Considering a career as an animation artist? If you are interested in pursuing a degree in animation and want to get success in this popular field, then we can help you choosing the right school to develop your talent. Fortunately, here we have created a list of the Best Schools for Animation in the U.S.
Computer animation is still a relatively young profession and the technologies that are used in this industry are constantly changing. There are several computer animation schools in the United States which offers undergraduate and master programs like 3D Computer Animation and Motion Graphics.
In our given list, you will easily find all the information about the top-ranked university or schools along with their tuition, ranking, contact information etc. Check out the complete list and choose the best that fulfill your needs. Good luck!!!
Table of Contents
Carnegie Mellon University Animation School
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It has an animation school that offers a Bachelor’s degree course as well as a Master’s degree in computer animation. These courses are focused on hands-on collaborative learning and are structured to combine students from many different disciplines. It supports eight interrelated undergraduate areas, all of which can be taken as minors. The IDeATe curriculum aims to train a student to be excellent in one area of technology or arts and to be able to collaborate within diverse cohorts of technology and art experts.
Founded In: 1988
Ranking: 1st
Tuition & Fees Approximately: 50,665 USD
Finance and Admission Office Contact: +1 412-268-2000
Website: http://animation-school.net/carnegie-mellon-university-art-programs-animation-studies/
California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts is the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States. It offers various degree programs in music, art, dance, film and video, animation, theatre, puppetry, and writing. The Bachelor of Fine Arts Program in Character Animation is designed for students who seek an understanding of the art of character performance and storytelling in animation. The Program features a faculty of experienced professionals who work at the forefront of traditional, CG and independent animation.
Founded In: 1961
Ranking: 2nd
Tuition & Fees Approximately: 43,986 USD
Finance and Admission Office Contact: +1 661-255-1050
Website: https://calarts.edu/
Brigham Young University Center for Animation
Brigham Young University is a private research university located in Utah, United States. The Center for Animation is a highly dynamic, hands-on program at Brigham Young University. It offers both undergraduate and master degree programs in animation. Their program provides developing basic scripting skills to procedurally build intricate systems of models, rigs, and animation. Students learn how to reduce manual hours and efficiently create simple to complex effects.
Founded In: 1875
Ranking: 3rd
Tuition & Fees Approximately: 5,150 USD
Finance and Admission Office Contact: +1 801-422-4636
Website: https://dev8.animation.byu.edu/home
Lesley University Animation & Motion Media
Lesley University is a private, coeducational university based in Massachusetts, United States. It has undergraduate colleges, graduate schools, and centers. It offers more than 20 undergraduate majors and over 90 Adult Bachelor’s, Master’s, Certificates of Advanced Graduate Study, and Ph.D. programs. Their master new concepts, like storyboarding, character design, and motion art. And build toward creating impactful animated shorts, special effects, advertising spots, and more.
Founded In: 1909
Ranking: 4th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: 25,095 USD
Finance and Admission Office Contact: +1 617-868-9600
Website: https://lesley.edu/academics/undergraduate/animation-motion-media
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private, non-profit institution of higher learning that offers both undergraduate and Master’s degree programs in a variety of fields, with a strong focus on research. Courses in animation history, character development, storyboarding, and storytelling enhances the animation production courses. 2D Animation courses are constructed to afford a wide exposure to all aspects of animation production and to allow students to focus on the areas of greatest interest. Its interdisciplinary curriculum promotes collaborative and creative strategies for design thinking and provides students with unparalleled training facilities.
Founded In: 1887
Ranking: 5th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: 46,586 USD
Finance and Admission Office Contact: +1 718-636-3600
Website: https://www.pratt.edu/
Ringling College of Art and Design Department of Computer Animation
Ringling College of Art and Design is a private four-year accredited college. The Department of Computer Animation offers eleven BFA programs and two BA programs in game design and animation. Computer Animation major focuses on teaching you how to combine essential technical skills with conceptually original ideas that affect an audience emotionally, visually, and intellectually. It is essentially a digital successor to the stop-motion techniques using 3D models, and traditional animation techniques using frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations.
Founded In: 1931
Ranking: 6th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $43,040
Finance and Admission Office Contact: +1 941-351-5100
Website: https://www.ringling.edu/Computer-Animation
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine art and design college located in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It provides complete a Foundation Studies program, which includes courses in drawing, design, history of art and visual culture and spatial dynamics. It also offers some of the best animation programs in the world. Students will complete coursework in drawing, painting, photography, editorial illustration, watercolor, mixed media, digital illustration, e-book illustration, animation techniques for illustrators, creature lab, scientific illustration, and comics.
Founded In: 1877
Ranking: 7th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: $67,620
Finance and Admission Office Contact: +1 401-454-6100
Website: https://www.risd.edu/
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology is a private coeducational university with nine colleges emphasizing career education and experiential learning. It offers Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts in Film and Animation. The MFA in film and animation offers four options: 2D animation, 3D animation, Production, and, Screenwriting. In the MFA program in film and animation, students create live-action production, scripts, 2D, 3D, or stop motion animation that is unique. The film and animation major is for students who recognize the moving image as an expressive force uniquely important to modern life. The major develops students’ production skills and promotes film and animation as creative media.
Founded In: 1829
Ranking: 8th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: 37,124 USD
Finance and Admission Office Contact: +1 585-475-2411
Website: https://www.rit.edu/programs/film-and-animation-bfa
University of Central Florida School of Visual Arts & Design
The University of Central Florida is an American public state university. It has a School of Visual Arts & Design that offers a diverse set of programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels in animation. Several programs offer tracks and specializations to suit your artistic and professional objectives. Students are encouraged to develop their visual storytelling skills while using a variety of animation and visual effects techniques, including traditional hand-drawn, stop-motion, 2D computer, and 3D computer animation.
Founded In: 1963
Ranking: 9th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: In-state 6,368 USD, Out-of-state 22,467 USD
Finance and Admission Office Contact: +1 407-823-2000
Website: https://svad.cah.ucf.edu/
University of Southern California Animation and Digital Arts Program
The University of Southern California is the oldest private research university in California. It has several programs in animation & digital arts The Bachelor of Arts in Animation and Digital Arts is a unique four-year program. Areas of concentration might include character animation, experimental animation, visual effects, 3-D computer animation, scientific visualization and interactive animation. The Division teaches courses in all facets of animation and digital arts. These include including classic character animation, 2-D and 3-D storytelling, performance capture, visual effects, motion graphics, stop-motion, experimental filmmaking, installations and multimedia documentary animation.
Founded In: 1880
Ranking: 10th
Tuition & Fees Approximately: 50,210 USD
Finance and Admission Office Contact:+1 213-740-2311
Website: https://www.usc.edu/
