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2024 Best Drama & Theater Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

70 Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
2,083 Bachelor's Degrees
$21,812 Avg Early-Career Salary
Drama & Theater Arts is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #38 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

College Factual looked at 70 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Drama & Theater Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,083 bachelor's degrees in drama & theater arts during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Drama & Theater Arts School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best Drama & Theater Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region Your choice of drama & theater arts for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality theater program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for drama & theater arts students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Theater Rankings Other Ranking Categories

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Drama & Theater Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Drama & Theater Arts in the Great Lakes Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in drama & theater arts. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Theater

1
98 Annual Graduates
$23,935 Median Starting Salary
$17,000 Median Student Debt

Northwestern University is a good option for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in drama & theater arts. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.

Those drama & theater arts students who get their bachelor's degree from Northwestern University earn $2,123 more than the average theater grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from Northwestern University

2
58 Annual Graduates
$41,882 Median Starting Salary
$19,000 Median Student Debt

University of Notre Dame is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in drama & theater arts. Located in the large suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Those drama & theater arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Notre Dame make $20,070 more than the average theater grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from University of Notre Dame

3
72 Annual Graduates
$24,105 Median Starting Salary
$20,798 Median Student Debt

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is a great decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in drama & theater arts. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.

Those drama & theater arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor make $2,293 more than the standard theater grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

4
20 Annual Graduates

University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in drama & theater arts. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from University of Wisconsin - Madison

5
70 Annual Graduates
$27,520 Median Starting Salary
$25,980 Median Student Debt

UC is a very large public university located in the large city of Cincinnati.

Bachelor's recipients from the drama & theater arts major at University of Cincinnati - Main Campus earn $5,708 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

6
33 Annual Graduates
$21,928 Median Starting Salary
$20,500 Median Student Debt

Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.

After graduating, theater bachelor's recipients typically make around $21,928 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

7
DePaul crest
DePaul University
Chicago, IL
62 Annual Graduates
$24,597 Median Starting Salary
$26,348 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the drama & theater arts degree program at DePaul University get $2,785 above the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from DePaul University

8
Michigan State crest
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI
37 Annual Graduates
$24,128 Median Starting Salary
$22,250 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a very large student population.

Drama & Theater Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Michigan State University get an earnings boost of around $2,316 over the average income of drama & theater arts graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from Michigan State University

9

Purdue is a fairly large public university located in the city of West Lafayette.

Drama & Theater Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Purdue University - Main Campus get an earnings boost of around $3,190 over the average income of drama & theater arts graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from Purdue University - Main Campus

10
148 Annual Graduates
$20,854 Median Starting Salary
$26,977 Median Student Debt

Located in the large city of Chicago, Columbia is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

Soon after graduation, theater bachelor's recipients typically earn an average of $20,854 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in drama & theater arts from Columbia College Chicago

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Drama & Theater Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.

Rank College Location
11 Indiana University - Bloomington Bloomington, IN
12 Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH
13 University of Evansville Evansville, IN
14 Millikin University Decatur, IL
15 Illinois State University Normal, IL
16 Kent State University at Kent Kent, OH
17 Miami University - Oxford Oxford, OH

Best Drama & Theater Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best drama & theater arts colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Michigan 261 332
Ohio 252 453
Illinois 241 746
Indiana 235 296
Wisconsin 213 256

View All Rankings >

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

Theater Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Theater Arts 1,351
Acting 234
Musical Theater 207
Theater Design & Technology 171
Comedy Writing and Performance 42
Theatre and Dance 22
Directing & Theatrical Production 18
Other Dramatic/Theatre Arts & Stagecraft 18
Theatre Literature, History & Criticism 11
Playwriting & Screenwriting 7

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 3,674
Design & Applied Arts 3,230
Music 2,369
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,290
Arts & Media Management 394
Dance 315
General Visual & Performing Arts 190
Other Visual Art 92
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry 23

Notes and References

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