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2024 Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

54 Colleges in the Southwest Region
5,702 Bachelor's Degrees
$32,721 Avg Early-Career Salary
Communication & Media Studies is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #5 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 54 schools in the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for communication & media studies students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 5,702 bachelor's degrees in communication & media studies during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Communication & Media Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region Your choice of communication & media studies for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for communication & media studies students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Communications Rankings Other Ranking Categories

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list to help you make the college decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Communication & Media Studies in the Southwest Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies.

10 Top Southwest Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Communications

1
257 Annual Graduates
$46,014 Median Starting Salary
$20,500 Median Student Debt

The University of Texas at Austin is a wonderful option for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. UT Austin is a very large public university located in the city of Austin.

Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies program at The University of Texas at Austin get $13,293 more than the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from The University of Texas at Austin

2
387 Annual Graduates
$38,932 Median Starting Salary
$17,782 Median Student Debt

Texas A&M University - College Station is a great choice for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of College Station.

Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University - College Station make $6,211 more than the standard communications graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Texas A&M University - College Station

3
167 Annual Graduates
$42,482 Median Starting Salary
$21,500 Median Student Debt

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies needs to check out Texas Christian University. TCU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Fort Worth.

Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Texas Christian University receive an earnings boost of approximately $9,761 above the average income of communication & media studies graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Texas Christian University

4
296 Annual Graduates
$41,289 Median Starting Salary
$19,750 Median Student Debt

University of Arizona is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. University of Arizona is a very large public university located in the city of Tucson.

Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Arizona earn $8,568 more than the standard communications grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from University of Arizona

5
177 Annual Graduates
$36,068 Median Starting Salary
$23,860 Median Student Debt

Located in the medium-sized city of Waco, Baylor is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Baylor University get an earnings boost of around $3,347 over the average income of communication & media studies graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Baylor University

6
439 Annual Graduates
$39,971 Median Starting Salary
$22,500 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Arizona State University - Tempe earn $7,250 more than the standard communications grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Arizona State University - Tempe

7

SMU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Dallas.

Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Southern Methodist University earn a boost of around $6,275 above the average earnings of communication & media studies majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Southern Methodist University

8
231 Annual Graduates
$35,046 Median Starting Salary
$25,000 Median Student Debt

Located in the large city of Lubbock, Texas Tech is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Texas Tech University get an earnings boost of about $2,325 over the typical income of communication & media studies majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Texas Tech University

9
549 Annual Graduates
$39,971 Median Starting Salary
$22,500 Median Student Debt

ASU - Skysong is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Scottsdale.

Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Arizona State University - Skysong earn $7,250 more than the average communications graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Arizona State University - Skysong

10
88 Annual Graduates
$38,091 Median Starting Salary
$25,000 Median Student Debt

University of Oklahoma is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Norman.

Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies major at University of Oklahoma Norman Campus earn $5,370 above the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from University of Oklahoma Norman Campus

Best Communication & Media Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best communication & media studies schools for a specific state in the Southwest Region .

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Texas 245 3,555
Arizona 200 1,848
Oklahoma 190 256
New Mexico 133 34

View All Rankings >

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

Communications Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Speech Communication 2,799
Communications 1,963
Communication & Media Studies 878
Other Communication & Media Studies 62

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Relations & Advertising 2,270
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 1,782
Journalism 1,577
Communication & Journalism (Other) 18

Notes and References

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