Public Relations & Advertising at American University

If you are interested in studying public relations and advertising, you may want to check out the program at American University. The following information will help you decide if it is a good fit for you.

The American University is located in Washington, District of Columbia and approximately 14,001 students attend the school each year. In 2021, 100 public relations majors received their bachelor's degree from The American University.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Public Relations & Advertising section at the bottom of this page.

The American University Public Relations & Advertising Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Public Relations
• Master’s Degree in Public Relations

The American University Public Relations & Advertising Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the public relations progam at The American University compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: While rankings may be a good starting point when you're researching a school, they don't necessarily highlight all of a school's strengths. Don't forget to check out the other details that are available for a school to see if it has what you're looking for in a program.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The public relations major at The American University is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Public Relations & Advertising. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Best Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor’s Degree Schools	15
Most Focused Public Relations & Advertising Master’s Degree Schools	32
Most Popular Public Relations & Advertising Schools	42
Most Focused Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor’s Degree Schools	94

In 2021, 25 students received their master’s degree in public relations from The American University. This makes it the #29 most popular school for public relations master’s degree candidates in the country.

Earnings of The American University Public Relations Graduates

The median salary of public relations students who receive their bachelor's degree at The American University is $45,098. This is great news for graduates of the program, since this figure is 22% higher than the national average of $36,826 for all public relations bachelor's degree recipients.

Public Relations Student Demographics at The American University

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the public relations majors at American University.

The American University Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor’s Program

The public relations program at The American University awarded 100 bachelor's degrees in 2020-2021. About 20% of these degrees went to men with the other 80% going to women.

About 57% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in public relations at The American University are white. This is typical for this degree on the nationwide level. Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 1% more racial-ethnic minorities in its public relations bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from American University with a bachelor's in public relations.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	8
Black or African American	5
Hispanic or Latino	16
White	57
International Students	8
Other Races/Ethnicities	6

The American University Public Relations & Advertising Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 25 public relations majors earned their master's degree from The American University. Of these graduates, 32% were men and 68% were women. Nationwide, master's degree programs only see 28% men graduate in public relations each year. The American University does a better job at serving the male population as it supports 4% more men than average.

In the public relations master's program at this school, racial-ethnic minorities make up 36% of degree recipients. That is 4% better than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from American University with a master's in public relations.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	3
Hispanic or Latino	4
White	11
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	5

The American University also has a doctoral program available in public relations. In 2021, 0 student graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Journalism
• Communication & Media Studies

Careers That Public Relations Grads May Go Into

A degree in public relations can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for DC, the home state for American University.

Occupation	Jobs in DC	Average Salary in DC
Public Relations Specialists	17,310	$107,490
Public Relations and Fundraising Managers	5,390	$188,050
Editors	3,330	$89,710
Reporters and Correspondents	1,610	$100,550
Community Health Workers	810	$61,770

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Samschoe under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.