2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Virginia

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 5 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Virginia ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 685 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts to qualified students.

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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

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.

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

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 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 bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Design & Applied Arts Schools

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 Bachelor's Degree Schools in Virginia list to help you make the college decision.

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.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in Virginia

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

Top Virginia Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1

Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA

72 Annual Graduates

$46,761 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat Virginia Tech if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech make $14,459 more than the typical design graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Virginia Tech

2

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA

322 Annual Graduates

$25,872 Median Starting Salary

$26,292 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts has to check out Virginia Commonwealth University. Located in the medium-sized city of Richmond, VCU is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the design program earn an average of $25,872 in the first couple years of working.

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

3

Liberty University
Lynchburg, VA

198 Annual Graduates

$30,019 Median Starting Salary

$38,727 Median Student Debt

It's hard to beat Liberty University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the small city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program state that they receive average early career earnings of $30,019.

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

4

Marymount University
Arlington, VA

44 Annual Graduates

$33,180 Median Starting Salary

Marymount University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the midsize city of Arlington, Marymount is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the design program make around $33,180 in their early career salary.

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

5

Radford University
Radford, VA

29 Annual Graduates

$34,096 Median Starting Salary

Radford is a moderately-sized public university located in the fringe town of Radford.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career income of $34,096.

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

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	225	707
Georgia	224	1,028
Tennessee	220	208
North Carolina	213	529
South Carolina	195	224
Kentucky	187	64
Alabama	184	196
Louisiana	171	50
Mississippi	169	25
Arkansas	167	216
West Virginia	147	106

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	193
Illustration	131
Visual Communications	105
Interior Design	101
Fashion Design	77
Other Design & Applied Arts	41
Industrial Design	37

Most Popular Majors Related to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts	538
Music	499
Drama & Theater Arts	376
General Visual & Performing Arts	274
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	198
Dance	54
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry	27
Arts & Media Management	7

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.