Rankings by major · 642 schools scored

Best colleges for theater

Every school we cover is scored 0–100 for theater. The score weighs what graduates earn four years out against the same major nationally (25%), research spending in the field (20%, NSF), how many undergraduate courses the department lists (20%), the student body's test scores (20%) and the size of the program (15%, capped so size alone can't win). 80 and up is a standout program, 65+ strong, 45+ solid.

The top theater schools: Northwestern University, University of Notre Dame, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Top 100 colleges for theater
Rank	School	Score (0–100)	Tier	Graduates per year in the major	Share of the class	Pay vs. national, same major	Acceptance rate
1	Northwestern University Evanston, IL	100	Standout	90	3.2%	1.22×	7%
2	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN	98	Standout	64	2.2%	1.61×	11%
3	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL	97	Standout	34	0.4%	1.22×	42%
4	University of California, Davis Davis, CA	97	Standout	18	0.2%	1.41×	44%
5	University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	96	Standout	58	0.6%	1.14×	16%
6	Emory University Atlanta, GA	95	Standout	16	0.6%	–	10%
7	University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA	95	Standout	29	0.3%	1.38×	11%
8	Chapman University Orange, CA	95	Standout	100	4.8%	1.28×	72%
9	Northeastern University Boston, MA	94	Standout	14	0.3%	–	5%
10	Yale University New Haven, CT	94	Standout	18	1%	–	5%
11	Columbia University New York, NY	93	Standout	8	0.3%	–	5%
12	The University of Texas–Austin Austin, TX	93	Standout	64	0.6%	1.21×	27%
13	New York University New York, NY	93	Standout	418	5.6%	1.05×	9%
14	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN	92	Standout	6	0.2%	–	6%
15	University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI	92	Standout	17	0.2%	–	45%
16	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT	92	Standout	42	0.7%	1.23×	87%
17	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL	92	Standout	65	0.7%	1.09×	24%
18	University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA	91	Standout	14	0.2%	–	17%
19	University of Washington Seattle, WA	91	Standout	28	0.3%	–	39%
20	Syracuse University Syracuse, NY	91	Standout	61	1.5%	1.09×	46%
21	Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA	91	Standout	128	7.2%	1.22×	45%
22	Binghamton University–SUNY Binghamton, NY	90	Standout	14	0.4%	1.19×	37%
23	Brown University Providence, RI	90	Standout	8	0.4%	–	5%
24	Williams College Williamstown, MA	90	Standout	8	1%	–	9%
25	Tulane University of Louisiana New Orleans, LA	90	Standout	10	0.4%	–	14%
26	Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA	89	Standout	30	0.4%	–	55%
27	The Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA	89	Standout	33	0.3%	1.11×	61%
28	The University of Oklahoma Norman, OK	89	Standout	46	1%	1.18×	77%
29	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT	89	Standout	22	0.4%	–	54%
30	CUNY–Hunter College New York, NY	89	Standout	28	0.8%	–	54%
31	University of Massachusetts–Amherst Amherst, MA	88	Standout	22	0.3%	–	60%
32	Baylor University Waco, TX	88	Standout	30	0.8%	1.13×	52%
33	University of Maryland, College Park College Park, MD	88	Standout	34	0.4%	1.03×	45%
34	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA	88	Standout	142	2.3%	1.00×	10%
35	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	88	Standout	4	0.3%	–	6%
36	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	87	Standout	3	0.1%	–	5%
37	University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH	87	Standout	62	0.9%	1.34×	85%
38	Stanford University Stanford, CA	87	Standout	6	0.4%	–	4%
39	Brandeis University Waltham, MA	87	Standout	8	0.6%	1.45×	40%
40	University of Florida Gainesville, FL	87	Standout	60	0.6%	1.03×	20%
41	Elon University Elon, NC	87	Standout	40	2.2%	–	66%
42	California State University–Sacramento Sacramento, CA	86	Standout	29	0.4%	1.18×	92%
43	Arizona State University Tempe, AZ	86	Standout	48	0.3%	1.03×	88%
44	Hamilton College Clinton, NY	86	Standout	8	1.2%	–	14%
45	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ	86	Standout	38	0.5%	1.10×	86%
46	Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA	86	Standout	58	3.1%	0.99×	11%
47	Pomona College Claremont, CA	85	Standout	6	1.3%	–	7%
48	Trinity College Hartford, CT	85	Standout	10	1.4%	–	30%
49	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA	85	Standout	63	1.4%	1.12×	72%
50	University of South Florida Tampa, FL	85	Standout	24	0.2%	1.13×	43%
51	University of Georgia Athens, GA	85	Standout	22	0.2%	1.07×	38%
52	University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN	85	Standout	46	0.5%	1.07×	80%
53	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL	85	Standout	88	0.6%	1.06×	43%
54	George Washington University Washington, DC	84	Standout	6	0.2%	–	47%
55	Miami University–Oxford Oxford, OH	84	Standout	15	0.3%	1.34×	75%
56	San Diego State University San Diego, CA	84	Standout	46	0.5%	1.04×	37%
57	Wesleyan University Middletown, CT	84	Standout	19	1.6%	–	16%
58	Middlebury College Middlebury, VT	84	Standout	9	1.1%	–	11%
59	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA	83	Standout	8	0.3%	–	16%
60	Tufts University Medford, MA	83	Standout	5	0.2%	–	11%
61	Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA	83	Standout	4	0.7%	–	7%
62	Amherst College Amherst, MA	83	Standout	6	0.8%	–	9%
63	Rutgers University–New Brunswick Piscataway, NJ	83	Standout	42	0.5%	1.06×	58%
64	San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA	83	Standout	34	0.6%	1.11×	96%
65	Pepperdine University Malibu, CA	83	Standout	15	1.7%	1.25×	63%
66	George Mason University Fairfax, VA	82	Standout	34	0.5%	1.13×	87%
67	University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA	82	Standout	32	0.5%	1.09×	38%
68	Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO	82	Standout	6	0.2%	–	12%
69	University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA	82	Standout	91	1%	1.01×	29%
70	Lafayette College Easton, PA	82	Standout	8	1%	–	31%
71	Hofstra University Hempstead, NY	82	Standout	34	2.4%	1.10×	68%
72	Fordham University New York, NY	81	Standout	33	1.3%	1.15×	59%
73	Wake Forest University Winston Salem, NC	81	Standout	4	0.3%	–	22%
74	Indiana University–Bloomington Bloomington, IN	81	Standout	36	0.5%	1.02×	78%
75	American University Washington, DC	81	Standout	18	0.9%	–	62%
76	University of California San Diego La Jolla, CA	81	Standout	55	0.6%	1.03×	29%
77	University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC	81	Standout	22	0.3%	1.03×	17%
78	Colgate University Hamilton, NY	81	Standout	5	0.5%	–	14%
79	Drexel University Philadelphia, PA	80	Standout	9	0.2%	–	70%
80	Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA	80	Standout	8	0.5%	–	48%
81	Purdue University–Main Campus West Lafayette, IN	80	Standout	9	0.1%	–	50%
82	Duke University Durham, NC	80	Standout	2	0.1%	–	5%
83	The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL	80	Standout	28	0.4%	–	71%
84	University of Missouri Columbia, MO	80	Standout	14	0.3%	–	78%
85	Bates College Lewiston, ME	80	Standout	6	1.1%	–	13%
86	Kenyon College Gambier, OH	79	Strong	12	2%	–	31%
87	Occidental College Los Angeles, CA	79	Strong	8	1.4%	–	45%
88	Wellesley College Wellesley, MA	79	Strong	4	0.5%	–	14%
89	Boston University Boston, MA	79	Strong	55	1.1%	0.97×	13%
90	University of New Hampshire Durham, NH	79	Strong	20	0.7%	1.13×	88%
91	University at Buffalo–SUNY Buffalo, NY	79	Strong	30	0.5%	1.13×	81%
92	University of Nebraska – Lincoln Lincoln, NE	79	Strong	16	0.4%	1.11×	87%
93	University of Tennessee–Knoxville Knoxville, TN	78	Strong	14	0.2%	1.03×	42%
94	University of Kansas Lawrence, KS	78	Strong	21	0.5%	–	93%
95	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA	78	Strong	3	0.2%	–	5%
96	Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME	78	Strong	2	0.4%	–	7%
97	William & Mary Williamsburg, VA	78	Strong	6	0.3%	–	34%
98	Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA	78	Strong	49	1%	1.09×	84%
99	DePaul University Chicago, IL	78	Strong	85	2.7%	1.09×	76%
100	Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX	77	Strong	27	1%	1.05×	48%

542 more schools are on the full theater ranking.

How this ranking works

Updated October 18, 2026. Sources: early-career pay for graduates of each program, by field of study (College Scorecard), graduates per year in the major (IPEDS), undergraduate courses listed in each department's current catalog, and the student body's test scores. Inputs that are missing for a school are dropped and the rest reweighted; programs with fewer than five graduates a year are capped at 30. Scores are relative to the other schools covered, from 0 to 100.

To cite: prefrosh.ai, "Best colleges for theater," updated October 18, 2026, https://prefrosh.ai/majors/theater. For a specific student's chances at these schools, use Chance me, which reads odds from the student's own high school's admissions chart.

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Best colleges for theater

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