Ranked #70 in popularity, theater arts is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 242 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for theater arts students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 11,323 degrees in theater arts annually.
Your choice of theater arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for theater arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Theater Arts Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Theater Arts in the United States
The schools below may not offer all types of theater degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It is difficult to beat New York University if you want to pursue a degree in theater arts. NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #16 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means NYU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 414 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at NYU in the most recent data year.
It is difficult to beat Northwestern University if you want to pursue a degree in theater arts. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were approximately 104 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available.
University of Southern California is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in theater arts. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were about 66 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available.
Carnegie Mellon University is a great option for students interested in a degree in theater arts. Carnegie Mellon is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Pittsburgh. A Best Colleges rank of #8 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.
There were about 53 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent year we have data available.
Emerson is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the city of Boston. This college ranks 16th out of 63 schools for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.
There were approximately 49 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Emerson in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #23 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Boston U is a great university overall.
There were approximately 18 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Boston U in the most recent data year.
Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were roughly 81 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent year we have data available.
Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Notre Dame. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.
There were approximately 68 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the medium-sized city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 24th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 26 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Chapman in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were approximately 32 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the small city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 37 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were about 27 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Iowa in the most recent data year.
Columbia is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the city of Chicago. This college ranks 9th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 13 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Purchase, Purchase College is a public college with a small student population. This college ranks 53rd out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were about 45 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Purchase College in the most recent data year.
Located in the medium-sized city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 5th out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were roughly 11 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Syracuse in the most recent year we have data available.
DePaul is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago. This university ranks 7th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 18 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at DePaul in the most recent year we have data available.
UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Austin. A Best Colleges rank of #46 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UT Austin is a great university overall.
There were roughly 31 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. This university ranks 29th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 62 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Loyola Marymount in the most recent year we have data available.
Florida State is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Tallahassee. This university ranks 2nd out of 70 colleges for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were roughly 69 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Florida State in the most recent year we have data available.
UCLA is a very large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were approximately 94 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year.
Located in the small suburb of Ithaca, Ithaca is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 23rd out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were approximately 14 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Ithaca in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 6th out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 19 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at UC in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #49 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.
There were about 49 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent data year.
UF is a fairly large public university located in the city of Gainesville. This university ranks 1st out of 70 colleges for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were roughly 76 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent data year.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Theater Arts Schools award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Donald Judge.
Your choice of theater arts school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for theater arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
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