The top 25 game design graduate programs
1. University of Central Florida
2021 Grads Hired: 87%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $73,100
Faculty: Benjamin Noel (VP, EA Tiburon), Thomas Carbone (director, Iron Galaxy)
Graduates: Billy Bramer (lead programmer, Epic Games), Dennis Branvall (design director, Star Wars Battlefront)
2. New York University
2021 Grads Hired: 72%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $73,263
Faculty: Winnie Song (Square Enix Montreal), Matt Boch (Rockband VR)
Graduates: Atlas Chen (thatgamecompany), Noelle Mazurek (Games for Change)
3. Southern Methodist University
Total Courses: 160
2021 Grads Hired: 87%
Faculty: Elizabeth Stringer (development director, Atari), Michael Porter (Sierra, Bungie)
4. University of Southern California
2021 Grads Hired: 90%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $65,000
Graduates: Brandon Beck (CEO, Riot Games), Alex Beachum (Outer Wilds)
5. University of Utah
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $91,312
Graduates: Doug Bowser (COO, Nintendo Of America), Ed Catmull (Pixar co-founder)
6. Rochester Institute of Technology
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $77,100
2021 Grads Hired: 91%
7. Abertay University
2021 Grads Hired: 76%
Faculty: Martin Lynagh (producer, Media Molecule), Ruth Falconer (Women in Games)
8. DigiPen Institute of Technology
2021 Grads Hired: 68%
Graduates: Taralyn von der Linden (engineering lead, Destiny), Mike Grodin (senior artist, Nintendo)
9. Clark University
2021 Grads Hired: 38%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $65,500
10. Drexel University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $74,000
Graduates: Glen Winters (previz, Red Dead Redemption 2), Dan Fornace (Rivals of Aether)
11. Breda University of Applied Sciences
2021 Grads Hired: 50%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $42,000
12. Michigan State University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $63,000
Graduates: Ben Medler (head of data science, EA), Greg Cozma (associate UX director, Ubisoft)
13. The University of Texas at Dallas
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $78,300
Graduates: Jeff Senita (animator, id Software), Matt Charles (head of production, Gearbox Publishing)
14. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $82,000
Faculty: Keith Zizza (sound designer, BioShock Infinite), Ben Schneider (Lord of the Rings Online)
15. University of California Santa Cruz
2021 Grads Hired: 85%
Faculty: Michael John (creative director, EA), Robin Hunicke (CEO, Funomena)
16. Savannah College of Art and Design
2021 Grads Hired: 74%
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $71,500
17. Northeastern University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $80,000
Graduates: Riddhe Pati (user research, Epic Games), Zhuo Chen (UI artist, Sony)
18. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $68,400
Graduates: Curtis R. Priem (Nvidia co-founder), Zach Barth (ZachTronics)
19. American University
2021 Grads Mean Salary: 80,000
2021 Grads Hired: 66%
20. Laguna College of Art + Design
2021 Grads Mean Salary: $54,000
2021 Grads Hired: 66%
21. University of Wisconsin–Stout
22. University of Malta
23. New York Film Academy
24.Bradley University
25. DePaul University
