If you pursue a degree in film/cinema/media studies, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #142 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 95 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of film/cinema/media studies. Combined, these schools handed out 5,479 degrees in film/cinema/media studies to qualified students.
The film studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Film/Cinema/Media Studies rankings. For our Best Overall Film/Cinema/Media Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Film/Cinema/Media Studies Rankings by Degree Level
The film studies 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 Film/Cinema/Media Studies Schools.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
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 Film/Cinema/Media Studies in the United States
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the film studies degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
University of Southern California is a good choice for students interested in a degree in film/cinema/media studies. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 106 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year.
Every student pursuing a degree in film/cinema/media studies needs to take a look at Chapman University. Located in the midsize city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 24th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 10 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Chapman in the most recent year we have data available.
It is hard to beat University of Michigan - Ann Arbor if you want to pursue a degree in film/cinema/media studies. Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were about 88 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year.
Washington University in St Louis is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in film/cinema/media studies. WUSTL is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Saint Louis. A Best Colleges rank of #21 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means WUSTL is a great university overall.
There were approximately 11 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at WUSTL in the most recent year we have data available.
UCSB is a very large public university located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara. This university ranks 7th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 166 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent year we have data available.
UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the city of Seattle. A Best Colleges rank of #44 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UW Seattle is a great university overall.
There were roughly 68 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 7 colleges for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.
There were approximately 72 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at The American University in the most recent year we have data available.
UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.
There were roughly 20 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UPenn in the most recent data year.
UCLA is a very large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were approximately 121 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Vanderbilt is a great university overall.
There were about 11 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Vanderbilt in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 30th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 251 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at SFSU in the most recent data year.
Emory is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Atlanta. A Best Colleges rank of #31 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Emory is a great university overall.
There were approximately 40 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Emory in the most recent data year.
Located in the medium-sized city of Columbia, UofSC is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 45 colleges for overall quality in the state of South Carolina.
There were roughly 9 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UofSC in the most recent year we have data available.
UCR is a very large public university located in the large city of Riverside. This university ranks 28th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 98 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UCR in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the small city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 37 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were approximately 55 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Iowa in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Medford, Tufts is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #39 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Tufts is a great university overall.
There were roughly 30 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Tufts in the most recent year we have data available.
FIT SUNY is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #32 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means FIT SUNY is a great school overall.
There were approximately 17 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at FIT SUNY in the most recent data year.
Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were approximately 88 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent year we have data available.
Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were approximately 21 film/cinema/media studies students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent year we have data available.
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).
The film studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Film/Cinema/Media Studies rankings. For our Best Overall Film/Cinema/Media Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
