2023 Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools
Finding the Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate School for You
In 2020-2021, 149,215 visual and performing arts students received their degrees and certificates, making the major the #10 most popular in the country.
It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 106 schools in the United States to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best educational experiences for students. Factors related to overall quality of the school, post-graduation earnings, average student debt, and more accumulated were considered when coming up with this list.
View our full ranking methodology.
2023 Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Colleges.
Top 15% Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools
Our analysis found The Graduate Center, CUNY to be the best school for visual and performing arts students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in the United States. The Graduate Center is a moderately-sized public school located in the large city of New York.
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Out of the 106 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Messiah University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Messiah is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Mechanicsburg.
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The excellent graduate certificate programs at Michigan State University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best visual and performing arts schools in the United States. Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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Out of the 106 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, American Film Institute Conservatory landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, American Film Institute is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Iowa. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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The University of Texas at Austin did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for visual and performing arts students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #6 on the list. UT Austin is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Austin.
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Towson University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Located in the city of Towson, Towson is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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University of Wisconsin - Madison ranked #8 on this year’s Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. UW - Madison is a very large public school located in the city of Madison.
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Columbia University in the City of New York ranked #9 on this year’s Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the large city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
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American University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate visual and performing arts programs. The American University is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Washington.
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With a ranking of #11, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania did quite well on this year’s best schools for visual and performing arts students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the small city of Bloomsburg, Bloomsburg is a public school with a medium-sized student population.
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University of Pennsylvania came in at #12 in this year’s edition of the Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Philadelphia.
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Texas Christian University ranked #13 on this year’s Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the large city of Fort Worth, TCU is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
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University of Tulsa landed the #14 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate visual and performing arts programs. University of Tulsa is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Tulsa.
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Texas Tech University landed the #15 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate visual and performing arts programs. Texas Tech is a very large public school located in the large city of Lubbock.
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These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | West Chester University of Pennsylvania | West Chester, PA |
| 17 | Iowa State University | Ames, IA |
| 18 | University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA |
| 19 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor | Ann Arbor, MI |
| 20 | University of Connecticut | Storrs, CT |
| 21 | The University of Texas at Arlington | Arlington, TX |
Visual & Performing Arts by Region
View the Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
More Visual & Performing Arts Rankings
Visual & Performing Arts Related Rankings by Major
Visual & Performing Arts Majors to Study
| Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Fine & Studio Arts | 37,413 |
| Design & Applied Arts | 36,301 |
| Music | 25,910 |
| Drama & Theater Arts | 17,341 |
| Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 16,778 |
| General Visual & Performing Arts | 6,355 |
| Arts & Media Management | 4,788 |
| Dance | 3,288 |
| Other Visual Art | 912 |
| Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry | 119 |
| Community/Environmental/Socially-Engaged Art | 10 |
Most Popular Related Majors
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities | 556,813 |
| English Language & Literature | 54,635 |
| Foreign Languages & Linguistics | 33,333 |
| Theology & Religious Vocations | 27,459 |
| Philosophy & Religious Studies | 19,993 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
- Read more about our ranking methodology.
- 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.
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