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Best Colleges for Communication & Media Studies

50 Communication & Media Studies programs ranked by real graduate earnings, debt, and completion — from the College Scorecard Field-of-Study data.

⚡Quick answer

For Communication & Media Studies, Cornell University (New York) ranks #1 by our outcome score, with median graduate earnings of $88,463. Rankings reflect earnings, debt, and completion — not reputation or cost — across 50 programs with published outcome data.

#	School	Credential	Median earnings	Median debt	Completers	Score
1	Cornell University Ithaca, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$88,463	$14,400	88	96
2	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	Bachelor's Degree	$114,266	$15,000	63	95.5
3	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$75,612	$11,100	258	95.2
4	Northwestern University Evanston, IL	Bachelor's Degree	$93,541	$17,687	90	94.8
5	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$83,586	$18,000	191	94.3
6	Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$84,206	$17,832	137	94.2
7	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$72,976	$13,000	582	94.1
8	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$75,864	$15,875	326	94.1
9	University of California-Davis Davis, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$72,778	$13,000	293	93.6
10	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD	Bachelor's Degree	$74,402	$17,250	354	92.9
11	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$75,223	$14,857	77	92.5
12	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC	Bachelor's Degree	$70,240	$14,625	560	92.4
13	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	Bachelor's Degree	$79,648	$19,941	255	92
14	CUNY Graduate School and University Center New York, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$72,564	$12,901	49	90.6
15	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ	Bachelor's Degree	$72,758	$18,910	259	90.5
16	CUNY City College New York, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$69,948	$14,858	86	90.3
17	Chapman University Orange, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$73,461	$18,777	104	89.9
18	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX	Bachelor's Degree	$72,210	$19,500	234	89.5
19	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$67,302	$13,193	278	89.3
20	Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$69,144	$17,750	125	88.5
21	Northeastern University Boston, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$80,191	$21,500	135	88.5
22	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN	Graduate/Professional Certificate	$85,278	$22,260	91	88
23	Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$68,833	$17,877	103	87.4
24	University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO	Bachelor's Degree	$66,623	$16,500	204	87.4
25	Northeastern University Professional Programs Boston, MA	Master's Degree	$97,115	—	73	87.4
26	University of Georgia Athens, GA	Bachelor's Degree	$68,319	$17,250	121	87.2
27	University of Florida Gainesville, FL	Graduate/Professional Certificate	$110,796	—	63	87.1
28	University of Nevada-Reno Reno, NV	Bachelor's Degree	$68,953	$17,232	58	87.1
29	Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC	Bachelor's Degree	$77,984	$22,250	130	87.1
30	Texas A & M University-College Station College Station, TX	Bachelor's Degree	$64,533	$15,750	407	86.8
31	San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA	Bachelor's Degree	$63,731	$13,703	264	86.3
32	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$64,153	$15,000	314	86.3
33	Tulane University of Louisiana New Orleans, LA	Bachelor's Degree	$76,945	$23,082	176	86.2
34	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL	Bachelor's Degree	$66,439	$18,850	315	85.9
35	Boston University Boston, MA	Bachelor's Degree	$80,306	$23,250	134	85.9
36	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN	Bachelor's Degree	$65,517	$17,375	151	85.7
37	Brigham Young University Provo, UT	Bachelor's Degree	$68,843	$19,680	94	85.6
38	The College of New Jersey Ewing, NJ	Bachelor's Degree	$68,654	$19,500	80	85.4
39	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ	Bachelor's Degree	$69,709	$21,500	323	85.1
40	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$64,153	$15,000	112	85.1
41	San Diego State University San Diego, CA	Master's Degree	$84,280	—	40	84.7
42	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT	Bachelor's Degree	$68,542	$21,036	231	84.5
43	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT	Bachelor's Degree	$63,309	$17,500	322	84
44	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA	Bachelor's Degree	$64,153	$15,000	63	84
45	University of Oregon Eugene, OR	Bachelor's Degree	$70,532	$16,500	11	83.9
46	Utah Valley University Orem, UT	Bachelor's Degree	$62,566	$13,942	131	83.9
47	Fordham University Bronx, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$77,244	$24,615	131	83.7
48	Texas State University San Marcos, TX	Master's Degree	$70,534	$20,500	33	83.5
49	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA	Bachelor's Degree	$66,436	$20,500	399	83.5
50	Weber State University Ogden, UT	Master's Degree	$84,841	—	27	83.3

🔍 Filter Communication & Media Studies by state & degree level →

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Hidden Gems for Communication & Media Studies

Lower-profile schools with a genuinely strong outcome score for Communication & Media Studies — the famous brand names and mega-flagships are deliberately filtered out.

#	School	Median earnings	Admit rate	Score
1	CUNY Graduate School and University Center New York, NY Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$72,564	68%	90.6
2	Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$68,833	93%	87.4
3	Northeastern University Professional Programs Boston, MA Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$97,115	—	87.4
4	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$64,153	91%	85.1
5	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$64,153	83%	84
6	Gonzaga University Spokane, WA Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$73,558	82%	82.9
7	College of Staten Island CUNY Staten Island, NY Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$61,691	92%	82.1
8	Lynn University Boca Raton, FL Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$74,356	73%	80.5
9	Marquette University Milwaukee, WI Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$76,959	81%	80.3
10	Saint Mary's College of California Moraga, CA Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$64,456	87%	79.9
11	University of Denver Denver, CO Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$63,374	78%	79.4
12	Willamette University Salem, OR Strong Communication & Media Studies outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$70,412	77%	79.4

Hidden Gems use the same College Scorecard outcome score, then drop the pool’s most-selective brands (bottom-quartile admit rate) and largest campuses (top-quartile enrollment). Schools that don’t report admit rate or enrollment are not dropped by that guard.

How we ranked this

Programs are scored 0–100 within the Communication & Media Studies field (CIP 09.01) using three College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (weighted 70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, inverted so lower debt scores higher), and completer count (10%, log-scaled). Each input is percentile-ranked against the other Communication & Media Studies programs, so the score is robust to outliers and comparable across schools. Programs with no published earnings are excluded — never given a fabricated number. This is the same engine that powers our interactive Major Rankings. Minimum 5 scorable programs required to publish.

Frequently asked questions

Which college has the best Communication & Media Studies program?+

By our outcome score, Cornell University (New York) ranks #1 for Communication & Media Studies, with median graduate earnings of $88,463.

How are these Communication & Media Studies programs ranked?+

Each program gets a 0–100 outcome score from three real College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, lower is better), and completer count (10%). Programs are compared within the major so the score reflects the best schools for this field specifically.

Where does the earnings and debt data come from?+

The U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field-of-Study file, which publishes median earnings and median debt by institution and major (4-digit CIP). Figures are post-graduation medians; programs without published earnings are not scored and are omitted from this ranking.

Can I filter Communication & Media Studies programs by state or degree level?+

Yes. This page shows the national top programs; use the interactive Major Rankings tool to filter the same data by state, and by credential level (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral).

Keep exploring

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Data sources: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (Field of Study) · IPEDS Completions. Figures are the most recent values published in each federal dataset; cells with no published value are shown as “—” and never estimated. CertiHomes Education does not sell rankings or accept placement fees.