2024 Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania

Design & Applied Arts is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #72 most popular master's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 5 schools in Pennsylvania to determine which ones were the best for design & applied arts students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 73 master's degrees in design & applied arts during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

Your choice of design & applied arts for getting your master'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

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master'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 master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

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 - How many other design & applied arts students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• 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 much debt design & applied arts students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized design & applied arts related body.

Our complete 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.

More Ways to Rank Design & Applied Arts Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in Pennsylvania

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

Top Pennsylvania Schools for a Master's in Design

1

Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA

32 Annual Graduates

$89,756 Median Starting Salary

It's hard to beat Carnegie Mellon University if you want to pursue a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Design & Applied Arts master's degree recipients from Carnegie Mellon University earn a boost of around $19,382 over the typical income of design & applied arts graduates.

More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Carnegie Mellon University

2

Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA

12 Annual Graduates

$50,993 Median Starting Salary

It is hard to beat Drexel University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Philadelphia, Drexel is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

After graduation, design master's recipients generally make around $50,993 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Drexel University

3

Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

8 Annual Graduates

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

4

The University of the Arts
Philadelphia, PA

3 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in design & applied arts needs to check out The University of the Arts. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UArts is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from The University of the Arts

5

Marywood University
Scranton, PA

3 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Scranton, Marywood is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Marywood University

6

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Kutztown, PA

5 Annual Graduates

Kutztown University is a moderately-sized public university located in the town of Kutztown.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

Explore all the Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the Middle Atlantic Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	261	380
Maryland	193	207
New Jersey	188	0
District of Columbia	154	32
Delaware	109	3

View All Rankings >

Design & Applied Arts Related Rankings by Major

One of 10 majors within the Visual & Performing Arts area of study, Design & Applied Arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Design Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Game & Interactive Media Design	20
Visual Communications	16
Fashion Design	11
Other Design & Applied Arts	8
Graphic Design	7
Industrial Design	6
Commercial & Advertising Art	5

Majors Similar to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Music	225
Fine & Studio Arts	115
Arts & Media Management	97
Drama & Theater Arts	88
Dance	19
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	11
General Visual & Performing Arts	8

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.