2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region

If you pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #27 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual looked at 10 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 674 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts during the 2022-2023 academic year.

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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

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 Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 full 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.

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 Rocky Mountains Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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 Bachelor’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in the Rocky Mountains Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts.

10 Top Rocky Mountains Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1

University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT

52 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts has to check out University of Utah. U of U is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Salt Lake City.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Utah

2

University of Denver
Denver, CO

17 Annual Graduates

$31,104 Median Starting Salary

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

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career wages of $31,104.

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

3

Brigham Young University - Provo
Provo, UT

73 Annual Graduates

$33,915 Median Starting Salary

Brigham Young University - Provo is a wonderful option for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. BYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Provo.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the design program make around $33,915 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Brigham Young University - Provo

4

Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design
Lakewood, CO

176 Annual Graduates

$29,829 Median Starting Salary

$38,361 Median Student Debt

Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts needs to take a look at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. Located in the suburb of Lakewood, RMCAD is a private for-profit college with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career income of $29,829.

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

5

Utah Valley University
Orem, UT

148 Annual Graduates

$31,888 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Orem, UVU is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program state that they receive average early career earnings of $31,888.

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

6

Boise State University
Boise, ID

89 Annual Graduates

$31,083 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Boise, Boise State is a public university with a very large student population.

After graduation, design bachelor's recipients usually make about $31,083 in their early careers.

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

7

Weber State University
Ogden, UT

35 Annual Graduates

$40,507 Median Starting Salary

WSU is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Ogden.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at Weber State University get $7,743 above the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

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

8

Metropolitan State University of Denver
Denver, CO

33 Annual Graduates

$39,450 Median Starting Salary

MSU Denver is a fairly large public university located in the city of Denver.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Metropolitan State University of Denver receive an earnings boost of approximately $6,686 above the typical earnings of design & applied arts graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Metropolitan State University of Denver

9

Southern Utah University
Cedar City, UT

18 Annual Graduates

Southern Utah University is a large public university located in the remote town of Cedar City.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Southern Utah University

10

Colorado Mesa University
Grand Junction, CO

17 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Grand Junction, Colorado Mesa is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Colorado Mesa University

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best design & applied arts colleges for a specific state in the Rocky Mountains Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Utah	204	307
Colorado	190	208
Idaho	171	108
Montana	134	1

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
Visual Communications	213
Illustration	95
Graphic Design	93
Game & Interactive Media Design	93
Interior Design	76
Industrial Design	65
Commercial & Advertising Art	26
Fashion Design	13

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts	998
Music	693
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	532
Drama & Theater Arts	438
Dance	156
General Visual & Performing Arts	74
Other Visual Art	10
Arts & Media Management	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.