2024 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the New England Region

Ranked #27 in popularity, design & applied arts is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 24 schools in the New England Region to determine which ones were the best for design & applied arts students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,511 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

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

The design bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. 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 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 bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor'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 - The number of design & applied arts students who choose to seek a bachelor'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 bachelor'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 bachelor'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 Bachelor's Degree Schools in the New England Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in the New England Region

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

10 Top New England Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1

Northeastern University
Boston, MA

58 Annual Graduates

$45,115 Median Starting Salary

$28,250 Median Student Debt

It's hard to beat Northeastern University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Northeastern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Boston.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts major at Northeastern University earn $10,521 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

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

2

Boston University
Boston, MA

33 Annual Graduates

$46,444 Median Starting Salary

$21,250 Median Student Debt

Boston University is a good choice for students interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Boston U is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Boston.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts major at Boston University earn $11,850 more than the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

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

3

Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Boston, MA

194 Annual Graduates

$28,792 Median Starting Salary

$26,000 Median Student Debt

Massachusetts College of Art and Design is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Boston, Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a public college with a small student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the design program make an average of $28,792 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Massachusetts College of Art and Design

4

Wentworth Institute of Technology
Boston, MA

62 Annual Graduates

$50,498 Median Starting Salary

$27,000 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts needs to look into Wentworth Institute of Technology. Located in the city of Boston, WIT is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts program at Wentworth Institute of Technology get $15,904 more than the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

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

5

Rhode Island School of Design
Providence, RI

73 Annual Graduates

$38,129 Median Starting Salary

$27,000 Median Student Debt

RISD is a small private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Providence.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Rhode Island School of Design get an earnings boost of around $3,535 above the typical earnings of design & applied arts majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Rhode Island School of Design

6

Endicott College
Beverly, MA

41 Annual Graduates

$44,958 Median Starting Salary

$27,000 Median Student Debt

Endicott is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Beverly.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts major at Endicott College get $10,364 above the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

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

7

Suffolk University
Boston, MA

33 Annual Graduates

$40,636 Median Starting Salary

$27,000 Median Student Debt

Suffolk is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Boston.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Suffolk University get an earnings boost of approximately $6,042 over the average income of design & applied arts graduates.

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

8

University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth
North Dartmouth, MA

58 Annual Graduates

$32,703 Median Starting Salary

$27,000 Median Student Debt

UMass Dartmouth is a moderately-sized public university located in the medium-sized suburb of North Dartmouth.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program state that they receive average early career earnings of $32,703.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

9

Lesley University
Cambridge, MA

74 Annual Graduates

$30,949 Median Starting Salary

$26,500 Median Student Debt

Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, Lesley is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

After graduation, design bachelor's recipients generally earn around $30,949 at the beginning of their careers.

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

10

University of Massachusetts - Lowell
Lowell, MA

33 Annual Graduates

$27,000 Median Student Debt

Located in the suburb of Lowell, UMass Lowell is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Massachusetts - Lowell

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best design & applied arts schools for a specific state in the New England Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Massachusetts	238	734
Connecticut	183	140
New Hampshire	157	442
Rhode Island	157	108
Maine	156	24
Vermont	155	63

View All Rankings >

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
Graphic Design	743
Illustration	264
Game & Interactive Media Design	131
Visual Communications	109
Interior Design	82
Industrial Design	70
Fashion Design	60
Commercial & Advertising Art	31
Other Design & Applied Arts	20
Commercial Photography	1

Majors Similar to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts	1,452
Music	1,364
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	1,157
Drama & Theater Arts	857
Arts & Media Management	236
General Visual & Performing Arts	196
Dance	163
Other Visual Art	18
Community/Environmental/Socially-Engaged Art	9
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry	6

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.