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Professional Yapping

Media & Communication Studies

The "Our Alumni Control Your Feed" Mafia

World-renowned communication and media schools that double as direct pipelines to the networks, studios, streaming platforms, and roughly every blue-check you follow.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 U. of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA 309 12% 36% / 64% 12% $71,801 55 91% —
2 Northwestern
Evanston, IL
Evanston, IL 77 7% 19% / 81% 12% $90,012 85 94% —
3 Boston University
Boston, MA
Boston, MA 50 11% 32% / 68% 40% $84,361 80 95% —
4 U. of Missouri
Columbia, MO
Columbia, MO 186 77% 34% / 66% 1% $59,233 54 98% —
5 New York University
New York, NY
New York, NY 634 9% 30% / 70% 10% $68,008 54 86% —
6 Syracuse
Syracuse, NY
Syracuse, NY 193 35% 48% / 52% 16% $66,691 50 90% —
7 U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, NC 465 17% 26% / 74% 2% $67,532 67 97% —

Too Prestigious to Call It a Comm Degree

Ivy-tier institutions that study media as critical theory, rhetoric, and cultural analysis—and would sooner perish than print the words "Mass Comm" on a diploma.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 U. of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Berkeley, CA 226 11% 27% / 73% 15% $93,369 94 94% —
2 UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA 228 9% 18% / 82% 7% $70,078 70 — —
3 U. of Chicago
Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL 10 5% 50% / 50% 0% $72,341 56 — —
4 Johns Hopkins
Baltimore, MD
Baltimore, MD 8 6% 63% / 38% 25% $61,601 30 94% —
5 Cornell
Ithaca, NY
Ithaca, NY 75 8% 32% / 68% 11% $89,715 84 92% —
6 Carnegie Mellon
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA 1 11% 0% / 100% 0% $83,732 79 — —
7 U. of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, PA 75 5% 23% / 77% 4% $84,679 80 96% —
8 U. of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville, VA 116 12% 20% / 80% 3% $79,620 76 99% —
9 Stanford
Palo Alto, CA
Palo Alto, CA 19 4% 47% / 53% 5% $170,213 100 92% —

State-Funded Media Monoliths

Massive, well-funded public flagships pumping thousands of highly capable, work-hard-play-hard comms grads into the corporate and media wild every single year.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 U. of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL
Tuscaloosa, AL 246 75% 43% / 57% 0% $51,112 32 93% —
2 Arizona State
Tempe, AZ
Tempe, AZ 347 88% 38% / 62% 3% $62,225 67 92% —
3 U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL
Champaign, IL 190 37% 44% / 56% 4% $71,207 75 95% —
4 Indiana
Bloomington, IN
Bloomington, IN 348 76% 39% / 61% 4% $63,211 58 95% —
5 U. of Maryland, College Park
College Park, MD
College Park, MD 253 45% 36% / 64% 2% $75,778 82 95% —
6 U. of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor, MI 211 16% 22% / 78% 10% $81,316 75 96% —
7 Michigan State
East Lansing, MI
East Lansing, MI 277 83% 44% / 56% 10% $66,407 62 95% —
8 Ohio State
Columbus, OH
Columbus, OH 433 49% 40% / 60% 9% $63,099 57 97% —
9 Pennsylvania State
University Park, PA
University Park, PA 124 55% 46% / 54% 19% $49,390 23 93% —
10 U. of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
Austin, TX 156 22% 29% / 71% 2% $70,766 72 100% —
11 U. of Washington
Seattle, WA
Seattle, WA 382 42% 30% / 70% 22% $62,778 60 93% —
12 U. of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI
Madison, WI 208 41% 36% / 64% 14% $57,874 42 96% —

Solidly Upper-Middle-Class Comm Degrees

Highly respected research universities where you will get a genuinely great media education, even if the school is technically famous for medicine, engineering, or freezing winters.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 U. of California, Davis
Davis, CA
Davis, CA 258 44% 29% / 71% 19% $75,758 79 96% —
2 U. of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA
La Jolla, CA 220 29% 36% / 64% 18% $65,361 57 91% —
3 U. of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara, CA 597 38% 30% / 70% 6% $73,857 77 94% —
4 U. of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, CO
Boulder, CO 187 71% 40% / 60% 2% $66,999 67 94% —
5 U. of Connecticut
Storrs, CT
Storrs, CT 271 54% 45% / 55% 12% $68,876 72 98% —
6 George Washington
Washington, DC
Washington, DC 19 47% 11% / 89% 0% $68,982 53 91% —
7 U. of Miami
Coral Gables, FL
Coral Gables, FL 97 17% 23% / 77% 8% $64,620 46 89% —
8 Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA
Chestnut Hill, MA 172 13% 28% / 72% 13% $81,317 75 97% —
9 Northeastern
Boston, MA
Boston, MA 113 24% 21% / 79% 19% $77,774 73 94% —
10 U. of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA 65 59% 32% / 68% 0% $57,752 47 100% —
11 Temple
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, PA 220 72% 49% / 51% 2% $52,675 35 90% —
12 Texas A&M University - College Station
College Station, TX
College Station, TX 500 52% 21% / 79% 0% $62,060 59 93% —
13 Purdue
West Lafayette, IN
West Lafayette, IN 121 43% 31% / 69% 8% $58,742 57 96% —

Hot Takes from the Local Market

Scrappy, highly practical programs that dominate their regional media scene and quietly feed the podcasts, newsrooms, and content shops of their home turf.

# ▲ University Location Degrees Accept SAT Male/Female Intl Earnings ROI Employ
1 U. of Central Florida
Orlando, FL
Orlando, FL 814 43% 39% / 61% 2% $59,571 65 88% —
2 U. of South Florida
Tampa, FL
Tampa, FL 268 35% 46% / 54% 6% $51,525 58 94% —
3 U. of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, HI
Honolulu, HI 112 88% 35% / 65% 4% $46,146 27 93% —
4 U. of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL 92 79% 28% / 72% 2% $63,943 71 99% —
5 U. of Iowa
Iowa City, IA
Iowa City, IA 145 83% 24% / 76% 1% $63,848 65 97% —
6 U. of Kansas
Lawrence, KS
Lawrence, KS 80 88% 50% / 50% 3% $60,475 61 97% —
7 North Carolina State
Raleigh, NC
Raleigh, NC 201 40% 25% / 75% 0% $55,642 49 86% —
8 U. of Oklahoma - Norman
Norman, OK
Norman, OK 81 72% 37% / 63% 1% $58,176 58 91% —
9 Texas Tech
Lubbock, TX
Lubbock, TX 285 69% 50% / 50% 0% $58,619 63 96% —
10 U. of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Salt Lake City, UT 261 82% 31% / 69% 21% $58,546 59 93% —
11 George Mason
Fairfax, VA
Fairfax, VA 105 72% 36% / 64% 0% $62,078 62 — —