2025 Best Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania

If you plan on getting your master's degree in visual & performing arts, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #10 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 7 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 609 master's degrees in visual & performing arts to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Visual & Performing Arts School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of visual & performing arts for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality visual & performing arts program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 for a Master's Degree 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 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

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on visual & performing arts students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of visual & performing arts students who choose to seek a master'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 much debt visual & performing 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 visual & performing arts related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for visual & performing arts students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Visual & Performing Arts Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Visual & Performing Arts in Pennsylvania

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in visual & performing arts.

Top Pennsylvania Schools for a Master's in Visual & Performing Arts

1

Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

142 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Carnegie Mellon University if you want to pursue a master's degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Carnegie Mellon University

2

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

19 Annual Graduates

University of Pennsylvania is a good option for individuals pursuing a master's degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from University of Pennsylvania

3

Messiah University
Mechanicsburg, PA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

36 Annual Graduates

Messiah University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in visual & performing arts. Messiah is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Mechanicsburg.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Messiah University

4

Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

106 Annual Graduates

Temple University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in visual & performing arts. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, Temple is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Temple University

5

Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

45 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Philadelphia, Drexel is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Drexel University

6

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia, PA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

26 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Philadelphia, PAFA is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

7

Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, PA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

26 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Duquesne is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in visual & performing arts from Duquesne University

Best Visual & Performing Arts Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

Explore all the Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Middle Atlantic Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	35	2,756
New Jersey	32	150
Maryland	32	434
District of Columbia	32	160
Delaware	24	33

View All Rankings >

Visual & Performing Arts Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Music	228
Fine & Studio Arts	120
Arts & Media Management	114
Drama & Theater Arts	61
Design & Applied Arts	37
Dance	24
General Visual & Performing Arts	15
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	10

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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Bonnielou2013. More about our data sources and methodologies.