Background

We started publishing regional and national rankings in 2012 in response to myriad emails from aspiring animators and game designers asking us what the best schools were in the US, a given State, or in a particular area of the country. We consider every degree-granting school of which we are aware, with the exception of two-year community colleges. In some cases we will include non-degree granting schools, when the program’s quality merits inclusion. Our end goal is to provide students and their parents access to ample information so they can make an informed decision about the school they choose to attend and the program they pursue.

Criteria and Methodology

Our rankings are driven primarily by aggregated academic peer assessments, which serve as a broad measure of how animation programs are perceived by those most familiar with the field. By collecting and synthesizing input from a wide range of institutions, we aim to capture a consensus view of program strength that reflects both reputation and sustained performance over time.

This peer-based signal is then validated through graduate employment outcomes, using third-party data to assess how successfully graduates move into professional animation-related roles. This helps ground the rankings in real-world results, ensuring that programs are not only well regarded, but also effective in preparing students for careers in the industry.

Finally, these factors are contextualized by program scale and institutional performance metrics, such as faculty size, retention rates, graduation rates, cost of attendance, and student indebtedness. While some of this data is only available at the institutional level, it provides a consistent framework for comparing programs across a diverse range of schools.

Taken together, this multi-layered approach allows us to balance perception, outcomes, and structural context to produce rankings that are both comprehensive and comparable across institutions.

Information Sources:

Surveys - During the school year we reach out via email to every school under consideration requesting information about their specific program, as well as their perspective regarding which other school programs they considered to be the most impressive, both nationally and regionally.

LinkedIn -  We use LinkedIn to obtain employment data.

US Department of Education College Scorecard - We use this as a data source in multiple areas. 

University/College web sites - When applicable we obtain information from the college or university web site.   

Animation School Rankings
Rankings published since 2012
Colleges/Schools Considered: 207
School surveys were emailed in September, 2025

The criteria we used for the animation rankings consists, in no particular order, of the following:

  • Academic reputation
  • Admission selectivity
  • Employment data
  • Depth and breadth of the program faculty
  • Value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness
  • Graduation rate
  • Retention rate

International Animation School Rankings
Rankings published since 2013
Colleges/Schools Considered: 200
School surveys were emailed in September, 2025

The criteria we used for the animation rankings consists, in no particular order, of the following:

  • Academic reputation
  • Employment data
  • Admission selectivity
  • Depth and breadth of the program
  • Value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness

Game Design School Rankings
Rankings published since 2013
Colleges Considered: 154
School surveys were emailed in October, 2025

The criteria we used for the animation rankings consists, in no particular order, of the following:

  • Academic reputation
  • Employment data
  • Admission selectivity
  • Depth and breadth of the program
  • Value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness
  • Graduation rate
  • Retention rate

Graphic Design School Rankings
Rankings published since 2015
Colleges Considered: 695
School surveys were emailed in April, 2026

The criteria we used for the animation rankings consists, in no particular order, of the following:

  • Academic reputation
  • Employment data
  • Admission selectivity
  • Depth and breadth of the program
  • Value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness
  • Graduation rate
  • Retention rate

Illustration School Rankings
Rankings published since 2019
Colleges Considered: 142
School surveys were emailed in March, 2026

The criteria we used for the animation rankings consists, in no particular order, of the following:

  • Academic reputation
  • Employment data
  • Admission selectivity
  • Depth and breadth of the program
  • Value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness
  • Graduation rate
  • Retention rate

Virtual & Augmented Reality School Rankings
Rankings published since 2021
Colleges Considered: 80
School surveys were emailed in May, 2025

The criteria we used for the VR/AR rankings consists, in no particular order, of the following:

  • Academic reputation
  • Employment data
  • Admission selectivity
  • Value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness

Visual Effects (VFX) School Rankings
Rankings published since 2022
Colleges Considered: 127
School surveys were emailed in April, 2026

The criteria we used for the VFX rankings consists, in no particular order, of the following:

  • Academic reputation
  • Employment data
  • Admission selectivity
  • Value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness

UX/UI & Human Computer Interaction School Rankings
Rankings published since 2023
Colleges Considered: 139
School surveys were emailed in April, 2026

The criteria we used for the UX/UI & Human Computer Interaction rankings consists, in no particular order, of the following:

  • Academic reputation
  • Employment data
  • Admission selectivity
  • Value as it relates to tuition and indebtedness

How to use our rankings:

Like any college ranking, ours is not perfect and is open for debate. There is no single opinion that trumps all when it comes to which school is the “best”. Ultimately every student has different needs regarding the type and academic rigor of a program, campus culture, as well as cost, lifestyle, and career focus. Our intent is that these rankings serve as a starting point for students to discover the schools that are the best fit for them and that the rankings not be used as a deciding factor in choosing a school.

For more info about Animation Career Review please check out our Frequently Asked Questions.