+ MFA Design
+ MBA Design Strategy
+ MDes Interaction Design
Scott Huston Marlowe (MFA Design 2022), ResidueCCA graduate design students are creative risk-takers, entrepreneurs, and futuremakers. Our three graduate design programs enable students to chart their own course, build lifelong networks, and realize their potential as dynamic agents of cultural, social, and ecological change. Our home in the San Francisco Bay Area connects students to innovative technology companies, renowned cultural institutions, world-class museums, and groundbreaking design and architecture firms.
Shops, Studios, and Maker Spaces
Graduate students have access to dozens of specialized shops, studios, and maker spaces throughout CCA’s campus, as well as research labs including:
+ Hybrid Lab
+ Media Centers
+ VR lab
+ Materials Library
+ Rapid Prototyping Studio
+ Flat Lab
+ Soft Lab
+ Digital fabrication lab
Design Lecture Series
Each semester, CCA hosts an impressive roster of thinkers and practitioners who expand our understanding of what design is and what design can do. Recent visiting speakers in our Design Lecture Series include Åbäke, Silas Munro, Na Kim, Ari Melenciano, August de los Reyes, Adeola Enigbokan, and George McCalman.
Master of Fine Arts in Design (MFA Design)
In an inspiring learning environment for investigation, hands-on making, and speculative design thinking, students explore new frontiers of design with cutting-edge tools and traditional craft-based techniques. The MFA Design two- and three-year programs enable students to build a strong foundation in one of three disciplines— graphic design, industrial design, and interaction design—and intentionally blur boundaries by working across multiple fields.
Master of Business Administration in Design Strategy (DMBA)
Ranked as one of the best design programs in the world, our two-year, low residency MBA in Design Strategy program trains future leaders to question, listen, and put human needs at the center of decision making. Set against the backdrop of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for its unshakeable belief in a better world, students are inspired by business leaders committed to building a more equitable and inclusive future. DMBA students graduate having redesigned their lives and careers and are bolstered by an extensive community of like-minded alumni, professors, and industry experts.
Master of Design in Interaction Design (MDes)
This one-year, intensive STEM-designated program is built to provide students with the tools to create better relationships among people, products, and environments worldwide. Interaction designers flourish in this complex intersection, using craftbased design skills, systems thinking, and humancentered technology to find creative interventions to the complex problems facing us today and in the future.
Admissions deadlines
JANUARY 15
Priority application deadline
Applications received after January 15 will be reviewed on a rolling basis, but are not eligible for merit scholarship consideration.
Application requirements
All applications require the following, and your program may have specific additional requirements. Get started and find details for each degree program at cca.edu/grad-apply
By the numbers
CCA’s approximately 400 graduate students represent about 25% of our total student population. They come to our San Francisco campus from across the country and around the world.
*2023 Niche Best Colleges
Top 25 most diverse colleges in America*
86% Recieve financial aid
81% Are employed within 12 months of graduation
12 Average class size
49% international 51% domestic
Scholarships
CCA awards more than $25 million in scholarships annually, and 86% of graduate students receive financial aid. Types of scholarships include:
race/ethnicity (domestic) Find
White Asian American Hispanic/ Latinx Unknown Black
2+ races Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, American Indian, or Alaska Native
+ merit-based
+ need-based + diversity + endowed 1111 Eighth Street San Francisco, CA 94107