| Ranking | School | City |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh |
| 2 | Drexel University | Philadelphia |
| 3 | University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia |
| 4 | Moore College of Art and Design | Philadelphia |
| 5 | DeSales University | Center Valley |
Our 2026 ranking of the top game design school programs in Pennsylvania. For an explanation of the ranking criteria, click here.
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is home to the Integrative Design, Arts, and Technology Network (IDeATe), which houses a 45-unit Game Design minor (GDM) that complements a number of undergraduate programs. Although the minor is open to students from any major, popular combinations include the Electronic and Time Based Media (ETB) BFA/GDM; Art BFA/GDM; Computer Science (CS) BS/Computer Graphics concentration/GDM; Bachelor of CS and Arts (BCSA)/GDM; and Music and Technology BS/GDM.
At the graduate level, the IDeATe houses a Master of Entertainment Technology (MET) that highlights an Immersion Semester, which features courses such as Building Virtual Worlds and Visual Story. At the end of this 14-week experience, students will have a completed marketable product or prototype. In addition, the CMU MET culminates with a final project with sponsors such as Electronic Arts (EA), NASA, MTV, Disney, Google, NVIDIA, and Microsoft.
Features across all programs include dedicated fabrication and physical computing labs; access to a soft technologies studio; workshops; collaborative classrooms with access to a black box studio; internship opportunities; and study abroad experiences in places such as Nantes, France.
The CMU IDeATe Game Design minor culminates with the production of an industry-ready video game. CMU IDeATe graduates are routinely hired at places such as Rockstar Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Google, Xbox Game Studios, Apple, Riot Games, Pixar, Epic Systems, Nickelodeon, NVIDIA, Disney, Amazon, ESPN, Netflix, IBM, Meta, Oracle, and 2K Games.
Drexel University (Drexel) is home to the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design (Westphal). One of the nation’s largest media arts and design colleges, Westphal highlights immersive studio-based curriculums; courses led by industry professionals; and access to state-of-the-art facilities. Examples include the 1200 square feet Animation Capture and Effects Lab (ACE-Lab); the URBN Center, which features shared making spaces, innovative labs, and studios; the Immersive Research Lab (IRL) for augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), immersive media projects; screening rooms; and a theme-park caliber motion simulation platform.
Westphal and Drexel’s College for Computing and Informatics (CCI) provide multiple paths to study game design. Options include the Game Design and Production BS; Digital Media MS; Digital Media PhD; Game Design and Production BS/Digital Media MS; a Virtual Reality and Immersive Media minor; a graduate Digital Media minor; BA and BS degrees in Computer Science (BAC, BSCS); and the 24-credit hour CS minor. The BA/BS programs provide optional tracks in Game Development and Design; Artificial Intelligence; and Numeric and Symbolic Computation. All tracks explore games, including topics that cover 2D and 3D Games (Game Development and Design); Creating Virtual Worlds (Numeric and Symbolic Computation); and Game Playing and Logic Programming (Artificial Intelligence).
All programs are hands-on, with mandatory co-op experiences that provide the opportunity to gain up to 18 months of real work experience in the games industry. Co-op experiences can be completed in the U.S. or overseas in places such as Hong Kong, London, Ghana, Spain, and Greece. All students also have access to additional facilities such as the Entrepreneurial Game Studio (EGS), and the Center for Games, Artificial Intelligence, and Media Systems (GAIMS Center).
Westphal and CCI games programs culminate with a full-year capstone project. Graduates can be found at places such as Lockheed Martin, Disney Interactive, Rockstar Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Pixar, Electronic Arts (EA), Gameloft, NCSoft Corporation, Xbox Game Studios, DreamWorks, Insomniac Games, Microsoft, Digital Domain, Nickelodeon, Zynga, NBCUniversal, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), Obsidian Entertainment, Gearbox Software, NetherRealm Studios, and BioWare.
The School of Engineering and Applied Science at University of Pennsylvania (Penn) provides two paths to study games including the Bachelors in Engineering and Science (BSE) Digital Media Design (DMD) program and the Master of Engineering (MSE) in Computer Graphics and Game Technology (CGGT).
Launched in 2004, the CGGT MSE is one of the few programs of its kind at a four-year research university. This multidisciplinary program provides access to the SIG Center for Computer Graphics, which houses a state-of-the-art motion capture studio; ViDi Center for Digital Visualization Center; AR/VR systems; and high-performance NVidia GPU processors.
Other program benefits include opportunities to collaborate with students from other creative departments at Penn; an accelerated one-year curriculum for students with a computer science or engineering degree; workshops, visiting artists and designers; and professional internships. The UPenn CGGT MSE program culminates with the Game Design Practicum or Master’s Thesis—student’s choice.
The BSE DMD is an interdisciplinary major that highlights courses such as Interactive Computer Animation; Computer Graphics; Advanced Rendering; Programming Languages and Techniques I-II; 3D Computer Modeling; Advanced Computer Graphics; and Mixed Media Animation. Students have access to everything the CGGT MSE program has to offer. The program culminates with a design project.
Graduates of the BSE DMD and CGGT MSE programs at Penn go on to establish careers at places such as Disney, Electronic Arts (EA), Google, Pixar, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, DreamWorks, and Zynga.
Moore College of Art and Design (Moore) houses an Animation and Game Arts (AGA) BFA program with a required internship. This guaranteed paid internship ($1,000) highlights roles at places such as Viastat, ARG! Cartoon Animation, Quadratron Games, and KiwiCo. Many internships lead to offers for full-time employment.
Other program highlights include participation in AniJams; the option to add a minor such as Film and Digital Cinema, Illustration, or Comics; visiting artists from places such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon; and access to state-of-the-art animation labs, stop-motion studios, a gaming lounge, Mac studios, editing bays, and a green screen studio.
The Moore AGA BFA program culminates with a thesis project. Graduates have established careers at places such as DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, Apple, NBCUniversal, Marvel, Tic Toc Games, Duolingo, Brazen Animation, Twitch, KingsIsle Entertainment, Studio Yotta, Kodable, FlightSafety International, and Dynamite Entertainment.
The College of Sciences at DeSales University houses the Division of Mathematics and Computer Science. Within the division is a Computer Science BS (CS BS) with Game Programming track. Course examples for the program include Game Development/Interface; Digital Art Story Development; 3D Animation Production; and Advanced Game Development. All students have the option to double major; add a minor such as Digital Art; enroll in the 5-year BS/MSIS program; or take graduate courses.
Other program highlights include small class sizes; hands-on experience through internships and other experiential learning programs; access to state-of-the-art labs and production facilities; and participation in student organizations such as the Anime Club, varsity Esports team, the Computer Science Club, and the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP).
The Computer Science BS program culminates with the Senior Coordinating Seminar (capstone), where students will design and implement a project in software, hardware, or digital creative work. Projects are presented to faculty at the end of the semester. Graduates of the CS BS and other related programs can be found at places such as Tencent Games, Framestore, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Crayola, Nexstar Media Group, G5 Entertainment, Meta, CGI Inc., Softrip, Authentic Brands Group, and Insight Global.
