2024 Best Design & Applied Arts Doctor's Degree Schools

Design & Applied Artsdoctorate programs are on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of popularity. In fact, the major degree program ranks #249 out of the 306 majors we look at each year. While this may limit the number of schools that offer the degree program, there are still top-quality ones to be found.

College Factual reviewed 3 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of design & applied arts. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 4 doctor's degrees in design & applied arts during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Design & Applied Arts School for Your Doctor's Degree

Your choice of design & applied arts for getting your doctor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on design & applied arts students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of design & applied arts students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for design & applied arts to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized design & applied arts related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for design & applied arts students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Design & Applied Arts Schools

The design 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 Design & Applied Arts Doctor's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in the United States

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in design & applied arts.

Top Schools for a Doctorate in Design

1

Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA

Carnegie Mellon University is a wonderful option for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in design & applied arts from Carnegie Mellon University

1

Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL

2 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in design & applied arts needs to look into Illinois Institute of Technology. Located in the city of Chicago, Illinois Tech is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in design & applied arts from Illinois Institute of Technology

2

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN

1 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in design & applied arts has to check out University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in design & applied arts from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

3

Auburn University
Auburn, AL

1 Annual Graduates

Auburn University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in design & applied arts. Auburn is a fairly large public university located in the city of Auburn.More information about a doctorate in design & applied arts from Auburn University

Design & Applied Arts by Region

View the Best Design & Applied Arts Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Design & Applied Arts Related Rankings by Major

Design & Applied Arts is one of 10 different types of Visual & Performing Arts programs to choose from.

Design Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Other Design & Applied Arts	4

Majors Similar to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Music	1,327
Fine & Studio Arts	160
Drama & Theater Arts	69
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	46
General Visual & Performing Arts	32
Other Visual Art	16
Dance	8
Arts & Media Management	7

Notes and References

• 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). More about our data sources and methodologies.