Fine Arts Rankings Methodology

How we rank fine arts programs

April 22, 2009 RSS Feed Print

The master of fine arts program rankings are based solely on the results of a peer assessment survey. These rankings, completed in 2008, are based on a fall 2007 survey of art school deans and other top art school academics, two per school, at 220 master of fine arts programs in art and design. Respondents were asked to rate the academic quality of programs on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding). Scores for each school were totaled and divided by the number of respondents who rated that school. The response rate was 39 percent. Surveys were conducted by Synovate.

The lists of schools, individuals surveyed at each school, and specialty concentrations were developed in cooperation with the Department of Art and Visual Technology at the College of Visual and Performing Arts at George Mason University in Virginia.

The specialty fine arts rankings are based solely on ratings by educators at peer schools. Art school deans and other top art school academics, two per school, were asked to nominate up to 10 programs noted for their excellence in each specialty. Those receiving the most nominations are listed.

Tags:
graduate schools,
art,
rankings,
arts and sciences graduate programs

Reader Comments Read all comments (6)

Add Your Thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

MFA Writing programs are not ranked by U.S. News for many reasons (and I think there are good arguments that rankings they do for any artistic field is going to be biased and/or questionable considering the subjective nature of the arts). Different programs are going to mean different things to different people based on any number of factors including aesthetic/genre strength/faculty/location/funding etc.

Poets and Writer's Magazine does have a ranking of MFA programs focusing on the "knowable" (i.e. funding, fellowship placement etc.) along with the perceptions/attitudes of applicants towards programs (obviously the perception of a program as very strong can become a self-fulfilling prophecy as applications rise/acceptance rates plummet and admissions committees are able to choose from the cream of the crop.

Dale of WA 4:12PM February 27, 2010

MFA Writing programs are not ranked by U.S. News for many reasons (and I think there are good arguments that rankings they do for any artistic field is going to be biased and/or questionable considering the subjective nature of the arts). Different programs are going to mean different things to different people based on any number of factors including aesthetic/genre strength/faculty/location/funding etc.

Poets and Writer's Magazine does have a ranking of MFA programs focusing on the "knowable" (i.e. funding, fellowship placement etc.) along with the perceptions/attitudes of applicants towards programs (obviously the perception of a program as very strong can become a self-fulfilling prophecy as applications rise/acceptance rates plummet and admissions committees are able to choose from the cream of the crop.

Dale of WA 4:12PM February 27, 2010

I agree with Sylvia, Is not writing a fine art? Where is that specialty listed?

John of WA 12:22PM January 13, 2010

College Search

Within miles of Advanced Search

advertisement

Knowledge Centers

Looking at colleges? Find out what you need to know.

Parent Question-of-the-Day

What will be your primary resource to help pay for college?
[ View Results ]

Advance your career with an online degree

advertisement