In the new rankings compiled by U.S. News and World Report, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) rose to become the nation’s second ranked program in the Fine Arts category of the 2021 Best Graduate Schools.
Specialty rankings also released by U.S. News demonstrate SAIC’s excellence in a wide variety of artistic disciplines. Of the seven individual areas of study ranked in the Fine Arts category, five of SAIC’s graduate concentrations were ranked in the top six. Two of these concentrations—Painting and Drawing and Photography—were ranked in the nation’s top three.
“Such significant placement in the U.S. News and World Report rankings is heartening,” said SAIC President Elissa Tenny. “It’s an endorsement of everyone who belongs to the SAIC family, especially the extraordinary faculty who teach here, the talented students who learn here, and the wonderful community we build within our treasured hometown, Chicago.”
U.S. News bases its rankings on a peer assessment survey of art school deans and other top art school academics, one per school, at 227 Master of Fine Arts programs in art and design. Rankings were last published in 2016, when SAIC earned a number four overall ranking.
About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
For more than 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers, and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries, and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, Jeff Koons, and LeRoy Neiman.
