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2024 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in New York

25 Colleges in New York
2,536 Bachelor's Degrees
$32,504 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #27 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 25 schools in New York to determine which ones were the best for design & applied arts students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 2,536 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

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

Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in New York Your choice of design & applied arts for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality design program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges 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.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

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

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 bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Design Rankings Other Ranking Categories

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in New York list to help you make the college decision.

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.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in New York

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

10 Top New York Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1
607 Annual Graduates
$40,289 Median Starting Salary
$25,000 Median Student Debt

Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts has to look into Fashion Institute of Technology. FIT SUNY is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of New York.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Fashion Institute of Technology earn a boost of approximately $7,785 above the typical income of design & applied arts majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Fashion Institute of Technology

2
400 Annual Graduates
$36,210 Median Starting Salary
$26,000 Median Student Debt

Pratt Institute - Main is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Pratt Institute is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Brooklyn.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Pratt Institute - Main earn $3,706 more than the typical design graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Pratt Institute - Main

3
New School University crest
The New School
New York, NY
366 Annual Graduates
$30,178 Median Starting Salary
$26,000 Median Student Debt

It's hard to beat The New School if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of New York, New School University is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

After graduation, design bachelor's recipients generally make around $30,178 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from The New School

4
Syracuse crest
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY
92 Annual Graduates
$40,400 Median Starting Salary
$27,000 Median Student Debt

Syracuse University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the midsize city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at Syracuse University earn $7,896 more than the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Syracuse University

5
134 Annual Graduates
$32,795 Median Starting Salary
$27,000 Median Student Debt

Located in the suburb of Rochester, RIT is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career wages of $32,795.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Rochester Institute of Technology

6
186 Annual Graduates
$22,489 Median Starting Salary
$27,000 Median Student Debt

SVA is a small private for-profit school located in the large city of New York.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program state that they receive average early career earnings of $22,489.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from School of Visual Arts

7
24 Annual Graduates
$46,471 Median Starting Salary
$25,000 Median Student Debt

Located in the small city of Troy, RPI is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute get $13,967 more than the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

8
Marist crest
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY
29 Annual Graduates
$38,263 Median Starting Salary
$26,929 Median Student Debt

Marist is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the large suburb of Poughkeepsie.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Marist College earn $5,759 more than the average design student.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Marist College

9
126 Annual Graduates
$30,519 Median Starting Salary
$12,000 Median Student Debt

City Tech is a large public college located in the large city of Brooklyn.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the design program make around $30,519 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from New York City College of Technology

10
LIM crest
LIM College
New York, NY
21 Annual Graduates
$36,739 Median Starting Salary
$27,000 Median Student Debt

LIM is a small private for-profit college located in the city of New York.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from LIM College earn $4,235 more than the standard design student.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from LIM College

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

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

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Pennsylvania 274 991
Maryland 207 232
New Jersey 193 358
Delaware 130 25
District of Columbia 126 39

View All Rankings >

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

Design Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Fashion Design 582
Graphic Design 443
Illustration 411
Visual Communications 333
Interior Design 255
Industrial Design 216
Commercial & Advertising Art 134
Other Design & Applied Arts 87
Commercial Photography 40
Game & Interactive Media Design 35

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 2,103
Drama & Theater Arts 1,927
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,641
Music 1,120
Arts & Media Management 494
Dance 299
General Visual & Performing Arts 236
Other Visual Art 195

Notes and References

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