Circle in the Square Theatre School

Fair warning: this is a pretty exclusive school. Only 54 students (if that) are accepted into the two-year program annually, which is likely due to its accreditation and association with a Broadway theater. If you can’t afford to take two years off for their full-time professional workshops ($17,000/year), the summer workshop programs ($3,650) offer the same intense acting training. You can add musical theater techniques for $1,500 and $350, respectively, and be only one degree of separation from Broadway sensation Idina Menzel, a fellow grad.