2024 Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southeast Region
75Colleges in the Southeast Region
8,508Design Degrees Awarded
$31,342Avg Early-Career Salary
Ranked #36 in popularity, design & applied arts is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 75 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 8,508 degrees in design & applied arts during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Your choice of design & applied arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Design & Applied Arts School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Southeast Region list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
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Best Schools for Design & Applied Arts in the Southeast Region
The schools below may not offer all types of design degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student pursuing a degree in design & applied arts needs to check out University of Florida. UF is a very large public university located in the city of Gainesville. A Best Colleges rank of #58 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UF is a great university overall.
There were approximately 87 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent data year. Those design & applied arts students who get their degree from University of Florida make $11,925 more than the standard design student.
Every student who is interested in design & applied arts needs to check out Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the city of Blacksburg. A Best Colleges rank of #62 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Virginia Tech is a great school overall.
There were roughly 62 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Virginia Tech in the most recent data year. Those design & applied arts students who get their degree from Virginia Tech receive $18,076 more than the typical design graduate.
Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in design & applied arts. Georgia Tech is a very large public school located in the city of Atlanta. A Best Colleges rank of #24 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Georgia Tech is a great school overall.
There were about 73 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Georgia Tech in the most recent year we have data available. Design & Applied Arts degree recipients from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of about $16,857 above the average earnings of design & applied arts graduates.
Auburn University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in design & applied arts. Located in the small city of Auburn, Auburn is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #154 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Auburn is a great university overall.
There were approximately 133 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Auburn in the most recent year we have data available. Design & Applied Arts degree recipients from Auburn University receive an earnings boost of around $6,520 over the typical income of design & applied arts majors.
Located in the medium-sized city of Savannah, SCAD is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
There were roughly 1069 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at SCAD in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the design & applied arts major at Savannah College of Art and Design earn $3,073 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
VCU is a fairly large public university located in the city of Richmond. This university ranks 7th out of 63 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 315 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at VCU in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the design program state that they receive average early career income of $29,473.
Located in the large city of Raleigh, NC State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #92 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means NC State is a great university overall.
There were about 82 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at NC State in the most recent year we have data available. Design & Applied Arts degree recipients from North Carolina State University receive an earnings boost of approximately $11,351 above the average earnings of design & applied arts majors.
Located in the large city of New Orleans, Tulane is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #78 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Tulane is a great university overall.
There were about 2 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Tulane in the most recent data year.
Clemson is a very large public university located in the suburb of Clemson. A Best Colleges rank of #107 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Clemson is a great university overall.
There were about 99 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Clemson in the most recent data year. Those design & applied arts students who get their degree from Clemson University make $10,366 more than the typical design graduate.
Florida State is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Tallahassee. A Best Colleges rank of #121 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Florida State is a great university overall.
There were about 48 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Florida State in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the design & applied arts program at Florida State University earn $13,196 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
UARK is a very large public university located in the small city of Fayetteville. A Best Colleges rank of #198 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UARK is a great university overall.
There were approximately 51 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at UARK in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the design & applied arts major at University of Arkansas get $15,472 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
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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 Schools in the Southeast Region award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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).
college factual
Your choice of design & applied arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Design & Applied Arts School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
