Communication & Media Studies at Western Illinois University

If you plan to study communication and media studies, take a look at what Western Illinois University has to offer and decide if the program is a good match for you. Get started with the following essential facts.

WIU is located in Macomb, Illinois and has a total student population of 7,490. In 2021, 70 communications majors received their bachelor's degree from WIU.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Communication & Media Studies section at the bottom of this page.

WIU Communication & Media Studies Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Communications

Online Classes Are Available at WIU

Online courses are a good option for students who need a more flexible schedule that allows them to pursue an education when and where they want. Whether you're going to school part-time or full-time, you may find distance education the right choice for you.

For those who are interested in distance learning, WIU does offer online courses in communications for the following degree levels:

• Bachelor’s Degree

WIU Communication & Media Studies Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the communications progam at WIU 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 communications major at WIU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Communication & Media Studies. 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
	220
Most Focused Communication & Media Studies Schools	330

Earnings of WIU Communications Graduates

The median salary of communications students who receive their bachelor's degree at WIU is $36,104. This is 11% higher than $32,435, which is the national average for all communications bachelor's degree recipients.

Communications Student Demographics at WIU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the communications majors at Western Illinois University.

WIU Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Program

Of the 70 students who graduated with a bachelor’s in communications from WIU in 2021, 34% were men and 66% were women.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 10% more racial-ethnic minorities in its communications bachelor's program than the national average.*

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	21
Hispanic or Latino	9
White	35
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	5

WIU also has a doctoral program available in communications. In 2021, 0 student graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Journalism
• Communication & Journalism (Other)
• Radio, Television & Digital Communication

Careers That Communications Grads May Go Into

A degree in communications can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for IL, the home state for Western Illinois University.

Occupation	Jobs in IL	Average Salary in IL
Public Relations Specialists	7,360	$66,220
Editors	3,830	$62,590
Writers and Authors	1,880	$68,710
Communications Professors	1,810	$78,810
Reporters and Correspondents	1,260	$53,610

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 IlliniGradResearch under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.