2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

a master's degree in design & applied arts is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #72 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 82 master's degrees in design & applied arts during the 2021-2022 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

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 - The number of design & applied arts students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• 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 easy is it for design & applied arts to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• 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.

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 Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college decision.

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

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in design & applied arts.

Top Illinois Schools for a Master's in Design

1

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

21 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Chicago is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from University of Illinois at Chicago

2

School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL

20 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat School of the Art Institute of Chicago if you wish to pursue a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Chicago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	211	34
Ohio	207	90
Indiana	191	16
Wisconsin	173	3

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Rankings in Majors Related to Design

Design & Applied Arts is one of 10 different types of Visual & Performing Arts programs to choose from.

Design Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Other Design & Applied Arts	26
Visual Communications	18
Graphic Design	17
Game & Interactive Media Design	12
Fashion Design	6
Industrial Design	3

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Music	292
Fine & Studio Arts	278
Arts & Media Management	145
Drama & Theater Arts	121
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	62
General Visual & Performing Arts	10
Dance	5

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.