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Santa Barbara, CA · Theater & drama

Theater & drama at UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara graduates about 32 theater majors a year. That puts it 67th of 642 schools we score for theater, a standout program at 82 out of 100. Graduates in the major earn a median $44,000 four years out, 1.09× what the same major pays nationally.

82/100Standout#67 of 642 for theater →
Graduates a year32under 1% of the class
Median pay 4 years out$44,0001.09× the same major nationally
Research in the field$291Ka year, NSF
Admit rate38%whole school

Around UC Santa Barbara

This is an image of Wisp performing in Santa Barbara in 2025.
Wisp-1 croppedPhoto: Elijah Chuc · CC0 · source
The East Asian Library in Davidson Library, UCSB
East Asian Library of UCSBPhoto: AndyHe829 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
the Ti-Nspire CX ii CAS
CxcasiiPhoto: Prezi2 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Oneweb mission. This one involved the booster returning to base.
Spacex Launch as seen from UCSB (54239527832)Photo: Glenn Beltz from Goleta, CA, USA · CC BY 2.0 · source

Where theater happens

Buildings on campus that fit the field: Theater and Dance West Auditorium, Theater and Dance East, Theater and Dance West, Pollock Theater.

Named buildings on the campus map: Academic 125 · Student housing 31 · Dorm 25 · Athletics 10 · Arts 7 · Dining 5.

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Nearby in the theater ranking

  1. Rutgers University–New Brunswick 83
  2. San Francisco State University 83
  3. Pepperdine University 83
  4. George Mason University 82
  5. Washington University in St. Louis 82
  6. University of California, Irvine 82
  7. Lafayette College 82
  8. Hofstra University 82

Other strong majors at UC Santa Barbara

How the score works

The score is out of 100 and compares UC Santa Barbara with every school we score in theater. It 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+ is a standout program, 65+ strong, 45+ solid. Sources: US Department of Education (College Scorecard, IPEDS), NSF HERD, each school's current course catalog, OpenStreetMap and Wikimedia Commons.

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