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

Design & Applied Arts is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #27 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 6 schools in Georgia to determine which ones were the best for design & applied arts students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 913 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

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.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 schools for design & applied arts students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Design & Applied Arts Schools

The design 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 Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Georgia.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in Georgia

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts.

Top Georgia Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1

Savannah College of Art and Design
Savannah, GA

755 Annual Graduates

$23,400 Median Starting Salary

$97,681 Median Student Debt

Savannah College of Art and Design is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. SCAD is a large private not-for-profit college located in the city of Savannah.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the design program make about $23,400 in their early career salary.

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

2

Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
Atlanta, GA

12 Annual Graduates

$52,694 Median Starting Salary

Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus is a wonderful decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public school with a very large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus make $22,742 above the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

3

Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA

67 Annual Graduates

$39,355 Median Starting Salary

$21,942 Median Student Debt

Georgia Southern University is a wonderful option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the distant town of Statesboro, GaSou is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts major at Georgia Southern University get $9,403 more than the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

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

4

Brenau University
Gainesville, GA

12 Annual Graduates

Brenau University is a great choice for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Gainesville, Brenau is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Brenau University

5

Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA

14 Annual Graduates

VSU is a fairly large public university located in the city of Valdosta.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Valdosta State University

6

Clark Atlanta University
Atlanta, GA

33 Annual Graduates

$20,974 Median Starting Salary

$62,001 Median Student Debt

CAU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Atlanta.

Soon after graduating, design bachelor's recipients typically earn about $20,974 in the first five years of their career.

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

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	225	707
Tennessee	220	208
North Carolina	213	529
Virginia	213	635
South Carolina	195	224
Kentucky	187	64
Alabama	184	196
Louisiana	171	50
Mississippi	169	25
Arkansas	167	216
West Virginia	147	106

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
Illustration	364
Fashion Design	221
Interior Design	215
Visual Communications	51
Graphic Design	44
Industrial Design	12
Commercial & Advertising Art	6

Most Popular Majors Related to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts	843
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	839
Drama & Theater Arts	433
Music	292
General Visual & Performing Arts	106
Dance	48
Arts & Media Management	6

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.