MAJOR GUIDE · 2026

Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts: Ranked by Graduate Salary, Not Prestige
— ranked by salary, not prestige.

We rank by what graduates actually earn — not by reputation surveys.

The ranking

sortable · by salary outcomes

Rank	School	Salary	Accept	Verdict
①	Brown University	$52,700	5.2%	REACH
②	Columbia University	$52,700	4.2%	REACH
③	Cornell University	$52,700	8.2%	REACH
04	Dartmouth College	$52,700	6.2%	REACH
05	Duke University	$52,700	6.8%	REACH
06	Harvard University	$52,700	3.5%	REACH
07	Johns Hopkins University	$52,700	7.6%	REACH
08	New York University (NYU)	$52,700	9.4%	REACH
09	Northwestern University	$52,700	7.1%	REACH
10	Princeton University	$52,700	4.5%	REACH
11	Stanford University	$52,700	3.9%	REACH
12	UCLA	$52,700	9.0%	REACH
13	University of Chicago	$52,700	4.8%	REACH
14	University of Pennsylvania	$52,700	5.9%	REACH
15	Yale University	$52,700	4.5%	REACH
16	Carnegie Mellon University	$49,300	11.4%	REACH
17	Georgetown University	$49,300	13.1%	REACH
18	Tufts University	$49,300	10.1%	REACH
19	UC Berkeley	$49,300	11.7%	REACH
20	USC	$49,300	10.0%	REACH
21	Georgia Tech	$45,900	16.5%	MATCH
22	University of Michigan	$45,900	17.9%	MATCH
23	University of North Carolina	$45,900	18.7%	MATCH
24	University of Virginia	$45,900	16.9%	MATCH
25	Texas A&M University	$42,500	29.1%	MATCH
26	UC Irvine	$42,500	25.6%	MATCH
27	UC San Diego	$42,500	24.5%	MATCH
28	UC Santa Barbara	$42,500	27.8%	MATCH
29	University of Florida	$42,500	24.0%	MATCH
30	UC Davis	$39,100	41.6%	SAFETY