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2023 Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools

67 Colleges
$56,176 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree School for You

Communication & Media Studies is the #47 most popular major in the country with 5,059 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 67 schools in the United States to see which doctor's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for students. Factors related to overall quality of the school, post-graduation earnings, average student debt, and more accumulated were considered when coming up with this list.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States

The colleges and universities below are the best for communications majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Top 10 Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools

#1

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

Our analysis found University of Pennsylvania to be the best school for communication and media studies students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in the United States. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.

Read More…

#2

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Northwestern University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best communication and media studies schools in the United States. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at Northwestern University

#3

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

Out of the 67 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Cornell University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at Cornell University

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best communication and media studies schools in the United States. Located in the city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at The University of Texas at Austin helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best communication and media studies schools in the United States. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Full Communication & Media Studies at The University of Texas at Austin Report

University of Southern California landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree communication and media studies programs. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

Full Communication & Media Studies at University of Southern California Report

With a ranking of #7, University of Wisconsin - Madison did quite well on this year’s best schools for communication and media studies students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Full Communication & Media Studies at University of Wisconsin - Madison Report

#8

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

Purdue University - Main Campus came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the small city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at Purdue University - Main Campus

Columbia University in the City of New York came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York

With a ranking of #10, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did quite well on this year’s best schools for communication and media studies students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the small city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public school with a very large student population.

Read More…

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
12 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
13 University of California - Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA

Communication & Media Studies by Region

View the Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

Communication & Media Studies is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Relations & Advertising 2,828
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 2,562
Journalism 1,238
Communication & Journalism (Other) 341
Publishing 214

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to UNU-WIDER from Helsinki, Finland.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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