choice for students interested in a bachelor's degree in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing. Ferris is a moderately-sized public university located in the remote town of Big Rapids.

Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing bachelor's degree recipients from Ferris State University get an earnings boost of approximately $8,544 over the typical income of specialized sales, merchandising & marketing graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing from Ferris State University

5

Ball State University
Muncie, IN

26 Annual Graduates

$35,904 Median Starting Salary

Located in the small city of Muncie, Ball State is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the specialized marketing program earn about $35,904 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing from Ball State University

6

Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI

24 Annual Graduates

$28,765 Median Starting Salary

WMU is a large public university located in the small city of Kalamazoo.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the specialized marketing program earn around $28,765 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in specialized sales, merchandising & marketing from Western Michigan University

Best Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Colleges by State

Explore the best specialized sales, merchandising & marketing colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	261	173
Ohio	252	291
Illinois	241	22
Indiana	235	28
Wisconsin	213	12

View All Rankings >

Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing Related Rankings by Major

Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing is one of 21 different types of Business, Management & Marketing programs to choose from.

Specialized Marketing Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Fashion Merchandising	352
Vehicle and Vehicle Parts and Accessories Marketing Operations	27
Hospitality and Recreation Marketing Operations	17
Tourism and Travel Services Marketing Operations	3

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Business Administration & Management	15,832
Finance & Financial Management	9,072
Marketing	8,377
Accounting	6,561
General Business/Commerce	4,945
Human Resource Management	1,877
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	1,868
Management Information Systems	1,255
Hospitality Management	779
Construction Management	636

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 Qfamily. More about our data sources and methodologies.