2025 Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region
97Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
19,053Visual & Performing Arts Degrees Awarded
$27,860Avg Early-Career Salary
A degree in visual & performing arts is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #10 out of 38 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 97 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 19,053 degrees in visual & performing arts annually.
Your choice of visual & performing arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Visual & Performing Arts School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
The visual & performing arts 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 Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region.
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 Visual & Performing Arts in the Great Lakes Region
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the visual & performing arts degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
19 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Visual & Performing Arts
It is hard to beat University of Michigan - Ann Arbor if you want to pursue a degree in visual & performing arts. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were approximately 545 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual & performing arts program state that they receive average early career income of $24,194.
It's hard to beat Northwestern University if you wish to pursue a degree in visual & performing arts. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were approximately 422 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program make about $28,104 in their early career salary.
It is hard to beat University of Notre Dame if you wish to pursue a degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.
There were roughly 119 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent data year. Visual & Performing Arts degree recipients from University of Notre Dame get an earnings boost of about $12,682 above the typical income of visual & performing arts majors.
Michigan State University is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #54 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 358 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Michigan State University make $6,181 more than the standard visual & performing arts graduate.
Located in the city of Chicago, Columbia is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population. This college ranks 9th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 827.9999999999999 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual & performing arts program report average early career income of $24,386.
UC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Cincinnati. This university ranks 6th out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 676 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UC in the most recent year we have data available. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus make $12,393 more than the typical visual & performing arts graduate.
IU Bloomington is a very large public university located in the small city of Bloomington. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were about 624 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual & performing arts program report average early career income of $27,973.
Located in the large city of Madison, Madison College is a public college with a large student population. This college ranks 5th out of 46 colleges for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were roughly 76 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Madison College in the most recent year we have data available. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Madison Area Technical College receive $2,850 more than the standard visual & performing arts student.
Kent State is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Kent. This university ranks 9th out of 91 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were about 446 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Kent State in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the visual & performing arts program at Kent State University at Kent earn $3,655 more than the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Ohio State is a very large public university located in the city of Columbus. A Best Colleges rank of #70 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were about 322.00000000000006 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Ohio State University - Main Campus earn $3,293 more than the standard visual & performing arts grad.
Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were approximately 487 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the visual & performing arts program at University of Wisconsin - Madison make $6,998 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.
There were approximately 787 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program make around $24,133 for their early career.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were about 355 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, visual & performing arts degree recipients typically earn about $28,798 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the large city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #135 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means DePaul is a great university overall.
There were roughly 519 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at DePaul in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the visual & performing arts program make around $25,232 for their early career.
Located in the city of Milwaukee, MIAD is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
There were roughly 169 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at MIAD in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the visual & performing arts program state that they receive average early career wages of $26,804.
Located in the remote town of Big Rapids, Ferris is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 13th out of 56 schools for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were approximately 145 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Ferris in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the visual & performing arts degree program at Ferris State University get $4,525 above the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Detroit, CCS is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
There were about 130 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at CCS in the most recent data year. Visual & Performing Arts degree recipients from College for Creative Studies receive an earnings boost of around $3,566 above the typical earnings of visual & performing arts graduates.
Purdue is a very large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette. A Best Colleges rank of #65 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were roughly 143 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent data year. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Purdue University - Main Campus earn $13,099 more than the average visual & performing arts student.
Located in the town of Oberlin, Oberlin is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 17th out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 215.00000000000003 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Oberlin in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, visual & performing arts degree recipients usually make about $16,932 at the beginning of their careers.
Rest of the Top Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great schools for Visual & Performing Arts students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Great Lakes Region 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).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Bonnielou2013.
Your choice of visual & performing arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Visual & Performing Arts School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
