If interested the annual Hollywood reporter came out with its list of top 25 MFA ACTING PROGRAMS.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/25-best-drama-schools-an-acting-degree-ranked-1112232
They also do a top 5 alphabetical order list for BFA programs.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/5-best-undergrad-drama-schools-an-acting-degree-1112148/item/best-undergrad-drama-schools-carnegie-mellon-university-1112150
As every time a new list comes out - let the fireworks begin…
Lol. @toowonderful you are correct. I liked this one as it focused on MFAs. I have noticed in the past couple years the Hollywood Reporter seems to focus at that level more than the BFA world.
No list is 100%. I often shake my head in confusion when reading them. But it can be nice to read about some of the schools. There are some i didn’t know much about on the MFA list.
@bfahopeful - I found a number of interesting schools and surprises on the MFA list as well. But I imagine fireworks (if they come) would come from the top 5 undergrad list 
I fully agree with the notion that all lists are inherently flawed, and 5 hardly seems a rational number. But still, lists are often a hot button topic
^^agree. And will add that the only “top school” that matters is the top school for each individual student. No matter any random ranking, the best school is the school that is best for a particular student. And it does not matter at all if it is on some list someplace.
It always interests me when a list notes the number of Tisch grads on Broadway. No, I am not dissing Tisch–many, many wonderful actors have come from there! But for one thing, they have ten studios (even if they only accept 10 students per school, that’s 100 students graduating from Tisch each year), it’s hard to compare that to the number of grads on Broadway from any other school. If CMU accepted 100 students per year, their numbers of grads on Broadway would skyrocket as well. Besides, this article supposedly lists undergrad drama schools and then they cite Playbill’s list of who’s on Broadway, when a solid 15 of the 43 on the Playbill list didn’t go to Tisch undergrad (some MFAs, some went to Steinhardt, one even attended CAP21, but not the actual CAP21 Tisch studio but the standalone–some of the performers who did go to Tisch went for BFA Dance, which is terrific, but misleading to quote figures from a Playbill article to support Tisch’s inclusion on undergrad drama schools). Again, no hate here for Tisch–good school, but always interesting to see.
@lovetoact - you are entirely correct about “volume” of Tisch grads - but I think of you looked at it proportionally, their rate on bway is about the same as many other schools that take a much smaller number. At any rate, it is very rare to see a playbill that doesn’t include at least one.
@lovetoact This is why it’s foolish to put any stock in these lists, regardless of who compiles them. To look at the number of any school’s grads on Broadway as the only measure of success doesn’t provide prospective students with valuable information.
I agree @alwaysamom
I really just enjoyed reading about the MFA schools i didn’t know much about and thought maybe it would expand some people’s lists of where they may look or apply. The Hollywood reporter lists of BFA programs in the past 3 years or so has been all over the place. And with large errors a few years back. (sounds like the MFA list has errors too).
Maybe i should not have posted it. Really just hoped it would allow someone to explore a program they had never thought of before.
@bfahopeful, oh, I wasn’t saying that the lists shouldn’t be posted. They are fun to read, and to shake your head at. 
I just wouldn’t want prospective students to rely to any real degree on any of these ranking lists.
An MFA I was pleased to see “make the list” (for what that’s worth) was Case Western Reserve. My D’s long time voice teacher (who is such a lovely person) left BW to be part of Case’s program. They sure seem to be making themselves one to watch
Thanks for posting.
I’m a little shocked NY Tisch is ranked in the top 5. This writer seems a bit uninformed. Most top tier kids aren’t auditioning for NY Tisch and the ones that are most are just using it as a backup.
@2lights, where on earth are you getting the idea that top tier kids aren’t auditioning for NY Tisch? That
sounds like an uninformed opinion to me (unless you have some actual evidence to back it up). NYU appears on most Top 10 BFA lists, from what I’ve seen. (Not always Top 5, because there’s about 15 or so programs that are usually considered “the top”, so it’s a subjective opinion which of those 15 are the VERY top. But NYU is certainly among those “top 15” programs.)
While NYU Tisch is probably in the top 15 it’s clearly not a top 5 school for acting anymore. Ask around and you’ll see the top acting schools are Julliard, Carnegie, UNCSA, Michigan, Rutgers, Suny- Purchase, Northwestern, Ithica, CCM & USC .Hate to be more blunt. They accept over 100 kids per year. Do you call that exclusive? While 3-5 kids will do very well in each class in the long run you can’t judge a program by the few who attain success. NYU Tisch has some great teachers but if you ask around it’s not a Tier 1 acting school anymore.
My D didn’t apply to NYU because she wants a conservatory program, so I don’t have a dog in this race. But it’s false to say that “top tier” kids don’t apply there. You do realize that you’re insulting lots of kids on this board, right?
NYU has ALWAYS accepted over 100 kids, because it has several studios. What does that have to do with the training?
People can certainly have their own opinions about what programs are “best,” but bashing a program without any supporting evidence doesn’t go over well here.
Ask around, most of the top kids DON"T apply to NYU Tisch and most of the top kids that apply are applying either applying because they only want to be in NYC or applying as a backup. It’s still probably a top 15 school but the article by the Hollywood Reporter shows that they are uninformed. It’s 2018 not 2008. If your child goes there and is happy that’s all that is important. I was at a funeral yesterday and a parent was trying to tell me Emerson is one of the top MT programs in the country. Is that program OK? Yes it is but it’s nowhere near a top MT program.
@2lights - my D graduated from NYU just over a week ago. At one of the Tisch events they were touting the achievements of recent grads (kids from the last 2-3 years), and the accomplishments were beyond impressive: Broadway, movies, tv, you name it. If NYU was their backup school (which I don’t believe for a second) then the backup worked just fine.
I recall from your previous posts that you are not a fan of NYU. That’s fine, no one likes every school. But it appears on virtually every “top” list, and has an outstanding record of producing working performers. For the kids I know who attended (D and her friends) NYU was their dream - not their backup. Out of idle curiosity - why do you think NYU was more impressive in 2008 than it is in 2018? (Which you mention in the comment above)
Also, I happen to think Emerson has a very impressive MT program - but maybe that’s just me. D did not apply there, but she had friends who attended and loved it- several of whom have graduated and are working now
If people would be a little more honest on this board I think you would see MANY people feel the way I do. With over 100 kids in the acting program for every year of course they will put out some kids in Broadway, movies, TV and straight plays. There are over 400 kids in the program. They better have some successes with that many in each class. Of course for many kids NYU Tisch is there dream school and that is great. If you think it’s a tippy top acting school I think your not in touch with what is going on today not 10 years ago. Minnesota was great also, clearly a top 10 school but I heard Joe Price and another top woman there are leaving . Price I heard is headed for Missouri. Pace right now is probably getting better kids than NYU. Just saying what I hear and see.There are tons of good programs. I’m not saying NYU is a bad program. I’m just saying it’s not a destination for the top tier kids anymore.
@2lights… well, then I suppose that was just $200k down the drain for me. Ah well, whatcha gonna do. Probably ought to call the kid and tell her just to throw in the towel since she’s not a top tier kid