“A small, studio-driven design and business school in Burbank, embedded in the heart of Hollywood's animation, film, and architecture industries.”
Founded in 1884 as Woodbury's Business College, Woodbury University is a small, private, studio-focused institution of roughly 1,000 students on a 22-acre suburban campus in Burbank, California — minutes from Disney, Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and DreamWorks. That Hollywood-adjacent location is the engine behind Woodbury's identity: the School of Media, Culture & Design teaches Animation + VFX, Filmmaking, Game Art & Design, Graphic Design, and Fashion Design alongside working professionals from the surrounding studios, and the School of Architecture runs one of California's few NAAB-accredited Bachelor of Architecture programs in the same Los Angeles design ecosystem that shapes American visual culture. Woodbury is organized around four schools — Architecture, Media Culture & Design, Business (AACSB-accredited), and Liberal Arts — and its character is defined by an 8:1 student-to-faculty ratio, studio-based teaching, and required internships in the BBA program. The Fashion Marketing track in the School of Business is a distinctive bridge between Woodbury's design and business sides, training students for buying, brand marketing, and trend forecasting in an industry city. There is no varsity football culture here; athletics are intramural and the social fabric is built around studios, crit nights, and student-run festivals rather than tailgates. The historic San Diego campus, opened in 1998 and home to a respected urban-design-focused Architecture program, was wound down and formally closed at the end of spring 2024 as part of Woodbury's integration into the University of Redlands system. Today all undergraduate operations are consolidated in Burbank, and Woodbury operates as a subsidiary of the University of Redlands while retaining its name, faculty, and degree programs pending final U.S. Department of Education approval. For a prospective international student drawn to architecture, animation, game art, fashion, or design-flavored business — and who wants to be physically inside the LA creative industry rather than commuting to it — Woodbury is one of the more focused small-school options on the West Coast.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Regional Universities West
US News Best Colleges 2024
Game Art & Design (national)
Animation Career Review
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceEarly Action I (Freshman)
Priority review; non-binding
Early Action II (Freshman)
Non-binding
Regular Decision (Freshman)
Rolling admissions thereafter
Regular Decision (Transfer)
International Priority (Fall)
Allows time for I-20 issuance and visa processing
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$47,056 – $49,331
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
One of relatively few NAAB-accredited architecture schools in California, offering both a 5-year professional Bachelor of Architecture and a NAAB-accredited Master of Architecture (2- and 3-year tracks). Studio-driven, with concentrations in design computation, sustainability, and construction management.
Woodbury's largest creative school. Seven undergraduate programs spanning animation, fashion design, filmmaking, game art and design, graphic design, media studies, and psychology — all taught by working LA-industry professionals and tightly tied to nearby Burbank studios.
AACSB-accredited business school offering a BBA, MBA, and a distinctive Fashion Marketing track that pairs core business curriculum with luxury brand marketing, e-commerce, buying, and trend forecasting. Internships are a graduation requirement.
Small department housing humanities, social sciences, and the writing/communication coursework that supports the design and business programs. Offers majors in Psychology and other liberal-arts foundations alongside required general-education studios.
5 years
A NAAB-accredited 5-year professional degree that meets the educational requirement for architectural licensure in California. Sequenced design studios are reinforced by structures, environmental systems, history/theory, and digital fabrication coursework, with access to advanced fab labs and faculty drawn from active LA practices.
4 years
Hands-on training in hand-drawn, stop-motion, and computer-based animation, taught literally next door to Disney, Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network. Student work is regularly selected for international animation festivals, and Animation Career Review has named Woodbury among the best programs in the Western US.
4 years
A studio program covering 2D/3D art, animation, programming, sound, and narrative, with students choosing a Game Art or Game Design track. Ranked #38 nationally by Animation Career Review and tightly integrated with the Animation program for character and world-building work.
4 years
A rare AACSB-accredited business degree built specifically around fashion: brand marketing, consumer behavior, buying, e-commerce entrepreneurship, luxury management, and trend science. Internships at LA fashion houses are a graduation requirement.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $47,056
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
