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2025 Best Drama & Theater Arts Master's Degree Schools

53 Colleges in the United States
1,756 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. Combined, these schools handed out 1,756 master's degrees in drama & theater arts to qualified students.

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 take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of various 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 full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools 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 wonderful choice for individuals interested in a master's degree in drama & theater arts. NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.

Master's recipients from the drama & theater arts degree program at New York University get $12,859 above the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

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

2

University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the country 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 very large student population.

After graduation, theater master's recipients usually make around $21,764 at the beginning of their careers.

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

3

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in drama & theater arts needs to take a look at Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Mellon is a 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 wages of $21,814.

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

4

Northwestern University is a wonderful choice for students interested in a master's degree in drama & theater arts. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly 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
23 Annual Graduates

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

6

Columbia is a very 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 earnings 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 moderately-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 earn $7,426 more than the typical theater student.

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

8
Brown crest
Brown University
Providence, RI
23 Annual Graduates

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

9

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

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the theater program earn an average of $26,106 in their early career salary.

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

10

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

Drama & Theater Arts master's degree recipients from The University of Texas at Austin get an earnings boost of approximately $11,547 above the typical earnings of drama & theater arts graduates.

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
14 University of California - San Diego La Jolla, CA
15 University of Florida Gainesville, FL
16 University of Connecticut Storrs, CT
17 DePaul University Chicago, IL

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 927
Playwriting & Screenwriting 375
Acting 174
Theater Design & Technology 142
Directing & Theatrical Production 69
Other Dramatic/Theatre Arts & Stagecraft 49
Costume Design 8
Theatre Literature, History & Criticism 7
Musical Theater 5

Related Major Annual Graduates
Music 6,247
Fine & Studio Arts 3,058
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,871
Design & Applied Arts 1,688
Arts & Media Management 1,178
General Visual & Performing Arts 327
Other Visual Art 319
Dance 244

Notes and References

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