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Should you pay attention to art school rankings when making a decision about which college to attend? 

You’ve decided to attend art school—congratulations!  You’ll find the world of art offers many rewarding careers.  But as you begin to research colleges, you may find yourself face to face with art school rankings.  Yes, they look authoritative and important.  But you’ve also heard the buzz about skewed ratings for colleges and universities.  So it is natural to wonder if art school rankings are reliable.

The answer is yes—and no.  How can this be?  It is simple.  Art school rankings, by their very nature, are going to be rating colleges against a certain set of criteria.  For example, most art school rankings will consider some variation on the following:

• Facilities
• Faculty
• Length of program
• Number of graduates who are placed in industry jobs
• Location
• Financial aid

These all seem like reasonable ways to calculate art school rankings, and indeed they are.  However, what the standard art school rankings do not take into account are individual preferences.

What may be the very best art school to the experts may not interest you for a variety of reasons.  Perhaps you visited the campus and it just didn’t feel right.  Or maybe the art school rankings put more emphasis on criteria than you would.  Perhaps the faculty is more important to you than the quality of the facility, or vice versa.

However, art school rankings can give you an idea of how your potential school is perceived in the industry, and this is invaluable.  If a school comes up short on an art school directory, you might have a bit more trouble finding a job upon graduation.  Diplomas from colleges with high art school rankings are going to open more doors, and open them faster, no doubt about it. 

And, one thing to remember is that the system of art school rankings keeps the schools accountable.  If one art school has a number one ranking, for instance, they are going to strive to hang onto it.  Conversely, if an art college ranks low, they will work hard to improve their rankings.

Most experts recommend taking the results of art school rankings as a starting point.   A good plan to follow is to consult an art school directory and draw up a list of art schools that you are interested in attending.  At the same time, start a list of factors that are important to you. Then begin your search.  Look at the art school rankings and see which schools put a similar emphasis on what you want.

Armed with a list of your own desires and the latest art school rankings, you ought to be able to pare your list down to a few top choices.  Then contact those schools for more information or to arrange a visit. 

The bottom line is that art school rankings are important.  But they should not be the most important consideration in what school you choose.  Only you can decide which school has the number one ranking for your needs.

Below are some great resources about reputable art school rankings, great forums discussing rankings, and good articles. We'll try to keep this up-to-date, but please email us if you have link suggestions or updates.

Popular Ranking Sites

• U.S.News: America's Best Graduate Schools: Complete Guide to Fine Arts Programs (2003)
• The Best Design Programs in the World - BusinessWeek (2007)
• StudentsReview Official Rankings: The Top 50 Most Creative Schools (2005)
• The New 2008 "Best 366 Colleges" Rankings on The Princeton Review (2008)
• Consumers Digest Names 100 Colleges/Universities Top Values (2007)
• America's Best Architecture & Design Schools 2007 (Purchase Necessary)

Other Informative Resources

• College Rankings: Caution and Controversy, Education and Social Science Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Princeton Review: What Art School Can (and Can't) Offer You