2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

If you plan on getting your master's degree in design & applied arts, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #72 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 5 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 179 master's degrees in design & applied arts during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

The design master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. 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 master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree 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 master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master'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 - 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 schools for design & applied arts students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in the Great Lakes Region

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

Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Master's in Design

1

College for Creative Studies
Detroit, MI

10 Annual Graduates

College for Creative Studies is a good decision for students interested in a master's degree in design & applied arts. CCS is a small private not-for-profit college located in the city of Detroit.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from College for Creative Studies

2

Kent State University at Kent
Kent, OH

18 Annual Graduates

Kent State University at Kent is a great choice for individuals interested in a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the suburb of Kent, Kent State is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Kent State University at Kent

3

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

22 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Chicago is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large 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

4

Bowling Green State University - Main Campus
Bowling Green, OH

32 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Bowling Green State University - Main Campus if you wish to pursue a master's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the town of Bowling Green, BGSU is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in design & applied arts from Bowling Green State University - Main Campus

5

School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL

22 Annual Graduates

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 by State

Explore the best design & applied arts schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	221	72
Michigan	211	34
Ohio	207	90
Indiana	191	16
Wisconsin	173	3

View All Rankings >

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
Visual Communications	55
Other Design & Applied Arts	37
Graphic Design	23
Fashion Design	22
Commercial & Advertising Art	12
Industrial Design	12
Interior Design	9
Commercial Photography	6
Game & Interactive Media Design	3

Most Popular Majors Related to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Music	1,245
Fine & Studio Arts	490
Drama & Theater Arts	211
Arts & Media Management	209
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	101
Dance	33
General Visual & Performing Arts	27

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.