Rhode Island School of Design Overview

Located in Providence, Rhode Island, Rhode Island School of Design is a private not-for-profit institution. The city atmosphere of Providence makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

What Is Rhode Island School of Design Known For?

• Students who want to work more closely with their professors have an easier time at RISD since the student to facuty ratio is 9 to 1.
• The 1% student loan default rate at RISD is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
• The master's degree is the highest award offered at RISD.
• In 2017-2018, 43% of the faculty were full-time.
• After graduation, RISD bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $51,100 a year. That's about 25% more than their peers at other schools.
• It takes the average RISD student 4.2 years to graduate. This is pretty good when compared to the national rate of 4.4 years.

Rhode Island School of Design Rankings

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at RISD.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Precision Production Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Most Popular Precision Production Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Woodworking Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Most Popular Woodworking Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Precision Production Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value Woodworking Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#3	Best Textile & Apparel Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#5	Best Family, Consumer & Human Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#63	Most Popular Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#64	Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards RISD has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Precision Production Schools	College Factual
#1	Best Woodworking Schools	College Factual
#2	Best Textile & Apparel Studies Schools	College Factual
#9	Best Family, Consumer & Human Sciences Schools	College Factual
#22	Best Design & Applied Arts Schools	College Factual
#61	Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools	College Factual

Where Is Rhode Island School of Design?

Contact details for RISD are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	2 College St, Providence, RI 02903-2784
Phone:	401-454-6100
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/risd1877
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/#!/risd

How Do I Get Into RISD?

You can apply to RISD online at: www.risd.edu/admissions/

Admission Requirements for RISD

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into RISD?

If you plan to apply to RISD, make sure you don't wait until the last minute to fill out your application. The school is one of the most selective in the United States and has a low acceptance rate of 27%. If you are admitted, that's something to brag about!

Approximately 33% of accepted students are men and 67% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 36%, and the acceptance rate for women is 24%.

Average Test Scores

About 68% of students accepted to RISD submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 610 and 700. Math scores were between 640 and 770.

RISD received ACT scores from 17% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 27 and 35. Math scores were between 25 and 30. Composite scores were between 27 and 32.

Can I Afford Rhode Island School of Design?

The overall average net price of RISD is $65,534. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At RISD, approximately 31% of students took out student loans averaging $7,321 a year. That adds up to $29,284 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at RISD is 1.4%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Rhode Island School of Design Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 491 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 1,736 full-time undergraduates at RISD, 34% are male and 66% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Rhode Island School of Design students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	376
Black or African American	77
Hispanic or Latino	163
White	458
International Students	518
Other Races/Ethnicities	144

Geographic Diversity

Rhode Island students aren't the only ones who study at Rhode Island School of Design. At this time, 34 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 65 countries are represented at RISD. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, South Korea, and Canada.

Online Learning at Rhode Island School of Design

Rhode Island School of Design Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Master’s	TOTAL
Design & Applied Arts	144	15	159
Fine & Studio Arts	92	36	128
Architectural Sciences & Technology	44	72	116
Systems Theory	69	24	93
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	50	6	56
General Architecture	33	0	33
Woodworking	21	9	30
Textile & Apparel Studies	26	0	26
Sustainability Science	0	21	21
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	0	9	9
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	9	9
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	4	4
Cultural Studies & Analysis	0	0	0
TOTAL	479	205	684

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By DanielPenfield under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.