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2025 Best Drama & Theater Arts Master's Degree Schools

53 Colleges in the United States
1,670 Master's Degrees
$31,883 Avg Early-Career Salary
a master's degree in drama & theater arts is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #83 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 53 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for drama & theater arts students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,670 master's degrees in drama & theater arts during the 2021-2022 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Drama & Theater Arts School for Your Master's Degree

Best Drama & Theater Arts Master's Degree Schools Your choice of drama & theater arts for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for drama & theater arts students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Drama & Theater Arts Schools

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Theater Rankings Other Ranking Categories

The theater school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Drama & Theater Arts Master's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Drama & Theater Arts in the United States

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in drama & theater arts. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

10 Top Schools for a Master's in Theater

1
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY

New York University is a great decision for students interested in a master's degree in drama & theater arts. NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.

Master's recipients from the drama & theater arts program at New York University make $12,859 more than the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from New York University

2

University of Southern California is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in drama & theater arts. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

After graduation, theater master's recipients typically make an average of $21,764 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from University of Southern California

3

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in drama & theater arts needs to take a look at Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Mellon is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Pittsburgh.

Students who graduate with their master's from the theater program report average early career income of $21,814.

More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from Carnegie Mellon University

4

Northwestern University is a great choice for students pursuing a master's degree in drama & theater arts. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the theater program report average early career wages of $25,804.

More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from Northwestern University

5
Boston U crest
Boston University
Boston, MA
15 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from Boston University

6

Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.

Students who graduate with their master's from the theater program report average early career wages of $20,935.

More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from Columbia University in the City of New York

7
Emerson crest
Emerson College
Boston, MA

Emerson is a medium-sized private not-for-profit college located in the city of Boston.

Those drama & theater arts students who get their master's degree from Emerson College receive $7,426 more than the typical theater grad.

More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from Emerson College

8
Brown crest
Brown University
Providence, RI
16 Annual Graduates

Brown is a large private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Providence.More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from Brown University

9

Located in the city of Savannah, SCAD is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the theater program earn about $26,106 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from Savannah College of Art and Design

10

UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Austin.

Drama & Theater Arts master's degree recipients from The University of Texas at Austin earn a boost of about $11,547 above the average earnings of drama & theater arts majors.

More information about a master’s in drama & theater arts from The University of Texas at Austin

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Drama & Theater Arts students that almost earned our Best Drama & Theater Arts Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 University of Iowa Iowa City, IA
12 Chapman University Orange, CA
13 Florida State University Tallahassee, FL

Drama & Theater Arts by Region

View the Best Drama & Theater Arts Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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One of 10 majors within the Visual & Performing Arts area of study, Drama & Theater Arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Theater Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Theater Arts 842
Playwriting & Screenwriting 388
Theater Design & Technology 154
Acting 142
Directing & Theatrical Production 76
Other Dramatic/Theatre Arts & Stagecraft 34
Musical Theater 20
Costume Design 8
Theatre Literature, History & Criticism 6

Related Major Annual Graduates
Music 5,531
Fine & Studio Arts 2,948
Design & Applied Arts 1,944
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,704
Arts & Media Management 1,110
General Visual & Performing Arts 365
Other Visual Art 298
Dance 233
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry 5
Community/Environmental/Socially-Engaged Art 1

Notes and References

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