2024 Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

If you plan on getting your master's degree in design & applied arts, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #72 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 18 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for design & applied arts students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 215 master's degrees in design & applied arts to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

The design master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality design program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to design & applied arts students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of design & applied arts students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for design & applied arts to pay back their student loans after receiving their master'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 master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in the Great Lakes Region

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for design & applied arts students seeking a a master's degree.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Master's in Design

1

University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN

2 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in design & applied arts has to look into University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Notre Dame.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from University of Notre Dame

1

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

6 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Northwestern University if you want to pursue a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Northwestern University

2

Purdue University - Main Campus
West Lafayette, IN

7 Annual Graduates

Purdue University - Main Campus is a wonderful option for individuals interested in a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Purdue University - Main Campus

2

Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL

6 Annual Graduates

$116,573 Median Starting Salary

Illinois Institute of Technology is a wonderful option for students pursuing a master's degree in design & applied arts. Illinois Tech is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

Master's recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at Illinois Institute of Technology earn $47,599 more than the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Illinois Institute of Technology

3

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

17 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Chicago is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from University of Illinois at Chicago

4

University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
Cincinnati, OH

18 Annual Graduates

University of Cincinnati - Main Campus is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

5

College for Creative Studies
Detroit, MI

10 Annual Graduates

CCS is a small private not-for-profit college located in the large city of Detroit.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from College for Creative Studies

6

Miami University - Oxford
Oxford, OH

3 Annual Graduates

Located in the fringe town of Oxford, Miami University - Oxford is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Miami University - Oxford

7

Kent State University at Kent
Kent, OH

15 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Kent, Kent State is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Kent State University at Kent

8

University of Wisconsin - Stout
Menomonie, WI

3 Annual Graduates

Located in the distant town of Menomonie, UW - Stout is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from University of Wisconsin - Stout

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best design & applied arts schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	221	72
Michigan	211	34
Ohio	207	90
Indiana	191	16
Wisconsin	173	3

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Design

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

Design Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Visual Communications	69
Other Design & Applied Arts	54
Graphic Design	22
Commercial Photography	21
Fashion Design	15
Industrial Design	11
Commercial & Advertising Art	9
Interior Design	7
Game & Interactive Media Design	7

Most Popular Majors Related to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Music	1,111
Fine & Studio Arts	489
Drama & Theater Arts	200
Arts & Media Management	160
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	84
General Visual & Performing Arts	32
Dance	22
Other Visual Art	5
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry	1

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.