2024 Best Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in Maryland

a master's degree in visual & performing arts is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #10 out of 37 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual looked at 7 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in Maryland ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 434 master's degrees in visual & performing 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 Visual & Performing Arts School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of visual & performing arts for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality visual & performing arts 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

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 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 master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 visual & performing arts students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of visual & performing arts students who choose to seek a master'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 much debt visual & performing 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 visual & performing arts related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for visual & performing arts students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in Maryland list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Visual & Performing Arts in Maryland

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

Top Maryland Schools for a Master's in Visual & Performing Arts

1

Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

104 Annual Graduates

Johns Hopkins University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in visual & performing arts. Johns Hopkins is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Baltimore.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Johns Hopkins University

2

Maryland Institute College of Art
Baltimore, MD

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

225 Annual Graduates

Maryland Institute College of Art is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the large city of Baltimore, MICA is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Maryland Institute College of Art

3

University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

40 Annual Graduates

University of Maryland - College Park is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in visual & performing arts. UMCP is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of College Park.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from University of Maryland - College Park

4

Goucher College
Baltimore, MD

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

7 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in visual & performing arts has to check out Goucher College. Goucher is a small private not-for-profit college located in the city of Baltimore.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Goucher College

4

Towson University
Towson, MD

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

20 Annual Graduates

Towson University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the city of Towson, Towson is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Towson University

5

Hood College
Frederick, MD

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

5 Annual Graduates

Hood is a small private not-for-profit college located in the city of Frederick.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Hood College

6

University of Maryland - Baltimore County
Baltimore, MD

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

7 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Baltimore, UMBC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from University of Maryland - Baltimore County

7

University of Baltimore
Baltimore, MD

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

20 Annual Graduates

UB is a small public university located in the city of Baltimore.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from University of Baltimore

8

Morgan State University
Baltimore, MD

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

6 Annual Graduates

Morgan State is a moderately-sized public university located in the city of Baltimore.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Morgan State University

Best Visual & Performing Arts Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	35	2,756
Pennsylvania	34	636
New Jersey	32	150
District of Columbia	32	160
Delaware	24	33

View All Rankings >

Visual & Performing Arts Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Design & Applied Arts	207
Music	132
Fine & Studio Arts	48
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	29
Other Visual Art	6
Drama & Theater Arts	5
Arts & Media Management	4
Dance	3

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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Bonnielou2013. More about our data sources and methodologies.