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2023 Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools

67 Colleges
$56,176 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 66,787 communication and media studies students received their degrees and certificates, making the major the #10 most popular in the country.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

The Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 67 schools in the United States to see which doctor's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for students. Factors related to overall quality of the school, post-graduation earnings, average student debt, and more accumulated were considered when coming up with this list.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States

The colleges and universities below are the best for communications majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Top 10 Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools

#1

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

Our 2023 rankings named University of Pennsylvania the best school in the United States for communication and media studies students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

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#2

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at Northwestern University

#3

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

Out of the 67 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Cornell University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at Cornell University

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best communication and media studies schools in the United States. Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend The University of Texas at Austin. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public school with a very large student population.

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University of Southern California came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Full Communication & Media Studies at University of Southern California Report

University of Wisconsin - Madison came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Full Communication & Media Studies at University of Wisconsin - Madison Report

#8

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

Purdue University - Main Campus landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree communication and media studies programs. Located in the small city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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Columbia University in the City of New York landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree communication and media studies programs. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York

With a ranking of #10, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did quite well on this year’s best schools for communication and media studies students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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 Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
12 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
13 University of California - Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA

Communication & Media Studies by Region

View the Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

Communication & Media Studies is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Relations & Advertising 21,099
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 17,669
Journalism 13,552
Communication & Journalism (Other) 1,128
Publishing 336

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to UNU-WIDER from Helsinki, Finland.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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