Best Colleges by Major / Design and Applied Arts
Best Colleges for Design and Applied Arts 2025
20 schools ranked by graduate earnings — real data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Design and Applied Arts graduates are well-positioned for careers across multiple industries. The rankings below are based on actual graduate earnings data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings shown are median graduate earnings 4 years after graduation (or 1 year if 4-year data is unavailable), sourced from the College Scorecard.See full major data
Top 20 Design and Applied Arts Programs by Graduate Earnings
| # | School | Earnings | Tuition | Accept Rate | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA | $126,932 | $63,829 | 11% | 7,187 |
| 2 | Northeastern University Boston, MA | $81,078 | $63,141 | 6% | 15,719 |
| 3 | The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX | $76,309 | $42,778 | 29% | 42,100 |
| 4 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA | $74,666 | $32,876 | 16% | 18,260 |
| 5 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA | $71,597 | $41,997 | 43% | 31,588 |
| 6 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY | $71,567 | $61,884 | 58% | 5,909 |
| 7 | Art Center College of Design Pasadena, CA | $71,547 | $51,640 | 75% | 2,054 |
| 8 | Chapman University Orange, CA | $69,235 | $62,784 | 56% | 7,629 |
| 9 | University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA | $68,882 | $44,524 | 9% | 33,040 |
| 10 | Western Washington University Bellingham, WA | $68,445 | $27,853 | 91% | 13,574 |
| 11 | Seattle Pacific University Seattle, WA | $68,201 | $38,814 | 91% | 2,073 |
| 12 | Marist University Poughkeepsie, NY | $66,343 | $46,140 | 65% | 5,039 |
| 13 | University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN | $65,839 | $62,693 | 12% | 8,923 |
| 14 | University of Florida Gainesville, FL | $62,198 | $28,659 | 24% | 34,102 |
| 15 | Drexel University Philadelphia, PA | $62,097 | $60,663 | 78% | 13,509 |
| 16 | Wentworth Institute of Technology Boston, MA | $61,703 | $41,010 | 85% | 3,641 |
| 17 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA | $59,906 | $36,694 | 57% | 30,435 |
| 18 | California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA | $58,879 | $18,888 | 47% | 34,131 |
| 19 | Suffolk University Boston, MA | $58,843 | $45,380 | 85% | 4,434 |
| 20 | Pratt Institute-Main Brooklyn, NY | $58,684 | $59,683 | 53% | 3,766 |
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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA
Earnings: $59,906Tuition: $36,694Accept: 57%
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Explore All Design and Applied Arts Programs
See earnings data for all 290 schools offering Design and Applied Arts, including debt figures and graduate counts.
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