Graduate school can be a great investment in your future, but with so many choices, it might feel difficult to find the right fit for you. This list is a great place to start your grad school search! The following colleges and universities are located in the Midwestern and Western part of the United States and offer advanced programs that can help you jump-start, accelerate, or change the direction of your career. If you’re not from the area, all of these institutions offer fully online program options as well. We make it easy to request more information from these grad schools too. If something sounds interesting, just click the “Connect me” button underneath each school—then they'll reach out to you. You may have never heard of some of these grad schools before, but they could be the perfect match for you and your educational goals. Learn more about them now!
Ashland University
Ashland University is a church-affiliated liberal arts university with a 120-acre campus in Ashland, Ohio—60 miles southwest of Cleveland. AU offers graduate programs in American History & Government, Applied Exercise Science, Corporate & Strategic Communication, Education, and Leadership Studies as well as an MBA, an MFA in Creative Writing, and the Ashland Theological Seminary. Students may also pursue the new 1 Year International MBA, a program that grants a Master of Business Administration in one year and offers travel opportunities around the world through two international study tours.
Holy Names University
Holy Names University is a church-affiliated liberal arts institution on a 60-acre campus in Oakland, California. The University offers rigorous academic programs in Psychology, Business Administration, Education, Nursing, and more, along with small class sizes and personalized faculty mentorship. Holy Names also offers generous scholarships to graduate students, including partnership discounts with local businesses, educational institutions, and health care providers.
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology is a private institution with a 128-acre campus located three miles south of Chicago's Loop in Chicago, Illinois. Illinois Tech offers traditional master’s and doctoral programs (thesis required), professional master’s programs (no thesis required), dozens of certificate specializations, dual-degree options, short-term executive and professional packages, and both hybrid and fully online programs. Schools and colleges include Engineering, Architecture, Science, Human Sciences, Applied Technology, and Business.
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Lawrence Technological University
Lawrence Technological University is a private university with a 107-acre campus located in Southfield, Michigan—20 miles from the center of Detroit. Students can choose from 100 innovative programs in the Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, and Engineering. Grad programs at Lawrence Tech are designed to help students balance all aspects of life—including work, home, and family—with flexible scheduling and project-based learning.
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Madonna University
Madonna University is an independent Catholic liberal arts university with a 97-acre campus west of Detroit in Livonia, Michigan. The University offers more than 30 master’s and doctoral degrees and 20 certificate programs. In addition, the Graduate School at Madonna doesn’t require GRE or GMAT test scores, and a variety of scholarships and aid are available, including endowment scholarships, government financial aid, graduate student assistance awards, and graduate housing awards.
Missouri Southern State University
Missouri Southern State University is a public liberal arts university on a 365-acre campus in Joplin, Missouri—68 miles west of Springfield. The University offers Master of Science degrees in Criminal Justice Administration, Education–Administration, Education–Curriculum & Instruction, and Management as well as a Master of Accountancy. MSSU offers some of their graduate degrees entirely online through partnerships with other highly respected schools including Missouri State University and University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Moody Theological Seminary
Moody Theological Seminary is a private evangelical bible graduate college located on Moody Bible Institute’s 25-acre campus in Chicago, Illinois. With 729 grad students on campus and online, the Seminary’s Bible-based graduate courses last eight weeks each and cost $460 per credit hour. Programs include a Master of Divinity; a Master of Arts in Biblical Spiritual Formation & Discipleship, Biblical Studies, Biblical & Theological Studies, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Ministry Leadership, or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL); and graduate certificates in Biblical Foundation, Biblical Spiritual Formation & Discipleship, Biblical Studies, Ministry Leadership, or TESOL.
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public comprehensive institution with a 1,800-acre campus in Athens, Ohio—75 miles southeast of Columbus. The University offers graduate and professional education, with advanced and specialized courses of study, supervised practical experience, and research opportunities. The Chronicle of Higher Education lists Ohio U among the top producers of Fulbright Award–winning students in the nation, and currently the University ranks among the top in the state for nationally competitive awards won by its students.
Pacific Lutheran University
Pacific Lutheran University is a private comprehensive church-affiliated university on a 156-acre campus in Tacoma, Washington. The University offers a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Science in Nursing (including a track for non-nurses), a Master of Arts in Education (for teacher certification), plus advanced degrees in Marriage & Family Therapy, Creative Writing, Finance, Kinesiology, Marketing, and more. Graduate students benefit from small classes for high-quality and personal learning experiences as well as practicum placements that meet local and national certification requirements.
Saint Louis University
Saint Louis University is a Jesuit, Catholic university with a 282-acre campus in St. Louis, Missouri. The University has more than 100 graduate and professional programs as well as two graduate programs that can be completed on SLU’s campus in Madrid, Spain. In addition to the Master of Arts in Political Science & Public Affairs and the Master of Arts in Spanish, SLU-Madrid also hosts summer programs for students pursuing graduate degrees in Law and Business.
University of Colorado Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a comprehensive public university on a 600-acre campus in Boulder, Colorado—27 miles northwest of Denver. Students can choose from 190 graduate programs across seven colleges and schools, including the Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Engineering and Applied Science; Media, Communication, and Information; Music; Law; Business; and Education. CU Boulder is one of the nation’s top-ranked Tier 1 research institutions that’s home to 12 research institutes and 75 research centers, plus a dynamic and diverse community of scholars and students that work together on hands-on, real-world projects that merge experience and academia.
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