2025 Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in New York
66Colleges in New York
17,866Visual & 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.
College Factual reviewed 66 schools in New York to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of visual & performing arts. Combined, these schools handed out 17,866 degrees in visual & performing arts to qualified students.
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.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in New York 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 Visual & Performing Arts in New York
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.
13 Top New York Schools in Visual & Performing Arts
New York University is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #16 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means NYU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 1834 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at NYU 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 $26,826.
Cornell University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in visual & performing arts. Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Ithaca. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.
There were approximately 87 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent year we have data available. Visual & Performing Arts degree recipients from Cornell University earn a boost of about $3,213 over the average income of visual & performing arts majors.
Fashion Institute of Technology is a great choice for students interested in a degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the city of New York, FIT SUNY is a public school with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #32 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means FIT SUNY is a great school overall.
There were about 1475 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at FIT SUNY in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, visual & performing arts degree recipients generally make about $23,973 at the beginning of their careers.
Every student pursuing a degree in visual & performing arts has to take a look at American Musical and Dramatic Academy. American Musical and Dramatic Academy is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.
There were about 781 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at American Musical and Dramatic Academy 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 earnings of $17,382.
Located in the city of Brooklyn, Pratt Institute is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
There were approximately 643 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Pratt Institute in the most recent data year. Visual & Performing Arts degree recipients from Pratt Institute - Main get an earnings boost of approximately $5,656 over the average income of visual & performing arts majors.
American Academy of Dramatic Arts - New York is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.
There were about 99 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at American Academy of Dramatic Arts - New York in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, visual & performing arts degree recipients generally make an average of $12,456 in the first five years of their career.
Syracuse is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Syracuse. A Best Colleges rank of #62 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Syracuse is a great university overall.
There were roughly 378 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Syracuse in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the visual & performing arts major at Syracuse University make $5,814 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
RIT is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Rochester. This school ranks 13th out of 136 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were approximately 315 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at RIT in the most recent year we have data available. Those visual & performing arts students who get their degree from Rochester Institute of Technology receive $3,863 more than the typical visual & performing arts grad.
Located in the city of Rochester, University of Rochester is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #82 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means University of Rochester is a great university overall.
There were roughly 264 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at University of Rochester in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, visual & performing arts degree recipients generally make an average of $23,844 in the first five years of their career.
New School University is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York. This school ranks 22nd out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were about 1406 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at New School University 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 earnings of $26,697.
Ithaca is a small private not-for-profit college located in the small suburb of Ithaca. This college ranks 23rd out of 136 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were roughly 256 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Ithaca in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, visual & performing arts degree recipients generally earn around $21,775 in their early careers.
Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were about 443 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the visual & performing arts degree program at Columbia University in the City of New York earn $2,322 above the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Juilliard is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.
There were roughly 316 visual & performing arts students who graduated with this degree at Juilliard in the most recent data year. After graduation, visual & performing arts degree recipients generally make around $14,131 in their early careers.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in New York 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.
