🎓

Best Colleges for Design & Applied Arts

50 Design & Applied Arts programs ranked by real graduate earnings, debt, and completion — from the College Scorecard Field-of-Study data.

⚡Quick answer

For Design & Applied Arts, University of Washington-Seattle Campus (Washington) ranks #1 by our outcome score, with median graduate earnings of $89,193. Rankings reflect earnings, debt, and completion — not reputation or cost — across 50 programs with published outcome data.

#	School	Credential	Median earnings	Median debt	Completers	Score
1	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$89,193	$12,250	38	93
2	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$89,022	$18,000	55	92
3	The New School New York, NY	Associate's Degree	$66,896	$14,750	101	89
4	San Jose State University San Jose, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$93,917	—	229	88.9
5	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN	Bachelor's Degree	$83,414	$19,250	28	88.3
6	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX	Bachelor's Degree	$69,846	$18,000	48	88.2
7	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$66,435	$16,500	114	88
8	Western Washington University Bellingham, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$69,715	$19,833	60	87.9
9	Washington University in St Louis Saint Louis, MO	Bachelor's Degree	$67,771	$19,089	62	86.9
10	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL	Bachelor's Degree	$73,888	$22,625	46	86.5
11	Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA	Bachelor's Degree	$138,588	$24,500	31	86.2
12	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA	Bachelor's Degree	$72,213	$23,900	70	85.9
13	University of California-Davis Davis, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$62,209	$14,924	244	85.8
14	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL	Bachelor's Degree	$65,186	$18,178	100	85.5
15	Boston University Boston, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$72,809	$21,000	25	85.3
16	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA	Bachelor's Degree	$95,697	$26,354	75	85
17	Northeastern University Boston, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$87,336	$25,500	53	84.9
18	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus Cincinnati, OH	Bachelor's Degree	$71,605	$25,500	219	84.7
19	Chapman University Orange, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$78,121	$23,823	32	84.6
20	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$87,358	$25,000	41	84.6
21	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH	Bachelor's Degree	$68,151	$21,694	42	84.5
22	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$66,259	$19,000	38	84.3
23	Rhode Island School of Design Providence, RI	Master's Degree	$93,136	—	—	84.1
24	Miami Ad School Miami, FL	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$90,812	—	—	83.9
25	Miami Ad School-San Francisco	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$90,812	—	—	83.9
26	Miami Ad School-New York Astoria, NY	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$90,812	—	—	83.9
27	University of Florida Gainesville, FL	Bachelor's Degree	$65,656	$19,839	51	83.8
28	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI	Bachelor's Degree	$65,874	$17,875	31	83.7
29	Lawrence Technological University Southfield, MI	Bachelor's Degree	$99,444	—	20	83.6
30	The Creative Circus	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$84,233	$25,714	34	83
31	Clemson University Clemson, SC	Bachelor's Degree	$66,150	$23,250	84	82.7
32	University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR	Bachelor's Degree	$65,780	$22,750	71	82.5
33	Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL	Master's Degree	$144,324	—	11	82.3
34	Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX	Bachelor's Degree	$68,313	—	52	81.9
35	University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$66,333	—	114	81.8
36	San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$59,678	$15,000	194	81.6
37	University of Redlands Redlands, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$75,374	—	22	81.5
38	Massachusetts College of Art and Design Boston, MA	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$71,901	—	26	81.3
39	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN	Bachelor's Degree	$62,414	$22,500	123	81.3
40	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC	Bachelor's Degree	$61,382	$19,500	65	80.8
41	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN	Non-Credential Program (Preparatory Coursework/Teacher Certification)	$70,550	—	—	80.6
42	Norwich University Northfield, VT	Master's Degree	$70,269	—	—	80.5
43	Bellevue College Bellevue, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$67,797	—	41	80.5
44	Washington State University Pullman, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$69,224	$24,604	28	80.3
45	Seattle Pacific University Seattle, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$68,547	$25,000	35	80.2
46	Miami Ad School-Atlanta Atlanta, GA	Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma	$90,812	—	4	80
47	Liberty University Lynchburg, VA	Master's Degree	$112,935	$30,991	79	80
48	Weber State University Ogden, UT	Bachelor's Degree	$62,281	$20,500	34	79.6
49	Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH	Bachelor's Degree	$67,981	$26,000	59	79.5
50	University of Houston Houston, TX	Bachelor's Degree	$64,612	$24,000	51	79.3

🔍 Filter Design & Applied Arts by state & degree level →

💎

Hidden Gems for Design & Applied Arts

Lower-profile schools with a genuinely strong outcome score for Design & Applied Arts — the famous brand names and mega-flagships are deliberately filtered out.

#	School	Median earnings	Admit rate	Score
1	Miami Ad School Miami, FL Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$90,812	—	83.9
2	Miami Ad School-San Francisco Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$90,812	—	83.9
3	Miami Ad School-New York Astoria, NY Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$90,812	—	83.9
4	The Creative Circus Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$84,233	—	83
5	University of Redlands Redlands, CA Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$75,374	83%	81.5
6	Massachusetts College of Art and Design Boston, MA Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$71,901	76%	81.3
7	Norwich University Northfield, VT Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$70,269	74%	80.5
8	Bellevue College Bellevue, WA Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$67,797	—	80.5
9	Seattle Pacific University Seattle, WA Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$68,547	83%	80.2
10	Miami Ad School-Atlanta Atlanta, GA Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$90,812	—	80
11	University of Denver Denver, CO Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$69,251	78%	79.1
12	Belmont University Nashville, TN Strong Design & Applied Arts outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$58,314	95%	78.6

Hidden Gems use the same College Scorecard outcome score, then drop the pool’s most-selective brands (bottom-quartile admit rate) and largest campuses (top-quartile enrollment). Schools that don’t report admit rate or enrollment are not dropped by that guard.

How we ranked this

Programs are scored 0–100 within the Design & Applied Arts field (CIP 50.04) using three College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (weighted 70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, inverted so lower debt scores higher), and completer count (10%, log-scaled). Each input is percentile-ranked against the other Design & Applied Arts programs, so the score is robust to outliers and comparable across schools. Programs with no published earnings are excluded — never given a fabricated number. This is the same engine that powers our interactive Major Rankings. Minimum 5 scorable programs required to publish.

Frequently asked questions

Which college has the best Design & Applied Arts program?+

By our outcome score, University of Washington-Seattle Campus (Washington) ranks #1 for Design & Applied Arts, with median graduate earnings of $89,193.

How are these Design & Applied Arts programs ranked?+

Each program gets a 0–100 outcome score from three real College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, lower is better), and completer count (10%). Programs are compared within the major so the score reflects the best schools for this field specifically.

Where does the earnings and debt data come from?+

The U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field-of-Study file, which publishes median earnings and median debt by institution and major (4-digit CIP). Figures are post-graduation medians; programs without published earnings are not scored and are omitted from this ranking.

Can I filter Design & Applied Arts programs by state or degree level?+

Yes. This page shows the national top programs; use the interactive Major Rankings tool to filter the same data by state, and by credential level (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral).

Keep exploring

🔍 Design & Applied Arts rankings (filterable)🎓 All major rankings 🏫 Browse colleges 🆓 Tuition-free colleges ⭐ All Best-Of guides

Data sources: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (Field of Study) · IPEDS Completions. Figures are the most recent values published in each federal dataset; cells with no published value are shown as “—” and never estimated. CertiHomes Education does not sell rankings or accept placement fees.