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Best Communication & Media Studies Master's Degree Schools

2023 Best Communication & Media Studies Master's Degree Schools

239 Colleges
$47,692 Avg Salary

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

#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 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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#2

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

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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#3

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD

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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#4

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

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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#5

Drake University

Des Moines, IA

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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#7

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

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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#8

Villanova University

Villanova, PA

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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#11

Fairfield University

Fairfield, CT

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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#13

University of Delaware

Newark, DE

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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#14

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

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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#15

Texas Christian University

Fort Worth, TX

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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#16

University of Dayton

Dayton, OH

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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#17

James Madison University

Harrisonburg, VA

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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#18

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

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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#20

George Washington University

Washington, DC

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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#23

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA

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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#24

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

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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Rest of the Top Best Communication & Media Studies Master's Degree Schools

#27

Wake Forest University

Winston-Salem, NC
#29

American University

Washington, DC
#34

Westminster College Utah

Salt Lake City, UT
#35

Saint Louis University

Saint Louis, MO

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
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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