2024 Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region
74Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
5,430Design Degrees Awarded
$33,626Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a degree in design & applied arts, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #36 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 74 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 5,430 degrees in design & applied arts during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Your choice of design & applied arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for design & applied arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each 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.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Translate your creative ideas through concept, design and digital media with a bachelor's in graphic design online from Southern New Hampshire University.
Take the first step toward a career of visual expression and doing what you love with this online associate degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Learn to create a striking portfolio and hone the skills you need to succeed in the world of professional photography with this online digital photography degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Best Schools for Design & Applied Arts in the Great Lakes Region
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the design degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It's hard to beat University of Notre Dame if you wish to pursue a degree in design & applied arts. Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Notre Dame. A Best Colleges rank of #20 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.
There were roughly 29 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the design & applied arts major at University of Notre Dame get $20,924 more than the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
University of Cincinnati - Main Campus is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #166 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 227 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at UC in the most recent data year. Design & Applied Arts degree recipients from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of around $16,522 over the average income of design & applied arts graduates.
Every student pursuing a degree in design & applied arts has to look into University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. UIUC is a very large public university located in the small city of Champaign. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 100 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year. Those design & applied arts students who get their degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign make $10,727 more than the typical design graduate.
Michigan State University is a good option for students pursuing a degree in design & applied arts. Michigan State is a very large public university located in the small city of East Lansing. A Best Colleges rank of #74 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were about 110 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the design & applied arts major at Michigan State University make $3,680 more than the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the city of Madison. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were about 92 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent data year. Design & Applied Arts degree recipients from University of Wisconsin - Madison get an earnings boost of about $10,058 over the average earnings of design & applied arts majors.
Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were roughly 65 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available. Design & Applied Arts degree recipients from Purdue University - Main Campus earn a boost of about $8,579 over the typical income of design & applied arts graduates.
Located in the large city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #69 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 42 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Those design & applied arts students who get their degree from Ohio State University - Main Campus earn $6,653 more than the typical design student.
Located in the distant town of Menomonie, UW - Stout is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 11th out of 46 schools for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were approximately 149 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at UW - Stout in the most recent data year. Those design & applied arts students who get their degree from University of Wisconsin - Stout make $5,952 more than the standard design grad.
Columbia is a medium-sized private not-for-profit college located in the large city of Chicago. This college ranks 16th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 239.00000000000003 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the design program earn an average of $29,065 for their early career.
Located in the fringe town of Oxford, Miami University - Oxford is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #116 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Miami University - Oxford is a great university overall.
There were approximately 62 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Miami University - Oxford in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the design & applied arts program at Miami University - Oxford make $5,666 above the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the suburb of Kent, Kent State is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 14th out of 96 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 271 design & applied arts students who graduated with this degree at Kent State in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the design program make about $35,399 for their early career.
Get on the right path to the fast-paced, exciting world of video game art and design with this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Learn the cutting-edge skills to become a player in the multimedia design world with this specialized online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Gain a solid grounding in your online web design classes and exercise your creative muscle with this specialized online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Here are some additional great schools for Design & Applied Arts students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Great Lakes 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).
Your choice of design & applied arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for design & applied arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
