The List of All U.S Colleges With a Hotel, Restaurant, & Institutional Management/Hospitality Management Major
If you dream of owning your own restaurant one day, or are interested in working in a tourist destination city, then majoring in Hotel, Restaurant, & Institutional Management/Hospitality Management might be the right choice for you.
Given the somewhat wordy name for this major, we’re going to shorten it to “hospitality” for the remainder of this post, but just know that there is a lot of variety in this major and many subspecialties to choose from! Read on to learn what this major has to offer, and how to improve your chances of getting into your dream school.
Why Study Hotel, Restaurant, & Institutional Management/Hospitality Management in College?
When you choose to study Hospitality, you will learn and practice the skills you’ll need to enter the exciting hospitality industry. As we mentioned earlier, many colleges that offer this major will allow you to further specialize within that major. For example, you could be studying any of the following:
- Restaurant and food service management
- Hotel management (the “classic” form of hospitality management)
- Event planning
- Tourism and travel
- Entertainment management
These aren’t your only options, either. In fact, you’ll have the chance to work in just about any industry that involves how people typically spend their time outside of work.
Closely related to business degrees, hospitality degrees prepare students with an understanding of the unique qualities of the hospitality industry, where services are emphasized over physical products. Students master the basic skills related to their specialization as they prepare for more managerial roles. For example, many students specializing in restaurant and food service take classes about food standards and learn how to store and prepare foods in sanitary ways.
With its emphasis on practical skills, many hospitality majors seek out internships to gain the necessary level of work experience so that they can enter the workforce with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.
This major is especially popular in cities where tourism and hospitality are huge contributors to the local economy. Living in Orlando, I can assure you that hospitality is extremely relevant here, given the number of theme parks and related hotels, resorts, and restaurants that serve the large volume of tourists each year.
Even outside of hot tourist destinations, hospitality majors may find themselves working as event planners, travel agents, or in the restaurants and hotels in their own city. Hospitality tends to appeal to students with an entrepreneurial spirit, and your classes will show you what it takes to run a successful hospitality business of any kind.
In order to succeed in this industry and enjoy your major, you’ll need to be extremely detail-oriented, and it’s best if you enjoy working with people on a daily basis. If you are an outgoing, energetic, and pragmatic individual, chances are you’ll thrive in the hospitality major.
How Can You Increase Your Chances of Acceptance?
When creating your school list as a prospective Hospitality major, it’s probably more important that you think about where you may want to live and work after you graduate college than it is for other majors. Most students end up working in the same city where they attended college, so choosing a school based on the location matters.
Since internships play a huge role in most hospitality curriculums, the location of your school can help you make connections more easily. Your school’s location can also enable you to pursue internships during the spring and fall semesters concurrently with your classes in addition to the more typical summer internships, allowing you even more valuable work experience.
While it’s helpful to pick a school that is located near companies where you want to work (such as theme parks or hotel chains), you should also take into consideration your chances of getting into that school. To do that, start by looking at what’s called the freshman profile, or the “Class of ___ Profile.” The freshman profile highlights the average GPA and test scores of the admitted freshmen from the previous year; the closer you are to these scores, the better your chances.
If you choose to work with a company like CollegeVine, we can give you personalized guidance that takes into account where you are in high school and your academic or professional goals. For 9th and 10th graders, we focus on optimizing your profiles by recommending classes and extracurriculars that will prepare you for college. For 11th and 12th graders, we get down to the nuts and bolts of developing strong application materials and put together a strong school list where you’ll know your exact chance of getting in.
Ultimately, by creating a strong school list, doing well in your classes, and pursuing activities that are aligned with your academic and professional goals, you’ll be able to increase your chances of getting into your dream school.
Which Colleges Have a Hotel, Restaurant, & Institutional Management/Hospitality Management Major?
We’ve researched hundreds of schools to put together the ultimate list of every college with a hospitality major:
Appalachian State University
Arkansas Tech University | ATU
Ashland University
Auburn University
Auburn University at Montgomery | AUM
Austin Peay State University | APSU
Beacon College
Boston University | BU
Bradley University
Broward College
California Lutheran University | CLU
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona | Cal Poly Pomona
California State University, Dominguez Hills | CSUDH
California State University, East Bay | CSU East Bay
California State University, Long Beach | Long Beach State
California State University, Monterey Bay | CSUMB
California State University, Sacramento | Sacramento State
Cazenovia College
Central Connecticut State University | CCSU
Central Michigan University | CMU
Central Washington University | CWU
Charleston Southern University | CSU
Coastal Carolina University | Coastal
College of Charleston
College of Coastal Georgia | CCGA
College of the Ozarks
Colorado Mesa University
Colorado State University | CSU
Concordia University Ann Arbor
Concordia University Wisconsin | CUW
Cornell University
Dallas Baptist University | DBU
Daytona State College
Delaware State University | Del State
DePaul University
Drexel University
East Carolina University | ECU
East Coast Polytechnic Institute | ECPI University
East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania | ESU
Eastern Connecticut State University | ECSU
Eastern Illinois University | EIU
Eastern Michigan University | EMU
Eastern New Mexico University | ENMU
Endicott College
Fairleigh Dickinson University | FDU
Ferris State University
Fisher College
Flagler College
Florida Atlantic University | FAU
Florida Gulf Coast University | FGCU
Florida International University | FIU
Florida Memorial University
Florida State College at Jacksonville | FSCJ
Fort Hays State University | FHSU
Grace College & Seminary
Graceland University
Grand Canyon University | GCU
Grand Valley State University | GVSU
Green Mountain College
Gulf Coast State College | GCSC
Hampton University
Harris–Stowe State University
Hastings College
Hawaii Pacific University | HPU
Henderson State University | HSU
Husson University
Indian River State College | IRSC
Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis | IUPUI
Indiana University Kokomo | IU Kokomo
Indiana University of Pennsylvania | IUP
Indiana University South Bend | IU South Bend
James Madison University | JMU
Johnson & Wales University | JWU
Keiser University
Kendall College
Keystone College
Lakeland University
Lasell College | LC
Lewis–Clark State College
Lindenwood University
Lipscomb University
Madonna University
Mercyhurst University
Metropolitan State University of Denver | MSU Denver
Miami Dade College | MDC
Michigan State University
Middle Tennessee State University | MTSU
Milligan College
Minnesota State University Moorhead | MSUM
Missouri State University | MSU
Missouri Western State University
Mitchell College
Montana State University | MSU
Morgan State University
Mount Marty College
National American University | NAU
Nebraska Wesleyan University | NWU
Nevada State College | NSC
New School
New York City College of Technology | CUNY City Tech
New York Institute of Technology | NYIT
North Carolina A&T State University | N.C. A&T
North Carolina State University | NC State
Northeastern State University | NSU
Northern Arizona University | NAU
Northern Michigan University | NMU
Northwest Florida State College | NWFSC
Northwestern College
Notre Dame of Maryland University | NDMU
Nova Southeastern University | NSU
Nyack College
Oberlin College
Ohio Christian University | OCU
Oklahoma Baptist University | OBU
Pace University
Park University
Paul Smith’s College
Peninsula College
Pennsylvania College of Technology | Penn Tech
Pensacola State College
Pittsburg State University | PSU
Plymouth State University | PSU
Point Park University
Purdue University
Purdue University Fort Wayne | PFW
Purdue University Northwest | PNW
Rice University
Robert Morris University | RMU (Pennsylvania)
Rochester Institute of Technology | RIT
Roosevelt University
Saint Leo University
Salem State University
Sam Houston State University | SHSU
San Diego State University | SDSU
San Jose State University | SJSU
Seton Hill University
Sierra Nevada College | SNC
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania | SRU
South Dakota State University
South Florida State College | SFSC
South Seattle College | SSC
Southeast Missouri State University | SEMO
Southeastern Oklahoma State University | SOSU
Southern Adventist University
Southern Illinois University Carbondale | SIU
Southern New Hampshire University | SNHU
Southern Utah University | SUU
Southwest Minnesota State University | SMSU
Southwestern Assemblies of God University | SAGU
Springfield College
St. Augustine College
St. Augustine’s University
St. Cloud State University | SCSU
St. Thomas Aquinas College | STAC
State University of New York at Delhi | SUNY Delhi
State University of New York at Morrisville | SUNY Morrisville
State University of New York at Oneonta | SUNY Oneonta
State University of New York at Plattsburgh | SUNY Plattsburgh
Stephen F. Austin State University | SFA
Stockton University
Strayer University
Sullivan University
Temple University
Tennessee State University | TSU
The Ohio State University | OSU
Troy University (Alabama)
Tuskegee University
University of Alabama
University of Alaska Anchorage | UAA
University of Bridgeport
University of Central Florida | UCF
University of Delaware
University of Denver
University of Hawaii–West Oahu | UHWO
University of Houston
University of Louisiana at Lafayette | UL Lafayette
University of Maryland Eastern Shore | UMES
University of Massachusetts Amherst | UMass Amherst
University of Memphis
University of Minnesota Crookston | UMC
University of Mississippi | Ole Miss
University of Missouri | Mizzou
University of Montana
University of Nebraska–Lincoln | UNL
University of Nevada, Las Vegas | UNLV
University of New Hampshire | UNH
University of New Orleans | UNO
University of North Alabama | UNA
University of North Carolina at Greensboro | UNC Greensboro
University of North Carolina at Pembroke | UNC Pembroke
University of North Carolina at Wilmington | UNC Wilmington
University of North Texas at Dallas | UNTD
University of South Carolina Beaufort | USCB
University of Southern Maine | USM
University of Southern Mississippi | Southern Miss
University of Tennessee
University of the Southwest
University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point | UW–Stevens Point
University of Wisconsin–Stout | UW–Stout
University of Wisconsin–Superior | UW–Superior
Utah Valley University | UVU
Virginia State University | VSU
Virginia Tech
Warner University
Washington State University | WSU
Webber International University | WIU
West Virginia University | WVU
West Virginia University at Parkersburg
Western Carolina University | WCU
Western Illinois University | WIU
Western Kentucky University | WKU
Widener University
Wiley College
Wilkes University
Winston-Salem State University | WSSU
Youngstown State University
How We Help Students Improve Their Chances
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For more advice on improving your admissions chances, check out these posts:
What Does a Rigorous High School Schedule Look Like?
What is a Good, Bad, and Excellent SAT Score? Here’s How to Think About It.
