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Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools

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2023 Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools

98 Colleges
$52,263 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 1,979 people earned a degree or certificate in design and applied arts, making the major the #91 most popular in the United States.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools ranking. This report analyzed 98 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best master's degree programs for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the United States

The following schools top our list of the Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Colleges.

Top 15% Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools

#1

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

Our 2023 rankings named University of Notre Dame the best school in the United States for design and applied arts students working on their master’s degree. Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Notre Dame.

Full Design & Applied Arts at University of Notre Dame Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Illinois Institute of Technology. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools list. Illinois Tech is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Illinois Institute of Technology

Out of the 98 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public school with a very large student population.

Full Design & Applied Arts at Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus Report

#4

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Carnegie Mellon University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Carnegie Mellon University

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means The University of Texas at Austin is a great place for design and applied arts students working on their master’s degree. UT Austin is a very large public school located in the large city of Austin.

Read More…

With a ranking of #6, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute did quite well on this year’s best schools for design and applied arts students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Troy, RPI is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

Read More…

#7

American University

Washington, DC

American University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree design and applied arts programs. The American University is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Washington.

Full Design & Applied Arts at American University Report

#8

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

Purdue University - Main Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for design and applied arts students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Purdue is a very large public school located in the small city of West Lafayette.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Purdue University - Main Campus

#9

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Northwestern University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools list. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Evanston.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Northwestern University

Oklahoma State University - Main Campus came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools ranking. OSU is a very large public school located in the town of Stillwater.

Read More…

#11

Clemson University

Clemson, SC

Clemson University came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Clemson is a very large public school located in the large suburb of Clemson.

Full Design & Applied Arts at Clemson University Report

University of Washington - Seattle Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for design and applied arts students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #12 on the list. Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public college with a very large student population.

Read More…

#13

Boston University

Boston, MA

Boston University ranked #13 on this year’s Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools list. Boston U is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Boston.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Boston University

#14

University of Delaware

Newark, DE

University of Delaware came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools ranking. UD is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Newark.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at University of Delaware

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
15 University of Wisconsin - Stout Menomonie, WI
16 Iowa State University Ames, IA
17 Syracuse University Syracuse, NY
18 University of Kentucky Lexington, KY
19 Washington University in St Louis Saint Louis, MO

Design & Applied Arts by Region

View the Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

Design & Applied Arts is one of 9 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Music 7,675
Fine & Studio Arts 3,224
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,704
Drama & Theater Arts 1,699
Arts & Media Management 1,184

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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