2025 Best General Visual & Performing Arts Schools
91Colleges in the United States
6,776Visual Arts Degrees Awarded
$27,435Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in general visual & performing arts, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #116 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
College Factual looked at 91 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Visual & Performing Arts Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 6,776 degrees in general visual & performing arts to qualified students.
Choosing a Great General Visual & Performing Arts School
Your choice of general visual & performing arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general visual & performing arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Pick Your General Visual & Performing Arts Degree Level
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best General Visual & Performing Arts Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for General Visual & Performing Arts 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 visual arts 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.
Every student who is interested in general visual & performing arts has to look into University of Southern California. USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were about 56 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available.
It's hard to beat University of Florida if you wish to pursue a degree in general visual & performing arts. Located in the midsize city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #56 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UF is a great university overall.
There were roughly 68 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent data year. Those general visual & performing arts students who get their degree from University of Florida make $3,194 more than the average visual arts graduate.
The University of Texas at Austin is a great choice for students pursuing a degree in general visual & performing arts. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #46 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UT Austin is a great university overall.
There were roughly 116 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin in the most recent year we have data available. Those general visual & performing arts students who get their degree from The University of Texas at Austin make $2,272 more than the standard visual arts grad.
Any student who is interested in general visual & performing arts needs to take a look at Texas Tech University. Texas Tech is a fairly large public university located in the city of Lubbock. A Best Colleges rank of #161 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Texas Tech is a great university overall.
There were roughly 13 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Texas Tech in the most recent data year.
ASU - Tempe is a very large public university located in the city of Tempe. A Best Colleges rank of #108 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means ASU - Tempe is a great university overall.
There were about 21 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual arts program state that they receive average early career income of $22,817.
Northeastern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Boston. A Best Colleges rank of #33 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northeastern is a great university overall.
There were about 13 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Northeastern in the most recent data year.
UCSD is a fairly large public university located in the city of La Jolla. A Best Colleges rank of #49 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.
There were roughly 83 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent year we have data available.
GMU is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Fairfax. A Best Colleges rank of #92 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means GMU is a great university overall.
There were about 119 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at GMU in the most recent data year. General Visual & Performing Arts degree recipients from George Mason University earn a boost of around $4,506 over the average income of general visual & performing arts graduates.
Located in the city of Richardson, UT Dallas is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 9th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were about 348 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UT Dallas in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, visual arts degree recipients generally make about $28,494 in the first five years of their career.
Austin Community College District is a fairly large public college located in the city of Austin. This college ranks 20th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were about 119 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Austin Community College District in the most recent year we have data available. Those general visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Austin Community College District make $2,234 more than the typical visual arts grad.
Located in the city of Los Angeles, Otis College of Art and Design is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
There were approximately 90 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Otis College of Art and Design in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual arts program state that they receive average early career earnings of $21,558.
OHIO Athens is a very large public university located in the distant town of Athens. A Best Colleges rank of #184 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means OHIO Athens is a great university overall.
There were approximately 28 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at OHIO Athens in the most recent data year.
UCF is a very large public university located in the suburb of Orlando. This university ranks 10th out of 70 schools for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were approximately 481 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UCF in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general visual & performing arts degree program at University of Central Florida get $8,471 more than the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UW - Whitewater is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Whitewater. This university ranks 10th out of 46 colleges for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were roughly 38 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UW - Whitewater in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the visual arts program earn about $28,226 for their early career.
Located in the small city of Ames, Iowa State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #88 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Iowa State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 17 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Iowa State in the most recent year we have data available.
UK is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Lexington. This university ranks 1st out of 39 schools for overall quality in the state of Kentucky.
There were roughly 83 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UK in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, visual arts degree recipients usually make an average of $26,343 in their early careers.
UNL is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Lincoln. This university ranks 2nd out of 19 colleges for overall quality in the state of Nebraska.
There were roughly 9 general visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UNL in the most recent data year.
Rest of the Top Best General Visual & Performing Arts Schools
Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great schools for General Visual & Performing Arts students that almost earned our Best General Visual & Performing Arts Schools 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).
Your choice of general visual & performing arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general visual & performing arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
