Art Schools in United States

In the United States art and design are taught in independent art colleges, in university schools and departments of art, and in liberal arts colleges. Undergraduate awards are usually a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), which devotes a large share of the credits to studio work, or a Bachelor of Arts (BA) with a smaller studio share and more liberal arts study, with BS or education-specific bachelor's titles for some design and art-education programs. Graduate study is most often a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in studio fields, an MA in art history or art education, and a PhD in art history. Many degrees are broad (studio art, fine arts, art and design) with named concentrations rather than one degree per medium, and some MFA programs are offered in low-residency formats. This profile draws on programs of institutions in New England and should be read with the other state research files.

Source: meca.edu/academics/undergraduate-studies/

BFA versus BA

Maine College of Art & Design explains the split: a BFA curriculum places students in studio classes for about two thirds of the degree, a BA for about one third. The University of Rhode Island offers both in Art Studio, with the BA requiring 36 to 51 credits in art and art history and the BFA requiring 72. Source

BFA with concentrations

Several universities award one BFA and let students declare a concentration after a foundation year, for example the University of Connecticut (Graphic Design, Illustration/Animation, Industrial Design, Printmaking, Painting/Drawing, Photography/Video, Sculpture/Ceramics) and Rhode Island College. Source

MFA length and credits

MFA programs differ widely: Maine College of Art & Design describes a 30-credit, two-year, six-term program, UMass Dartmouth a 60-credit program of two to three years, and UMass Amherst a three-year program. Some, such as Maine Media College, are low-residency. Source

Art history degrees

Art history is usually awarded as a BA, an MA and a PhD, for example Boston University's Department of History of Art & Architecture, which grants BA, MA and PhD degrees. Source

New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE)

Institutional accreditor of colleges and universities in New England; for example MassArt states that it is accredited by NECHE.

National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD)

Association whose institutional membership some schools publish, for example Framingham State University; its own site was not reachable for this research, so individual claims are recorded as school-stated.

Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA)

Programme accreditor for interior design; Wentworth Institute of Technology and the University of New Haven each state that their interior design degree is CIDA-accredited.

US degrees are counted in credits per institution (semester or term credits, and some schools publish credits per course or per year); programs of the same award can differ widely, for example a 30-credit and a 60-credit MFA. Compare credit totals only within the same institution's own definition.

No degree on this site guarantees admission, funding, employment, a visa or teacher registration, and nothing here is visa or credit-transfer advice.

Teaching languages. en

Admissions and portfolios. Portfolio rules vary by school and degree: some BFA programs ask for a portfolio or a portfolio-based application, while the University of Rhode Island states that no portfolio is required for its BA or BFA in Art Studio. Graduate programs often ask for a statement and a portfolio or, in art history, a writing sample. Check each program's own admissions page and deadline year. Source

• MassArt programs (Massachusetts)
• RISD undergraduate degrees (Rhode Island)
• Yale School of Art (Connecticut)