Graduate communication studies offer training that may prepare students to seek advance positions in a number of different careers. Here we explore some of the programs that have been ranked among the best.
School Overviews
The United States has a number of well-regarded communication studies graduate programs at the master's and doctorate level. Three of these schools include Ohio State University (OSU), the University of Texas - Austin (UT-Austin) and Arizona State University. These schools are nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report, and offer communication programs that can prepare graduates for a wide variety of careers, ranging from information technology to academia.
Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio
| School Highlight: OSU ties for #16 on U.S. News & World Report's 2017 listing of top public schools. |
The Ohio State University was ranked tied for 54th on the 2017 U.S. News & World Report Best National Universities list, as well as tied for the 16th on their list of top public schools. Its School of Communication offers graduate programs in political communication, mass communication, communication technology, and health communication. The school also offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Communication and a Master of Arts in Communication. The school's faculty and graduate students frequently make presentations at national and international conventions, and travel grants offered by the school may help defray the costs of attending these conferences.
University of Texas - Austin
| School Highlight: UT-Austin ties at #18 on U.S. News & World Report's 2017 listing of the top public schools in the nation. |
The University of Texas - Austin ties at 56th and 18th on U.S. News & World Report's 2017 list of best national universities in America and top public schools, respectively. The school offers a Master of Arts in Communication Studies and a Ph.D. in Communication Studies with areas of concentrations in interpersonal communication, rhetoric and language, and organizational communication.Doctoral students are required to finish 45 hours of course work plus six hours devoted to their dissertation, while MA students are required to finish 30 or 33 hours, depending on whether they have chosen the thesis or report option.
Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ
| School Highlight: The Fiske Guide to Colleges ranked ASU #1 in the nation among 'best buy schools.' |
Arizona State University offers a MS in Technical Communications and a MSD in Visual Communication Design. Students can expect to experience unique training in these programs given that the ASU falls at the top of the list for U.S. News & World Report's most innovative schools for 2017. U.S. News & World Report also reports the state university to be tied for the 61st best public school in the nation.
Top Communication Studies Graduate Programs
This section lists some more schools that offer top notch graduate communication programs.
- Communication students at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, have several study abroad options, and MSU has been ranked among the top 10 U.S. schools in study abroad participation, according to the Institute of International Education.
- New York University, New York, NY, is tied at #11 on U.S. News & World Report's 2016 listing of the best schools with public affairs programs.
- Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, is tied for #50 among all national universities, according to U.S. News & World Report in 2017.
- The Department of Communication at Texas A&M University - College Station educates more than 1,000 students each year.
- Communication students at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, have access to high-definition television studies, an online radio station, smart tech classrooms and web-based course delivery.
- The communication department's faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign have among them Conrad Humanities Scholars and fellows for the Center for Advanced Study.
- Students at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, have the opportunity to collaborate with faculty members on research or to perform independent research.
Students wanting a quality graduate education in communication studies may use this list to find some of best programs around nation, as determined by the programs offered and their rankings among the U.S. News & World Report best schools.
