2025 Best Drama & Theater Arts Schools in the Southeast Region
70Colleges in the Southeast Region
3,274Theater Degrees Awarded
$22,179Avg Early-Career Salary
A degree in drama & theater arts is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #59 out of 395 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 70 schools in the Southeast Region to determine which ones were the best for drama & theater arts students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 3,274 degrees in drama & theater arts to qualified students.
Your choice of drama & 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 drama & 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.
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 Schools in the Southeast Region.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Drama & Theater Arts in the Southeast Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the theater degree levels they 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 Savannah College of Art and Design if you want to pursue a degree in drama & theater arts. Located in the medium-sized city of Savannah, SCAD is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
There were roughly 233 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at SCAD in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the theater program state that they receive average early career income of $22,671.
It's hard to beat Florida State University if you wish to pursue a degree in drama & theater arts. Florida State is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Tallahassee. A Best Colleges rank of #117 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Florida State is a great university overall.
There were about 75 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Florida State in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, theater degree recipients typically make around $23,015 in the first five years of their career.
Any student pursuing a degree in drama & theater arts has to check out University of Florida. UF is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Gainesville. A Best Colleges rank of #56 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UF is a great university overall.
There were about 76 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the theater program state that they receive average early career wages of $20,886.
Every student who is interested in drama & theater arts needs to take a look at Elon University. Elon is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the midsize suburb of Elon. This university ranks 5th out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were approximately 39 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Elon in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the drama & theater arts degree program at Elon University get $2,166 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the large city of Winston Salem, UNCSA is a public university with a small student population.
There were approximately 101 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at UNCSA in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the theater program earn about $22,429 for their early career.
UGA is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Athens. A Best Colleges rank of #69 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UGA is a great university overall.
There were approximately 33 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the theater program state that they receive average early career income of $20,762.
Emory is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Atlanta. A Best Colleges rank of #31 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Emory is a great university overall.
There were about 20 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Emory in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Nashville, Belmont is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 41 colleges for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.
There were roughly 22 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Belmont in the most recent year we have data available.
Virginia Tech is a very large public school located in the city of Blacksburg. A Best Colleges rank of #58 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Virginia Tech is a great school overall.
There were about 31 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Virginia Tech in the most recent data year. Drama & Theater Arts degree recipients from Virginia Tech receive an earnings boost of about $14,378 above the typical income of drama & theater arts majors.
Located in the small city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #38 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UNC Chapel Hill is a great university overall.
There were about 37 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent year we have data available. Drama & Theater Arts degree recipients from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill receive an earnings boost of around $4,278 above the average earnings of drama & theater arts graduates.
Located in the suburb of Coral Gables, U Miami is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #175 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means U Miami is a great university overall.
There were about 25 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at U Miami in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, theater degree recipients usually earn around $16,561 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the small city of Winchester, Shenandoah is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 13th out of 57 colleges for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were about 27 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Shenandoah in the most recent data year. After graduation, theater degree recipients usually earn an average of $17,818 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the small city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #141 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means JMU is a great university overall.
There were about 63 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at JMU in the most recent data year. Drama & Theater Arts degree recipients from James Madison University receive an earnings boost of about $2,127 above the average income of drama & theater arts majors.
University of Virginia is a very large public university located in the suburb of Charlottesville. A Best Colleges rank of #35 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means University of Virginia is a great university overall.
There were about 15 drama & theater arts students who graduated with this degree at University of Virginia in the most recent data year.
Here are some additional great schools for Drama & Theater Arts students in the Southeast Region that almost earned our Best Drama & Theater Arts Schools in the Southeast Region 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 drama & 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 drama & theater arts schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
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