2023 Schools Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Schools Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois” ranking.

Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication is the 170th most popular major in the country with 4,203 degrees awarded in 2020-2021.

Across Illinois, there were 24 public relations, advertising, and applied communication graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Schools Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in public relations, advertising, and applied communication. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their public relations, advertising, and applied communication program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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 “Schools Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Schools Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois public relations, advertising, and applied communication students.

Top 3 Most Focused Colleges for Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication in Illinois

1

Bradley University
Peoria, Illinois

#11 overall quality in Illinois

$52,822 Average Early-Career Earnings

$26,303 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Bradley University. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois list. Located in Peoria, Illinois, this medium-sized private not-for-profit school handed out 17 degrees to qualified ’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication students in 2020-2021.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication at Bradley University

2

McKendree University
Lebanon, Illinois

$47,532 Average Early-Career Earnings

$24,823 Average Student Debt

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend McKendree University. The school came in at #2 for the Schools Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois. Lebanon, Illinois is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication degrees to 5 students in 2020-2021.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 4.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full McKendree Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication Report

3

Saint Xavier University
Chicago, Illinois

$46,594 Average Early-Career Earnings

$25,464 Average Student Debt

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Saint Xavier University. The school came in at #3 for the Schools Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois. SXU is located in Chicago, Illinois and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 2 ’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication degrees to qualified students.

Full Saint Xavier University Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication Report

• Most Focused Colleges for Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication in the Great Lakes Region
• Most Focused Colleges for Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Bill Koplitz.