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
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.
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on communication & media studies students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other communication & media studies students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How much debt communication & media studies students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized communication & media studies related body.
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
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.
ADVERTISEMENTS
Featured Communication & Media Studies Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
BA in Communication
With an online bachelor's degree in communication you'll have the opportunity to pursue a multitude of career options. From journalism and social media, to public relations, advertising and mass media, earning your BA in communication will allow you to strategize and communicate your ideas.
Learn More
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
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
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
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
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
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