2023 Best Communication & Media Studies Master's Degree Schools
Finding the Best Communication & Media Studies Master'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.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Communication & Media Studies Master's Degree Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 239 schools in the United States to see which master'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 Master’s Degree Schools in the United States
Check out the communications master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best education that money can buy.
Top 25 Top Schools for a Master's in Communication & Media Studies
Our 2023 rankings named University of Pennsylvania the best school in the United States for communication and media studies students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
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Out of the 239 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Northwestern University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Johns Hopkins University is a great place for communication and media studies students working on their master’s degree. Johns Hopkins is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Baltimore.
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The excellent master’s degree programs at Cornell University 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 city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Drake University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Communication & Media Studies Master’s Degree Schools list. Drake is a small private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Des Moines.
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Columbia University in the City of New York did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and media studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.
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Purdue University - Main Campus ranked #7 on this year’s Best Communication & Media Studies Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the small city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public school with a very large student population.
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Villanova University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and media studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the suburb of Villanova, Villanova is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
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University of Southern California ranked #9 on this year’s Best Communication & Media Studies Master’s Degree Schools list. USC is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.
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With a ranking of #10, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities did quite well on this year’s best schools for communication and media studies students working on their master’s degree. UMN Twin Cities is a very large public school located in the city of Minneapolis.
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Fairfield University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and media studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #11 on the list. Located in the large suburb of Fairfield, Fairfield U is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and media studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #12 on the list. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public school with a fairly large student population.
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University of Delaware ranked #13 on this year’s Best Communication & Media Studies Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the suburb of Newark, UD is a public school with a fairly large student population.
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Stanford University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and media studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #14 on the list. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Stanford.
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Texas Christian University landed the #15 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree communication and media studies programs. TCU is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Fort Worth.
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With a ranking of #16, University of Dayton did quite well on this year’s best schools for communication and media studies students working on their master’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Dayton, UDayton is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
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James Madison University came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Best Communication & Media Studies Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public school with a very large student population.
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University of Iowa landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree communication and media studies programs. Iowa is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Iowa City.
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University of Wisconsin - Madison did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and media studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #19 on the list. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public school with a fairly large student population.
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George Washington University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and media studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #20 on the list. GWU is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Washington.
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With a ranking of #21, University of California - Santa Barbara did quite well on this year’s best schools for communication and media studies students working on their master’s degree. Located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public college with a very large student population.
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University of Washington - Seattle Campus came in at #22 in this year’s edition of the Best Communication & Media Studies Master’s Degree Schools ranking. UW Seattle is a very large public school located in the city of Seattle.
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Virginia Tech did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and media studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #23 on the list. Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Blacksburg.
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University of San Francisco did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for communication and media studies students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #24 on the list. USFCA is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Francisco.
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With a ranking of #25, South Dakota State University did quite well on this year’s best schools for communication and media studies students working on their master’s degree. Located in the remote town of Brookings, South Dakota State is a public college with a large student population.
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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 Master's Degree Schools award.
Rank | College | Location |
---|---|---|
36 | University of Nevada - Reno | Reno, NV |
37 | Bryant University | Smithfield, RI |
38 | Brigham Young University - Provo | Provo, UT |
39 | University of Florida | Gainesville, FL |
40 | University of Georgia | Athens, GA |
41 | University of Arizona | Tucson, AZ |
42 | Ohio State University - Main Campus | Columbus, OH |
43 | University of Denver | Denver, CO |
44 | University of Northern Iowa | Cedar Falls, IA |
45 | Northeastern University Professional Advancement Network | Boston, MA |
46 | Marquette University | Milwaukee, WI |
47 | University of Nebraska at Omaha | Omaha, NE |
Communication & Media Studies by Region
View the Best Communication & Media Studies Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.
Region |
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Southeast |
New England |
Rocky Mountains |
Plains States |
Middle Atlantic |
Far Western US |
Southwest |
Great Lakes |
More Communication & Media Studies Rankings
Communication & Media Studies Related Rankings by Major
Communication & Media Studies is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.
Most Popular Related Majors
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.