2022 Most Popular Master's Degree Colleges for Fine Arts
150Colleges in the United States
1,208Master's Degrees
A master's degree in fine arts is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #118 out of 1095 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2022 ranking, College Factual looked at 150 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the most popular for fine arts students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,208 master's degrees in fine arts to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Fine Arts School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of school for getting your master's degree in fine arts matters.
We created our Most Popular Master's Degree Colleges for Fine Arts ranking to make it a little easier to choose the right one for you.
A high popularity ranking isn't always a sign that a school has a great overall quality ranking for fine arts, but it does mean that many students are choosing the school for some reason. Sometimes this is because the school offers a great educational experience, it is a good value, or it is highly focused on the program.
We have also developed a number of other rankings to help guide you in your decision-making process.
To begin with, if this is not the degree level you are most interested in, you may want to check out one of the others noted above.
If you would prefer to limit your search to a specific state or region of the county, see our rankings by location.
On top of that, you can visit our other rankings for fine arts.
Most Popular Schools for Master’s Students to Study Fine Arts in the United States
Learn about the most popular colleges and universities for fine arts students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
24 Most Well Attended Schools for Fine Arts Students Working on Their Master's
School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of the most popular schools in the country for getting a master's degree in fine arts. Located in the large city of Chicago, School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population. This isn't the only ranking where the school placed. It's also #4 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in Illinois.
There were approximately 143 fine arts individuals who graduated with this degree at School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the most recent data year.
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in fine arts has to take a look at San Francisco Art Institute. SFAI is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Francisco.
There were roughly 51 fine arts individuals who graduated with this degree at SFAI in the most recent year we have data available.
School of Visual Arts is a popular decision for students pursuing a master's degree in fine arts. SVA is a small private for-profit school located in the city of New York. This isn't the only ranking where the school placed. It's also #3 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in New York.
There were roughly 38 fine arts students who graduated with this degree at SVA in the most recent data year.
Southern New Hampshire University is one of the most popular schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in fine arts. SNHU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Manchester. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #1 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in New Hampshire.
There were roughly 33 fine arts students who graduated with this degree at SNHU in the most recent year we have data available.
PAFA is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Philadelphia. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #3 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in Pennsylvania.
There were roughly 32 fine arts individuals who graduated with this degree at PAFA in the most recent year we have data available.
Pratt Institute is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Brooklyn. You also may be intersted to know that the school ranks #5 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in New York.
There were approximately 31 fine arts students who graduated with this degree at Pratt Institute in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of San Francisco, California College of the Arts is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #4 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in California.
There were about 24 fine arts individuals who graduated with this degree at California College of the Arts in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of New York, New School University is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population. You also may be intersted to know that the school ranks #7 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in New York.
There were roughly 21 fine arts students who graduated with this degree at New School University in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of Minneapolis, MCAD is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This isn't the only ranking where the school placed. It's also #1 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in Minnesota.
There were about 19 fine arts students who graduated with this degree at MCAD in the most recent data year.
Claremont Graduate University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Claremont.
There were about 17 fine arts individuals who graduated with this degree at Claremont Graduate University in the most recent year we have data available.
UNT is a very large public university located in the city of Denton. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #4 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in Texas.
There were about 17 fine arts students who graduated with this degree at UNT in the most recent data year.
Located in the small city of Portland, Maine College of Art is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #1 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in Maine.
There were roughly 16 fine arts individuals who graduated with this degree at Maine College of Art in the most recent data year.
Located in the small city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a fairly large student population. This isn't the only ranking where the school placed. It's also #2 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in Indiana.
There were about 15 fine arts students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available.
UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Champaign. Potential students might also be interested to know that the school ranks #1 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in Illinois.
There were about 15 fine arts students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available.
University at Buffalo is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Buffalo. You also may be intersted to know that the school ranks #6 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in New York.
There were approximately 15 fine arts students who graduated with this degree at University at Buffalo in the most recent year we have data available.
WUSTL is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Saint Louis. You also may be intersted to know that the school ranks #1 in quality for master's degrees in fine arts in Missouri.
There were about 14 fine arts individuals who graduated with this degree at WUSTL in the most recent year we have data available.
There were approximately 14 fine arts individuals who graduated with this degree at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in the most recent year we have data available.
Rest of the Top Most Popular Master's Degree Colleges for Fine Arts
Honorable Mentions
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular Master's Degree Colleges for Fine Arts 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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).