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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 5-Year Earn
1 U. of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA 309 12% 36% / 64% 12% $71,709 —
2 Northwestern
Evanston, IL
Evanston, IL 77 7% 19% / 81% 12% $98,334 —
3 Boston
Boston, MA
Boston, MA 50 13% 32% / 68% 40% $78,112 —
4 U. of Missouri
Columbia, MO
Columbia, MO 186 72% 34% / 66% 1% $64,384 —
5 New York University
New York, NY
New York, NY 634 9% 30% / 70% 10% $70,846 —
6 Syracuse
Syracuse, NY
Syracuse, NY 193 35% 48% / 52% 16% $61,751 —
7 U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, NC 465 17% 26% / 74% 2% $71,843 —

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 5-Year Earn
1 U. of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Berkeley, CA 226 11% 27% / 73% 15% $82,627 —
2 UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA 228 9% 18% / 82% 7% — —
3 U. of Chicago
Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL 10 5% 50% / 50% 0% — —
4 Johns Hopkins
Baltimore, MD
Baltimore, MD 8 6% 63% / 38% 25% — —
5 Cornell
Ithaca, NY
Ithaca, NY 75 7% 32% / 68% 11% $83,069 —
6 Carnegie Mellon
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA 1 11% 0% / 100% 0% — —
7 U. of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, PA 75 4% 23% / 77% 4% $89,534 —
8 U. of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville, VA 116 12% 20% / 80% 3% $78,832 —
9 Stanford
Stanford, CA
Stanford, CA 19 4% 47% / 53% 5% $150,631 —

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 5-Year Earn
1 U. of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL
Tuscaloosa, AL 246 75% 43% / 57% 0% $56,792 —
2 Arizona State
Tempe, AZ
Tempe, AZ 347 88% 38% / 62% 3% $60,671 —
3 U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL
Champaign, IL 190 37% 44% / 56% 4% $71,926 —
4 Indiana
Bloomington, IN
Bloomington, IN 348 76% 39% / 61% 4% $68,708 —
5 U. of Maryland, College Park
College Park, MD
College Park, MD 253 45% 36% / 64% 2% $72,863 —
6 U. of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI
Ann Arbor, MI 211 16% 22% / 78% 10% $86,506 —
7 Michigan State
East Lansing, MI
East Lansing, MI 277 83% 44% / 56% 10% $70,646 —
8 Ohio State
Columbus, OH
Columbus, OH 433 49% 40% / 60% 9% $68,586 —
9 Pennsylvania State
University Park, PA
University Park, PA 124 55% 46% / 54% 19% $50,398 —
10 U. of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
Austin, TX 156 22% 29% / 71% 2% — —
11 U. of Washington
Seattle, WA
Seattle, WA 382 42% 30% / 70% 22% $62,624 —
12 U. of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI
Madison, WI 208 41% 36% / 64% 14% $62,230 —

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 5-Year Earn
1 U. of California, Davis
Davis, CA
Davis, CA 258 44% 29% / 71% 19% $67,042 —
2 U. of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA
La Jolla, CA 220 29% 36% / 64% 18% $57,842 —
3 U. of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara, CA 597 38% 30% / 70% 6% $65,360 —
4 U. of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, CO
Boulder, CO 187 71% 40% / 60% 2% $67,632 —
5 U. of Connecticut
Storrs, CT
Storrs, CT 271 54% 45% / 55% 12% $66,227 —
6 George Washington
Washington, DC
Washington, DC 19 47% 11% / 89% 0% $71,933 —
7 U. of Miami
Coral Gables, FL
Coral Gables, FL 97 17% 23% / 77% 8% $61,898 —
8 Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA
Chestnut Hill, MA 172 13% 28% / 72% 13% $75,294 —
9 Northeastern
Boston, MA
Boston, MA 113 6% 21% / 79% 19% $72,202 —
10 U. of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA 65 59% 32% / 68% 0% $61,039 —
11 Temple
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia, PA 220 55% 49% / 51% 2% $53,750 —
12 Texas A&M University - College Station
College Station, TX
College Station, TX 500 52% 21% / 79% 0% $64,243 —
13 Purdue
West Lafayette, IN
West Lafayette, IN 121 43% 31% / 69% 8% $77,630 —

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 5-Year Earn
1 U. of Central Florida
Orlando, FL
Orlando, FL 814 43% 39% / 61% 2% $57,280 —
2 U. of South Florida
Tampa, FL
Tampa, FL 268 35% 46% / 54% 6% $49,543 —
3 U. of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, HI
Honolulu, HI 112 88% 35% / 65% 4% $42,336 —
4 U. of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL 92 55% 28% / 72% 2% $64,589 —
5 U. of Iowa
Iowa City, IA
Iowa City, IA 145 83% 24% / 76% 1% $71,739 —
6 U. of Kansas
Lawrence, KS
Lawrence, KS 80 88% 50% / 50% 3% $67,194 —
7 North Carolina State
Raleigh, NC
Raleigh, NC 201 40% 25% / 75% 0% $59,194 —
8 U. of Oklahoma - Norman
Norman, OK
Norman, OK 81 72% 37% / 63% 1% $66,109 —
9 Texas Tech
Lubbock, TX
Lubbock, TX 285 69% 50% / 50% 0% $61,789 —
10 U. of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Salt Lake City, UT 261 82% 31% / 69% 21% $61,627 —
11 George Mason
Fairfax, VA
Fairfax, VA 105 72% 36% / 64% 0% — —