Students looking to study art, design, or another creative field in college face a unique challenge in the college application process. Students interested in history or science aren’t expected to ‘prove’ an existing commitment to their prospective major (although it may help), whereas students looking to go into the arts are often requested, or even required, to submit a creative portfolio and resume. If you apply to pursue a pre-med track and purport to have practiced medicine that’s a major red flag, but you can’t apply to study fine arts and have never picked up a paintbrush.
As creative students plan for their college application process, it’s more important than for any other group of students that they have a plan of where they want to go, and they have a team that can get them there. If you’re interested in studying the arts but aren’t quite sure what’s right for you, send us an email. We help students find their perfect fit.
Here we’ve pulled together ten of the best colleges in the United States for creative students (in no particular order). Not every school below offers degrees in every creative pursuit, so make sure to double-check that every school you add to your list offers what you need.
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) — Providence, RI
The Rhode Island School of Design is quite possibly the most well-known name in design education in America. RISD offers students a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a liberal arts twist, and they expect students to connect ideas and concepts across fields and forms. The acceptance rate is 19%, and the admissions office offers portfolio review events for prospective students who would appreciate feedback on their creative portfolios before they submit their applications. We highly recommend taking them up on this offer, even if RISD isn’t your first choice. Receiving feedback from such a prestigious institution is a valuable resource high school juniors, seniors, and prospective transfers don’t want to overlook.
University of California - Berkeley — Berkeley, CA
UC Berkeley boasts 107 Nobel laureates, 19 Pulitzer Prices, and 207 Olympic medals. It’s home to philosophers, writers, artists, and inventors, and is known for bringing together people from different creative fields and backgrounds, resulting in new ideas, big breakthroughs, and creative leaps forward. With an acceptance rate of 11%, Berkeley is a highly sought-after school, especially by students who identify as creative, and who want to be around other creatives, but who aren’t necessarily committed to majoring in the arts. If you do want to major in an art field, the Art Practice major offers courses in a wide breadth of fields including printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, video, and social practice.
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University — Boston, MA
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts was created nearly 150 years ago, enrolling men and women in the 1870s. Today, the school is associated with Tufts University, and prospective students apply through Tufts. The vision statement of the school eloquently sums up how they approach educating creatives: “We lead the way in preparing artists who start conversations that matter.” Once at the SMFA, students can focus on a single discipline, or try a mix of forms including animation, digital media, metals, sound, and ceramics. If you are considering applying, portfolio feedback opportunities in advance of applying can give you a major leg up.
University of California Los Angeles — Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles is consistently ranked one of the most creative cities in the United States and one of the best cities for young artists looking to build a creative career. The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture is a creative hub in this creative city, bringing together community members, artists, educators, and other stakeholders for immersive experiences, installations, summer camps, and more. Students can major in Architectural Studies, Art, Design | Media Arts, Dance, or World Arts and Cultures, and prospective applicants apply to the School of the Arts and Architecture through the standard UCLA application (plus an additional supplement). The acceptance rate for UCLA is about 13%.
Stanford University — Stanford, CA
Stanford University approaches pursuing a college degree as an inherently design-centric experience. Through the Stanford d.school, Students across academic fields learn how to apply creative thinking processes, challenging themselves to push outside of conventions and expectations. The Stanford engineering program also augments the more stereotypically artistic fields, and even the Art Practice major includes courses in Virtual Reality, Data as Material, and Drawing with Code. Stanford is one of the most exclusive educational institutions in the world, and the acceptance rate is less than 4%.
MIT — Cambridge, MA
People often think of MIT as a computer nerd school, but it’s actually most well-known for bringing together cutting-edge technology and the world of design-thinking. Programs in “Art & Design,” “Art, Culture and Technology,” “Design,” “History of Architecture, Art and Design,” “Theater Arts,” “Music,” and more push the boundaries of what a ‘tech school’ can offer to creative students. With an acceptance rate of only 4%, MIT is a highly selective school.
Parsons School of Design at The New School — New York, NY
When people think of fashion design education, they tend to think of one school: Parsons. Parsons has a great PR team and amazing name recognition, but it’s also earned it. Parsons offers a degree in fashion design, of course, but also degrees in Design and Technology, Illustration, Interior Design, Product Design, and more. Students take part in project-based learning, gaining mastery of their art form simultaneous to the conceptual knowledge needed to expand in their craft. Being in the heart of New York City offers Parsons students unprecedented access to internships, job opportunities, and cultural experiences that influence and inspire them.
Pratt Institute — New York, NY
Pratt also calls New York City home, with campuses in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Where Parsons is known best for fashion, Pratt is known for fine art that pushes boundaries. Students experiment with subject, material, form, and audience, creating work that challenges expectations and defies trends. Pratt is routinely ranked as one of the top ten art schools in the world, and students are expected to bring a global awareness into their work through engaging with issues of justice, sustainability, and global citizenship. Undergraduates have dozens of options when it comes to a degree, including Game Design and Interactive Media, Interior Design, Fine Arts, Writing, Construction Management, and so much more.
Bard College — Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Bard College is a small liberal arts school in the rural Hudson Valley of New York that celebrates curiosity and enthusiasm for the learning process. Students are expected to pursue greater understanding with passionate enthusiasm, and they boast an exceptional fine and performing arts program. The Bard Conservatory offers a five-year program through which students graduate with a Bachelors in Music and Bachelors of the Arts in another non-music field. This program offers musicians the opportunity to pursue their instrument at the highest level without sacrificing another passion. All students, regardless of major, work towards a Senior Project — a year-long independent often referred to as the ‘senior thesis.’ These projects are immortalized in the Bard archive.
Savannah College of Art and Design — Savannah, GA
The Savannah College of Art and Design, or SCAD, offers more than 100 design-centric degree programs. This includes many courses of study not available from universities that aren’t exclusively design-focused, such as Accessory Design, Design for Sustainability, Furniture Design, Interior Design, and Production Design. SCAD has a high acceptance rate but a rigorous review process, which leads to a self-selecting applicant pool. Their rolling admissions process can accommodate students coming from diverse backgrounds, and they allow high school students to enroll in courses before graduating.
If putting your college list together feels overwhelming, send us an email. We work with students to get into their dream school.