2025 Best General Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

General Visual & Performing Arts is about average in terms of popularity for master's degrees programs. That is, it ranks #172 out of the 343 majors across the country that we analyze each year. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 77 master's degrees in general visual & performing arts to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to general visual & performing arts students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other general visual & performing arts students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• 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 general visual & performing 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 general visual & performing arts related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general visual & performing arts students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank General Visual & Performing 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 General Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study General Visual & Performing Arts in the Far Western US Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in general visual & performing arts.

Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Master's in Visual Arts

1

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA

10 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat University of California - San Diego if you want to pursue a master's degree in general visual & performing arts. UCSD is a very large public university located in the city of La Jolla.More information about a master’s in general visual & performing arts from University of California - San Diego

1

Academy of Art University
San Francisco, CA

41 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Academy of Art University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in general visual & performing arts. Located in the large city of San Francisco, Academy of Art University is a private for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in general visual & performing arts from Academy of Art University

2

California State University - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

2 Annual Graduates

$22,247 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in general visual & performing arts needs to take a look at California State University - Los Angeles. Cal State LA is a very large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles.

After graduating, visual arts master's recipients typically make an average of $22,247 in their early careers.

More information about a master’s in general visual & performing arts from California State University - Los Angeles

Best General Visual & Performing Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best general visual & performing arts colleges for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	253	60
Oregon	158	0

View All Rankings >

General Visual & Performing Arts Related Rankings by Major

One of 10 majors within the Visual & Performing Arts area of study, General Visual & Performing Arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Visual Arts Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Digital Arts	58
Visual & Performing Arts	19

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	757
Music	609
Fine & Studio Arts	440
Drama & Theater Arts	324
Design & Applied Arts	236
Arts & Media Management	59
Dance	39
Other Visual Art	7
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry	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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Sven Mandel / CC-BY-SA-4.0. More about our data sources and methodologies.