2024 Best Colleges for Drama
There are about 33,239 students enrolled in Drama in the USA.
Menu: summary
popularity
Above Average
Compared to national avg.
Diplomas received last year
11,758
Vs. National Avg.
-26%
popularity Rank
#83
cost
Average
Compared to national avg.
Median degree cost
$28K
Vs. National Avg.
15%
cost Rank
#179
salary
Below Average
Compared to national avg.
Average Salary Two Years Out of School
$42K
Vs. National Avg.
4%
salary Rank
#216
professors
Average
Compared to national avg.
Professor Rating
C+
Vs. National Avg.
5%
professors Rank
#190
students
Average
Compared to national avg.
Diversity Rating
B-
Vs. National Avg.
3%
students Rank
#186
SUMMARY
Majoring in Drama is a valuable choice and usually a requisite first step for pupils aspiring to enter a career as a stage actor, a stage manager, or a dance therapist. Interestingly, drama is of average popularity ranking as the 50th most popular major. Last academic year, there were 9,323 drama graduates. In-state tuition for drama at private schools is, on average, 4.4 times more costly than their public equivalents.
With an impressive 810 universities having programs for drama chances are that any schools you are considering will have an option for you. If you're hoping to surround yourself with other drama majors, consider schools in New York which have more undergrads admitted to drama than any other state. Zooming out, the best region to major in drama is in the Southeast region with University of Central Florida, Florida State University, and James Madison University best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick of the top conference to study drama is the University Athletic Association with Brandeis University, New York University, and Carnegie Mellon University representing the conference. Based on our comprehensive list on the best colleges, our choice for the best university for drama is Stanford University.
The overall best school does not have to be the 'best' school for you. There might be many more angels to think about when choosing college. Features such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food could alter your choice of where to go to university. At Authority, we weighed the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you want to know which drama college is home to the best campus, the answer is New York University. If, for example, you are very interested in which university has the finest campus, then we have an entire page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through professor reviews, student reviews, government databases, and more to evaluate each major in an unbiased and informative way. You can explore our well researched list for the universities with the best student life here and from that list, our choice of the school with the best student life for drama is Barnard College. Curious why? Continue reading to learn more about our top selections. Many of our decisions just might shock you.
If cost is a primary influence in your decision on where to go to university, you might be cautious about Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York appears to be our most expensive university for drama, at least regarding out of state students. We do have an entire page for the most expensive universities that might put the expense of Columbia University in the City of New York into perspective. Additionally, you could be interested to know that drama is the 23rd most expensive program in the nation, with an average bill of $53,500. To zoom out a little, the most costly state for drama on our list is District of Columbia with costs at the main two schools American University and Georgetown University of $49,070 and $55,440 respectively. To zoom out even further, the most expensive region for drama is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Wesleyan University with a cost of $56,704, Boston College with a cost of $56,780, and Brown University with a cost of $57,112.
Our cheapest region for drama is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Brigham Young University-Idaho with a cost of $4,208, Brigham Young University-Provo with a cost of $5,790, and Weber State University with a cost of $14,973. On the bright side, the most affordable school for drama is Florida State University. Authority's entire list of the most affordable schools can be found here.
In-state attendees can anticipate paying in the neighborhood of $10,100 for a degree in drama. That cost balloons by a lot to an average of $23,700 for an out-of-state public-school student. On that note, our choice for the university constituting the best value for drama: Stanford University. Here you can see our comprehensive list for the schools we believe to be the best value in general. With that said, this discussion is based on the assumption that you are an out-of-state student. The value proposition changes when in-state tuition is considered, as such, we are using out-of-state tuition as the baseline.
Earnings for drama majors can cover a wide range, but within two years graduation students will typically make in the neighborhood of $49,100. While there is a lot of variation in salary; highest paid earners can experience pay up to $102,500. Straight out of university, the lowest earning jobs within the drama field make $24,000, which isn't that bad. The top earning grads from drama have come from Stanford University and if you want to find the colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.
The general diversity of drama is decent, coming in the 61st percentile of all programs. The school with the highest composite diversity for drama is Carnegie Mellon University and here you can find our comprehensive list for the colleges which have the most diversity. The financial diversity of the Drama major only is in the 31st percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is actually above financial diversity, in the 53rd percentile. White collegians compose the largest proportion at 61% of those majoring in drama. Additionally, 64% of scholars pursuing a drama degree are women.
The median ranking of drama professors is 4.5 stars, a rating that is 13% higher than the average for all majors; which is a fairly good score. If you are curious about the most popular drama instructor in the nation, look no further than Bradetta Vines at Bellevue College. It may be surprising, but the best ranked instructors for drama from student rankings are at University of Arkansas. If we including data other than simply rankings it becomes clear that the school with the overall best professors for drama is Stanford University. One can find more detail on our ever evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, as well as many of the top professors in the country.
Finally, the most difficult college to get into for drama is Stanford University. While we are unsure why you would be interested, we do have a general page for the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, we do hope you understand that looking at the higher education world with a lens primarily shaped by superlatives could cause issues. We encourage you to look at some of our other pages on individual universities and peruse a few of Authority's background 'blog posts' on beneficial things to consider as you continue your school search.
Top 25 Best Colleges for Drama
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#4 2024 Best Colleges for Drama
Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY | www.columbia.edu/
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#15 2024 Best Colleges for Drama
University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Winston Salem, NC | www.uncsa.edu/
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#24 2024 Best Colleges for Drama
California Institute of the Arts
Valencia, CA | https://www.calarts.edu/
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