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.
College Factual looked at 8 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Theater Arts Schools in Pennsylvania ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 420 degrees in theater arts to qualified students.
The theater program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Theater Arts rankings. 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.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
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 Theater Arts Schools in Pennsylvania.
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.
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.
Every student pursuing a degree in theater arts has to take a look at Carnegie Mellon University. Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #8 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Carnegie Mellon is a great university overall.
There were roughly 53 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Carnegie Mellon in the most recent data year.
Muhlenberg College is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in theater arts. Muhlenberg is a small private not-for-profit college located in the medium-sized city of Allentown. A Best Colleges rank of #331 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Muhlenberg is a great college overall.
There were roughly 72 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Muhlenberg in the most recent data year.
It's hard to beat Point Park University if you want to pursue a degree in theater arts. Located in the city of Pittsburgh, Point Park is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 65th out of 103 schools for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were approximately 28 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Point Park in the most recent data year.
Any student pursuing a degree in theater arts needs to look into University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus. Located in the city of Pittsburgh, Pitt is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #85 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Pitt is a great university overall.
There were about 17 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Pitt in the most recent year we have data available.
SRU is a medium-sized public university located in the town of Slippery Rock. This university ranks 37th out of 103 colleges for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were approximately 3 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at SRU in the most recent year we have data available.
Arcadia is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Glenside. A Best Colleges rank of #502 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Arcadia is a great university overall.
There were roughly 14 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at Arcadia in the most recent year we have data available.
DeSales is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Center Valley. This university ranks 34th out of 103 colleges for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were about 32 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at DeSales in the most recent data year.
Located in the town of Indiana, IUP is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 54th out of 103 colleges for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were roughly 11 theater arts students who graduated with this degree at IUP in the most recent data year.
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.
The theater program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Theater Arts rankings. 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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