2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Massachusetts

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.

College Factual looked at 13 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Massachusetts ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 644 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

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

Your choice of design & applied arts for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality design program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

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

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to design & applied arts students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other design & applied arts students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt design & applied arts students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• 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 colleges for design & applied arts students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Massachusetts list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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 Massachusetts

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

10 Top Massachusetts Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1

Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Boston, MA

129 Annual Graduates

$24,706 Median Starting Salary

$38,212 Median Student Debt

Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a great option for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Massachusetts College of Art and Design is a small public college located in the city of Boston.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the design program make an average of $24,706 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Massachusetts College of Art and Design

2

Northeastern University
Boston, MA

40 Annual Graduates

$49,727 Median Starting Salary

Northeastern University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Boston, Northeastern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Northeastern University get an earnings boost of around $14,654 above the typical earnings of design & applied arts graduates.

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

3

Boston University
Boston, MA

39 Annual Graduates

$49,254 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts needs to look into Boston University. Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts program at Boston University make $14,181 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

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

4

Wentworth Institute of Technology
Boston, MA

56 Annual Graduates

$50,599 Median Starting Salary

It's hard to beat Wentworth Institute of Technology if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. WIT is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Boston.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Wentworth Institute of Technology receive an earnings boost of about $15,526 above the typical income of design & applied arts graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Wentworth Institute of Technology

5

Endicott College
Beverly, MA

16 Annual Graduates

$39,271 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Beverly, Endicott is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts major at Endicott College earn $4,198 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

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

6

University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth
North Dartmouth, MA

57 Annual Graduates

$29,660 Median Starting Salary

Located in the medium-sized suburb of North Dartmouth, UMass Dartmouth is a public university with a medium-sized student population.

After graduating, design bachelor's recipients typically earn about $29,660 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

7

Lesley University
Cambridge, MA

63 Annual Graduates

$25,227 Median Starting Salary

$55,206 Median Student Debt

Lesley is a small private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Cambridge.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program state that they receive average early career wages of $25,227.

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

8

Suffolk University
Boston, MA

20 Annual Graduates

$47,415 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Boston, Suffolk is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Suffolk University earn a boost of approximately $12,342 above the typical income of design & applied arts majors.

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

9

University of Massachusetts - Lowell
Lowell, MA

23 Annual Graduates

$41,020 Median Starting Salary

UMass Lowell is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Lowell.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Massachusetts - Lowell receive $5,947 more than the typical design student.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Massachusetts - Lowell

10

Montserrat College of Art
Beverly, MA

29 Annual Graduates

$19,865 Median Starting Salary

Montserrat College of Art is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Beverly.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the design program make an average of $19,865 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Montserrat College of Art

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the New England Region

Explore all the Best Design & Applied Arts Schools in the New England Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Connecticut	183	140
New Hampshire	157	442
Rhode Island	157	108
Maine	156	24
Vermont	155	63

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Design

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

Design Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Graphic Design	260
Illustration	151
Game & Interactive Media Design	54
Industrial Design	52
Fashion Design	41
Interior Design	35
Other Design & Applied Arts	29
Commercial & Advertising Art	16
Visual Communications	6

Majors Similar to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Music	1,058
Fine & Studio Arts	751
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	609
Drama & Theater Arts	438
Arts & Media Management	188
General Visual & Performing Arts	121
Dance	104
Other Visual Art	29
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry	4

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.