2024 Best Journalism Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

a master's degree in journalism is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #102 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 10 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Journalism Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 397 master's degrees in journalism to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Journalism School for Your Master's Degree

The journalism master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on journalism students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other journalism students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for journalism to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized journalism related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for journalism students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Journalism Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

 

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Journalism in the Middle Atlantic Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in journalism.

10 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for a Master's in Journalism

1

Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY

133 Annual Graduates

$44,977 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in journalism needs to look into Columbia University in the City of New York. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Those journalism students who get their master's degree from Columbia University in the City of New York make $2,776 more than the average journalism student.

More information about a master’s in journalism from Columbia University in the City of New York

2

Georgetown University
Washington, DC

19 Annual Graduates

Georgetown University is a great option for individuals pursuing a master's degree in journalism. Located in the city of Washington, Georgetown is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in journalism from Georgetown University

3

University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD

30 Annual Graduates

University of Maryland - College Park is a great choice for individuals pursuing a master's degree in journalism. UMCP is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of College Park.More information about a master’s in journalism from University of Maryland - College Park

4

Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY

92 Annual Graduates

$36,216 Median Starting Salary

Syracuse University is a good decision for individuals pursuing a master's degree in journalism. Syracuse is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Syracuse.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the journalism program earn around $36,216 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in journalism from Syracuse University

5

George Washington University
Washington, DC

10 Annual Graduates

$44,648 Median Starting Salary

GWU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington.

Those journalism students who get their master's degree from George Washington University earn $2,447 more than the average journalism grad.

More information about a master’s in journalism from George Washington University

6

New York University
New York, NY

14 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in journalism from New York University

7

American University
Washington, DC

33 Annual Graduates

$43,477 Median Starting Salary

The American University is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington.

Master's students who receive their degree from the journalism program make an average of $43,477 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in journalism from American University

8

Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

12 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Philadelphia, Temple is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in journalism from Temple University

8

St. Bonaventure University
Saint Bonaventure, NY

39 Annual Graduates

$52,027 Median Starting Salary

Located in the remote town of Saint Bonaventure, St. Bonaventure is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Journalism master's degree recipients from St. Bonaventure University receive an earnings boost of approximately $9,826 above the typical income of journalism majors.

More information about a master’s in journalism from St. Bonaventure University

9

Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY

7 Annual Graduates

$32,344 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Hempstead, Hofstra is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the journalism program earn about $32,344 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in journalism from Hofstra University

Best Journalism Colleges by State

Explore the best journalism schools for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	261	285
Pennsylvania	248	16
Maryland	193	34
District of Columbia	154	62

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Journalism

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

Journalism Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Other Journalism	165
General Journalism	162
Broadcast Journalism	35
Photojournalism	35

Most Popular Majors Related to Journalism

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Relations & Advertising	761
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	726
Communication & Media Studies	566
Communication & Journalism (Other)	163
Publishing	132

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• 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 Jfurrer. More about our data sources and methodologies.