If you pursue a degree in public relations, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #138 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 99 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of public relations. Combined, these schools handed out 5,216 degrees in public relations to qualified students.
The pr program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Public Relations rankings. For our Best Overall Public Relations School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Public Relations Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
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 Public Relations in the United States
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the pr degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It is hard to beat Georgetown University if you wish to pursue a degree in public relations. Georgetown is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Georgetown is a great university overall.
There were roughly 89 public relations students who graduated with this degree at Georgetown in the most recent data year.
University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in public relations. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were about 144 public relations students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available.
The University of Texas at Austin is a good decision for students pursuing a degree in public relations. UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Austin. A Best Colleges rank of #36 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UT Austin is a great university overall.
There were approximately 139 public relations students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin in the most recent year we have data available.
George Washington University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in public relations. Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #49 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means GWU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 42 public relations students who graduated with this degree at GWU in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #54 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Boston U is a great university overall.
There were roughly 55 public relations students who graduated with this degree at Boston U in the most recent data year.
UF is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Gainesville. A Best Colleges rank of #58 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UF is a great university overall.
There were approximately 213 public relations students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent year we have data available.
SMU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Dallas. A Best Colleges rank of #73 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means SMU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 24 public relations students who graduated with this degree at SMU in the most recent data year.
Located in the medium-sized city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 12th out of 142 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were about 133 public relations students who graduated with this degree at Syracuse in the most recent year we have data available.
U Miami is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Coral Gables. A Best Colleges rank of #91 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means U Miami is a great university overall.
There were about 88 public relations students who graduated with this degree at U Miami in the most recent data year.
UGA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Athens. A Best Colleges rank of #72 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UGA is a great university overall.
There were about 132 public relations students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent year we have data available.
UA is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Tuscaloosa. This university ranks 2nd out of 40 schools for overall quality in the state of Alabama.
There were about 194 public relations students who graduated with this degree at UA in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Lubbock, Texas Tech is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 9th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were roughly 146 public relations students who graduated with this degree at Texas Tech in the most recent year we have data available.
Temple is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Philadelphia. This university ranks 11th out of 109 colleges for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were roughly 92 public relations students who graduated with this degree at Temple in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Eugene, UO is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 30 colleges for overall quality in the state of Oregon.
There were approximately 244 public relations students who graduated with this degree at UO in the most recent year we have data available.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Public Relations Schools award.
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 Bill Koplitz.
college factual
The pr program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Public Relations rankings. For our Best Overall Public Relations School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
