Design & Applied Arts is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #27 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 47 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 3,102 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Design & Applied Arts School for Your Bachelor's Degree
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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various 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 bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor'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 - How many other design & applied arts students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
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 much debt design & applied arts students go into to obtain their bachelor'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 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.
The design school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
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Featured Design & Applied Arts Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Translate your creative ideas through concept, design and digital media with a bachelor's in graphic design online from Southern New Hampshire University.
Learn to create a striking portfolio and hone the skills you need to succeed in the world of professional photography with this online digital photography degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Get on the right path to the fast-paced, exciting world of video game art and design with this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
It is hard to beat University of Southern California if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from University of Southern California earn a boost of around $30,553 over the average income of design & applied arts graduates.
It's hard to beat FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising - Los Angeles if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, FIDM Los Angeles is a private for-profit school with a small student population.
After graduating, design bachelor's recipients usually earn about $26,479 in their early careers.
University of Washington - Seattle Campus is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Seattle.
Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Washington - Seattle Campus earn $29,156 more than the typical design grad.
Art Center College of Design is a great choice for students interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Art Center College of Design is a small private not-for-profit college located in the midsize city of Pasadena.
Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Art Center College of Design receive $12,760 more than the typical design grad.
Located in the city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Chapman University receive an earnings boost of around $12,226 above the typical income of design & applied arts majors.
UCLA is a very large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.
Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of California - Los Angeles receive $23,322 more than the standard design graduate.
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Here are some additional great schools for Design & Applied Arts students in the Far Western US Region that almost earned our Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region award.
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.
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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
