2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Ranked #27 in popularity, design & applied arts is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 48 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for design & applied arts students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 3,013 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Design & Applied Arts School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The design bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor'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 much a school focuses on design & applied arts students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of design & applied arts students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
• 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 design & applied arts to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized design & applied arts related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for design & applied arts students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Design & Applied Arts Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in the Great Lakes Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for design & applied arts students seeking a a bachelor's degree.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1

University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
Cincinnati, OH

167 Annual Graduates

$52,526 Median Starting Salary

$24,320 Median Student Debt

University of Cincinnati - Main Campus is a great choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. UC is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Cincinnati.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus earn $19,783 more than the standard design graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

2

University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN

28 Annual Graduates

$46,825 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat University of Notre Dame if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts program at University of Notre Dame make $14,082 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Notre Dame

3

Kent State University at Kent
Kent, OH

261 Annual Graduates

$36,351 Median Starting Salary

$36,650 Median Student Debt

Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts needs to look into Kent State University at Kent. Kent State is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Kent.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts program at Kent State University at Kent get $3,608 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Kent State University at Kent

4

Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI

110 Annual Graduates

$36,784 Median Starting Salary

$48,000 Median Student Debt

Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts needs to check out Michigan State University. Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at Michigan State University earn $4,041 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Michigan State University

5

Columbia College Chicago
Chicago, IL

258 Annual Graduates

$29,630 Median Starting Salary

$41,085 Median Student Debt

Located in the large city of Chicago, Columbia is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career earnings of $29,630.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Columbia College Chicago

6

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

75 Annual Graduates

$34,670 Median Starting Salary

$50,000 Median Student Debt

Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the design program make about $34,670 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

7

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
Milwaukee, WI

129 Annual Graduates

$28,801 Median Starting Salary

$51,000 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Milwaukee, MIAD is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program state that they receive average early career wages of $28,801.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design

8

Ohio State University - Main Campus
Columbus, OH

48 Annual Graduates

$45,176 Median Starting Salary

Ohio State is a very large public university located in the city of Columbus.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Ohio State University - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of approximately $12,433 over the typical income of design & applied arts graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Ohio State University - Main Campus

9

Purdue University - Main Campus
West Lafayette, IN

60 Annual Graduates

$44,602 Median Starting Salary

Purdue is a fairly large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Purdue University - Main Campus earn $11,859 more than the standard design student.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Purdue University - Main Campus

10

College for Creative Studies
Detroit, MI

73 Annual Graduates

$32,665 Median Starting Salary

$49,705 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Detroit, CCS is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Soon after graduating, design bachelor's recipients usually earn an average of $32,665 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from College for Creative Studies

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Design & Applied Arts students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.

Rank	College	Location
11	University of Wisconsin - Madison	Madison, WI
12	University of Wisconsin - Stout	Menomonie, WI
13	Columbus College of Art and Design	Columbus, OH
14	Ferris State University	Big Rapids, MI
15	Indiana University - Bloomington	Bloomington, IN
16	DePaul University	Chicago, IL

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best design & applied arts schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	261	703
Ohio	252	1,074
Illinois	241	768
Indiana	235	289
Wisconsin	213	396

View All Rankings >

Design & Applied Arts Related Rankings by Major

Design & Applied Arts is one of 10 different types of Visual & Performing Arts programs to choose from.

Design Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Graphic Design	909
Interior Design	452
Illustration	330
Visual Communications	328
Fashion Design	324
Game & Interactive Media Design	251
Commercial & Advertising Art	214
Industrial Design	167
Other Design & Applied Arts	29
Commercial Photography	9

Majors Similar to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts	3,493
Music	2,245
Drama & Theater Arts	1,934
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	1,337
Dance	311
Arts & Media Management	296
General Visual & Performing Arts	286
Other Visual Art	74
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry	12

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). More about our data sources and methodologies.