I would agree that you might want to start  by defining which type of art you are interested in.  Then, you will have better luck finding a college that specializes in that area.  For instance, there is a college in my area that has great interior design and theatre arts departments.  Their multimedia art department is not so great.  It will be difficult to select a good fit for you unless you narrow down which area of the arts you are interested in.

I agree with some of the prior posts that it all depends upon which branch of the arts you are interested in.  The Boston University College of Fine Arts looks like a good one to me as they offer degrees in visual arts, theater, and music. 

The College of Fine Arts has produced several good actors and actresses, both on stage and on television.  Some of the more popular ones are Emily Deschanel (TV series Bones), Jason Alexander (TV series Seinfeld), Michael Chiklis (movie The Shield), Yunjin Kim (TV series Lost), Julianne Moore (actress), and Marisa Tomei (actress).  It has also produced some notable performers in music across the country.  Perhaps you've heard of Konstantinos Papadakis (concert pianist), Eugene Izotov (Chicago Symphony oboist), and Ted Atkatz (Chicago Symphony percussionist). 

While I'm sure there are many other good schools across the nation, Boston University has the best of three worlds.  Check out their website and see if it's a good fit for you.

http://www.bu.edu/cfa/ 

Juliard, as mentioned above, is a famously good art school. California has a number of art colleges (Otis College and CalArts in the Los Angeles area). San Francisco has some well-known arts colleges as well.

Chicago also has an art school attached to the museum there, I believe, the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago has other arts colleges as well. You may want to look for schools geographically and go from city to city or region to region in your search. You might also look internationally. Paris is known for its art education...

You need to start your search by defining what aspect of "the arts" you wish to pursue. There are many outstanding programs available, but most colleges will have superior facilities and instruction in some facet of the arts rather than covering all areas. You may also need to consider where you wish to attend school and how much you can afford to pay for your training.

For example: if you want to pursue advanced training in the field of sculpture, you might look into Virginia Commonwealth University, Yale University, or the University of California-Los Angeles. If you are interested in vocal music performance training, consider Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, or Julliard. For advanced schooling in drama, check into the American Conservatory Theater or The Actors Studio Drama School.