According to Trevor Giles, executive director of the National Communication Association, “A communications degree is broadly situated to take on a number of different kinds of positions.” Both the public and private sectors employ people in these roles, which range from speech writers to event planners, producers to podcast hosts, and journalists to policymakers.
Students majoring in communications examine how messages are transmitted, received, and perceived by others. Messages may be sent over the Internet and seen by millions of people, or they may be read aloud, visible on a screen, or heard live in a speech. Colleges teach communications students to keep up with these trends because changes in communications occur frequently.
Where does the best education for these communication fields’ future leaders take place? Where can students get real-world experience while also receiving student-centered instruction from knowledgeable professors?
Today’s list features 10 great colleges for communications in the US with top-notch teachers, honors for student work, on-campus training opportunities in the field (such as student newspapers), and employment of graduates in the field.
The 10 Best Colleges for Communications in the US
Table of Contents
Villanova University (Villanova, PA)
Villanova University, which is fewer than 20 miles from Philadelphia, provides communication majors with many chances for student-centered learning. Villanova is a must-see for any future communications student because to its top-notch faculty and more than a century of combined communications experience.
Writing for The Villanovan, the university’s renowned and accredited student-run newspaper that produces 12 issues every semester with 6500 copies each issue, is an opportunity for communications majors. Since the newspaper’s establishment in 1916, it has been published continuously.
In addition, The Villanova Times is a biweekly journal that was accredited by the Collegiate Network in 2009. TVT is totally student-run, and communications majors publish it. Another student-run newspaper is The Belle Air Yearbook, which has been around for almost a century. Students from Villanova have received honorable mentions and national accolades for their yearbooks from a variety of organizations, including the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
Additionally, Villanova has its own student-run television and radio stations where communication students can master production skills by developing original material. While television station WVTV keeps Villanova up to date on current affairs, politics, and college news, radio station WXVU is audible at 89.1 FM and globally via the Internet.
The 10 Best Public Relations Schools in the US
Northwestern University School of Communication (Evanston, IL)
In the past, Northwestern’s communications program was among the most successful in the entire world, graduating many of the most well-known people in the world. Stephen Colbert, Warren Beatty, and award-winning actress Heather Headley are just a few of these alumni.
Northwestern University’s multiple specializations in communications include performing arts, developing digital media, speech-language pathology, and more, in contrast to many other communications schools that concentrate on production, journalism, and broadcasting. Despite all of this, Northwestern’s communications program also offers more conventional instruction in television, cinema, and radio.
Todd Rosenthal, a Tony Award-winning scenic designer, Anna Shapiro, the famed Steppenwolf Theatre’s director, and Dilip Gaonkar, the center’s director, are among the professors who teach in Northwestern’s communications department.
Boston University College of Communication (Boston, MA)
Several Bachelor of Science degrees in particular fields of communications are available from the Boston University College of Communications. Boston University, a university located on the Charles River’s banks, and its students take advantage of the metropolitan chances offered to them in a city teeming with reputable media businesses.
Students studying communications at Boston University have the option of specializing in public relations, media, film and television, or advertising.
a radio station run by students The College Radio Awards in New York City have twice recognized WTBU as College Station of the Year. The College of Communications at Boston University hosts this radio station, which broadcasts 20 hours per day and features sports and news themes curated by the students.
The AdLab and PRLab are two of the College of Communication’s top experiential offerings. These student-run projects aim to give students real-world communications experience while they are still in school. The AdLab and PRLab faithfully carry out this objective by offering businesses and nonprofit organizations in the Boston area paid and free communications services.
University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication (Philadelphia, PA)
One of the Ivy League universities, UPenn is situated in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was established by Benjamin Franklin. UPenn was ranked sixth by Washington Monthly for 2020 and eighth overall by US News and World Report.
There are several resources available to communications students at UPenn. Students and teachers can use the more than a dozen research centers and labs supported by the Annenberg Communications program. The Annenberg Public Policy Center, one of these centers, aids journalists, aspiring content creators, and policymakers in comprehending how media interacts with their line of work.
The University of Pennsylvania gives communications students chances both inside and beyond the classroom thanks to its convenient location in Philadelphia. Students get the opportunity to explore podcast storytelling, virtual reality simulation, and other topics through the school’s Annenberg Creative project.
Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC)
Students majoring in communications attend the College of Arts and Sciences at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The studio communication, debate, and filmmaking programs are three affiliate programs of the communications department. Students majoring in communications contribute to “Wake Studios,” a YouTube channel that features student-run movies, college-produced documentaries, and daily news (The Wake Take).
The debate team, which hosts the Franklin R. Shirley Classic College Debate Tournament on campus each fall, is administered by communications students as well. Wake Forest welcomes colleges and universities from across the nation to compete. The communications department founder at WFU is honored with the naming of this prestigious national debate competition.
The Wake Forest Documentary Film Program is associated with the communications division. In this graduate program, which leads to a Master’s degree, students take classes in storytelling, production, cinematography, and other topics. Hillary Pierce, a graduate of this school, has had work screened at the Sundance Film Festival.
University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (Los Angeles, CA)
A Ph.D. in communications is also available through this distinctive alliance of USC schools, along with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in both journalism and communication. Out of all US universities, the graduate program is ranked first by QS World University Rankings. All of this is necessary since USC Annenberg offers a wide range of excellent possibilities for practical experience.
The student-run television studio, which has a professional-grade, three-camera broadcast studio and an Adobe lab, is where Annenberg TV News is broadcast live. In addition to the chances in the television studio, students also run the Daily Trojan, a daily newspaper, and the Neon Timmy, an online news source.
Students run a house-owned public relations company that works with charities in the greater Los Angeles region. For students majoring in communications, there are also international fellowships that can be used to travel to places like the London School of Economics, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, or Cape Town.
DePaul University College of Communication (Chicago, IL)
The Intercollegiate Broadcasting System selected Radio DePaul the nation’s best college station in 2020. One of the greatest colleges in the nation for this particular degree is the DePaul College of Communication, whose students manage this radio station. The Radio DePaul Podcast, a podcast produced by Radio DePaul, took home the 2016 College Association Pinnacle Award.
Students can take part in The DePaulia, another fascinating opportunity, in addition to Radio DePaul. The newspaper is published online and printed each Monday during the academic year by communications majors. The newspaper’s content is an exact duplicate of what students may anticipate from working for a professional newspaper, with news, sports, the arts, and politics serving as the journal’s main themes.
Alumni of DePaul’s communications school have found employment with companies like MSNBC, Deloitte, Accenture, and others as well as success in the top echelons of the media.
Emerson College School of Communication (Boston, MA)
A prospective students may find everything they’re searching for in a communications degree at Emerson’s School of Communication: teachers with journalistic experience, cutting-edge broadcast facilities, and extensive programs in public relations, journalism, sports communication, and more. Additionally, Emerson Los Angeles, the campus’s new LA outpost offering internships with significant production companies and studios, is open to students majoring in communications.
Numerous programs at Emerson have a significant impact on the education of this school’s communications students. Emerson Launch, a college mentorship program for prospective entrepreneurs, is one of them. As part of this “startup Bootcamp,” students meet with faculty mentors at each stage of a company’s development, from conception through profitability.
These students are among the most accomplished of any student body in a communications department, therefore they are far from being merely academicians. One of them is a student who is running for state representative, another is doing a fellowship in Ireland, and a third is developing a baseball podcast with support from a foundation.
Syracuse University S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications (Syracuse, NY)
The Bandier Program in Recording and Entertainment Industries, one of the most fascinating programs in any communications school, is housed inside the Newhouse School of Public Communications. This unique degree truly aims to prepare students for success in the music industry! them can find internship possibilities in the music industry here, as well as receive access to Bandier’s large alumni network, both of which can help them find employment following graduation.
The Newhouse School is home to one of the greatest journalism programs in the nation aside from the Bandier program. Students in the program, which is formally known as “Broadcast and Digital Journalism,” create broadcasts, report on noteworthy events, and even study the fundamentals of videography. Students from Newhouse University won first place in six different categories of the Mark of Excellence Awards presented by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Graphic Design at Newhouse is another distinctive communications department. This distinguished course exposes students to print, media, and cutting-edge communication areas like augmented reality and voice-activated goods. Emm Comtois (2019), a user experience (UX) designer for Amazon Alexa, is one of the program’s most recent graduates.
Elon University School of Communications (Elon, NC)
Almost every prospective communications student can choose from a number of high-level concentrations offered by Elon University’s School of Communications, including media writing, media production, and even a Master’s program in interactive media.
92% of the class of 2019 graduates from Elon University found a job related to their major within a year of graduation, demonstrating how the university supports students in choosing occupations they care about.
The enormous resources Elon University devotes to communications may be one factor in the success of its communications graduates. A 105,000-square-foot communications complex with four buildings, a digital surround sound theater with 220 seats, a 1.4 million pixel video screen, classrooms, student engagement suites, and more was built in 2017.
Elon University’s Schar Hall, a two-story, 45,000-square-foot building that houses the Kanarick Media Sandbox and Live Oak Communications, the student-run advertising business, is the focal point of the communications complex.
A large number of well-known media organizations, including NBC, PBS, the Oprah Winfrey Network, Jet.com, the Houston Chronicle, and numerous others, have hired graduates of the Elon Communications department.
