2024 Best Dance Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

When it comes to popularity, a master's degree in dance sits in the middle of the road, ranking #196 out of 343 majors in the country. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.

In 2024, College Factual analyzed 7 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Dance Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 29 master's degrees in dance during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Dance School for Your Master's Degree

The dance master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality dance program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to dance students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other dance students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt dance students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized dance related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for dance students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Dance Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Dance Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Dance in the Southwest Region

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for dance students seeking a a master's degree.

Top Southwest Region Schools for a Master's in Dance

1

The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

The University of Texas at Austin is a great choice for individuals pursuing a master's degree in dance. UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the city of Austin.More information about a master’s in dance from The University of Texas at Austin

2

Texas Woman's University
Denton, TX

15 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in dance has to check out Texas Woman's University. TWU is a large public university located in the city of Denton.More information about a master’s in dance from Texas Woman’s University

3

Arizona State University - Tempe
Tempe, AZ

6 Annual Graduates

Arizona State University - Tempe is a good choice for students pursuing a master's degree in dance. Located in the medium-sized city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in dance from Arizona State University - Tempe

4

Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, TX

1 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Sam Houston State University if you want to pursue a master's degree in dance. SHSU is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Huntsville.More information about a master’s in dance from Sam Houston State University

5

University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

4 Annual Graduates

University of Arizona is a very large public university located in the city of Tucson.More information about a master’s in dance from University of Arizona

6

Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX

Located in the city of Lubbock, Texas Tech is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in dance from Texas Tech University

6

University of New Mexico - Main Campus
Albuquerque, NM

1 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Albuquerque, UNM is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in dance from University of New Mexico - Main Campus

7

University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
Norman, OK

2 Annual Graduates

University of Oklahoma is a very large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Norman.More information about a master’s in dance from University of Oklahoma Norman Campus

Best Dance Colleges by State

Explore the best dance schools for a specific state in the Southwest Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Texas	235	16
Arizona	180	10
Oklahoma	153	2
New Mexico	114	1

View All Rankings >

Dance Related Rankings by Major

Dance is one of 10 different types of Visual & Performing Arts programs to choose from.

Dance Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Dance	29

Majors Similar to Dance

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Music	636
Fine & Studio Arts	219
Drama & Theater Arts	114
Design & Applied Arts	87
Arts & Media Management	31
General Visual & Performing Arts	16
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	2

Notes and References

• 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 Jazzart Dance Theatre. More about our data sources and methodologies.