If you pursue a degree in film/cinema/media studies, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #142 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 126 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Film/Cinema/Media Studies Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 5,479 degrees in film/cinema/media studies to qualified students.
The film studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Film/Cinema/Media Studies rankings. For our Best Overall Film/Cinema/Media Studies 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.
Film/Cinema/Media Studies Rankings by Degree Level
The film studies school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Film/Cinema/Media Studies Schools.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Film/Cinema/Media Studies in the United States
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the film studies degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
University of Southern California is a wonderful option for students interested in a degree in film/cinema/media studies. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were about 106 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available.
It's difficult to beat Emory University if you wish to pursue a degree in film/cinema/media studies. Emory is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Atlanta. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Emory is a great university overall.
There were about 40 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Emory in the most recent data year.
Any student pursuing a degree in film/cinema/media studies needs to look into Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were approximately 21 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year.
Northwestern University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in film/cinema/media studies. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were roughly 6 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 32nd out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 10 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Chapman in the most recent year we have data available.
WUSTL is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Saint Louis. A Best Colleges rank of #17 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means WUSTL is a great university overall.
There were approximately 11 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at WUSTL in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were approximately 88 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent year we have data available.
UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #26 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were approximately 121 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year.
Yale is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of New Haven. A Best Colleges rank of #8 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Yale is a great university overall.
There were approximately 24 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Yale in the most recent data year.
Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were about 88 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year.
UCSB is a fairly large public university located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara. This university ranks 10th out of 168 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 166 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent data year.
UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the city of Seattle. This university ranks 1st out of 51 schools for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were roughly 68 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent year we have data available.
Carnegie Mellon is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Pittsburgh. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.
There were approximately 1 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 15th out of 168 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 175 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UC Irvine in the most recent year we have data available.
UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia. A Best Colleges rank of #4 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.
There were roughly 20 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UPenn in the most recent data year.
Located in the remote town of Hanover, Dartmouth is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #25 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Dartmouth is a great college overall.
There were roughly 18 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Dartmouth in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. This university ranks 20th out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 15 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Loyola Marymount in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Provo, BYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 13 colleges for overall quality in the state of Utah.
There were about 48 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at BYU in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the suburb of Easton, Lafayette is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 9th out of 109 schools for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were approximately 17 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Lafayette in the most recent data year.
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).
The film studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Film/Cinema/Media Studies rankings. For our Best Overall Film/Cinema/Media Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
