Film, Video & Photographic Arts is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #84 most popular master's degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 36 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for film, video & photographic arts students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,871 master's degrees in film, video & photographic arts to qualified students.
Take the first step toward a career of visual expression and doing what you love with this online associate degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Learn to create a striking portfolio and hone the skills you need to succeed in the world of professional photography with this online digital photography degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Choosing a Great Film, Video & Photographic Arts School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of film, video & photographic arts for getting your master's degree school matters. 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
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on film, video & photographic arts students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other film, video & photographic arts students want to attend this school to pursue a master'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 film, video & photographic arts students go into to obtain their master'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 film, video & photographic arts related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for film, video & photographic arts students working on their master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Take the first step toward a career of visual expression and doing what you love with this online associate degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Learn to create a striking portfolio and hone the skills you need to succeed in the world of professional photography with this online digital photography degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
University of Southern California is a great choice for individuals interested in a master's degree in film, video & photographic arts. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Soon after graduating, film master's recipients typically earn around $26,843 in the first five years of their career.
New York University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in film, video & photographic arts. NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.
Soon after graduating, film master's recipients usually make around $15,801 in the first five years of their career.
It is difficult to beat Chapman University if you want to pursue a master's degree in film, video & photographic arts. Located in the midsize city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Master's students who receive their degree from the film program make around $28,832 in the first couple years of working.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in film, video & photographic arts has to look into University of California - Los Angeles. UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.
Film, Video & Photographic Arts master's degree recipients from University of California - Los Angeles receive an earnings boost of about $8,649 over the average earnings of film, video & photographic arts majors.
Located in the city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Film, Video & Photographic Arts master's degree recipients from American University receive an earnings boost of around $20,144 over the typical income of film, video & photographic arts majors.
Located in the city of Savannah, SCAD is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
Those film, video & photographic arts students who get their master's degree from Savannah College of Art and Design make $6,188 more than the average film graduate.
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.
Your choice of film, video & photographic arts for getting your master's degree school matters. 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.
