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

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.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 12 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 735 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. 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 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 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 Illinois list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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 Illinois

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

10 Top Illinois Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1

Columbia College Chicago
Chicago, IL

258 Annual Graduates

$29,630 Median Starting Salary

$41,085 Median Student Debt

Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts has to check out Columbia College Chicago. Located in the city of Chicago, Columbia is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

After graduation, design bachelor's recipients usually make an average of $29,630 in their early careers.

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

2

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

75 Annual Graduates

$34,670 Median Starting Salary

$50,000 Median Student Debt

It is hard to beat University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign make $5,430 more than the typical design student.

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

3

DePaul University
Chicago, IL

79 Annual Graduates

$30,536 Median Starting Salary

$63,635 Median Student Debt

DePaul University is a good decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the large city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career earnings of $30,536.

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

4

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

57 Annual Graduates

$34,377 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts has to check out University of Illinois at Chicago. UIC is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Chicago.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts degree program at University of Illinois at Chicago get $5,137 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

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

5

Bradley University
Peoria, IL

48 Annual Graduates

$22,893 Median Starting Salary

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

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career earnings of $22,893.

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

6

Illinois State University
Normal, IL

31 Annual Graduates

$39,287 Median Starting Salary

Located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Illinois State University receive an earnings boost of about $10,047 above the average earnings of design & applied arts majors.

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

7

Elmhurst University
Elmhurst, IL

28 Annual Graduates

Elmhurst is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Elmhurst.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Elmhurst University

8

Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL

22 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Loyola University Chicago

9

American Academy of Art
Chicago, IL

24 Annual Graduates

$19,537 Median Starting Salary

$68,868 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Chicago, The Academy is a private for-profit school with a fairly small student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the design program earn about $19,537 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from American Academy of Art

10

Dominican University
River Forest, IL

11 Annual Graduates

$22,938 Median Starting Salary

Dominican U is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of River Forest.

After graduating, design bachelor's recipients typically make about $22,938 at the beginning of their careers.

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

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	261	703
Ohio	252	1,074
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	328
Game & Interactive Media Design	118
Fashion Design	75
Interior Design	64
Illustration	64
Visual Communications	47
Industrial Design	22
Commercial & Advertising Art	17

Most Popular Majors Related to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts	1,222
Drama & Theater Arts	734
Music	557
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	446
Arts & Media Management	144
General Visual & Performing Arts	75
Dance	47
Other Visual Art	37

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.