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.
College Factual looked at 49 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 4,954 bachelor's degrees in communication & media studies during the 2022-2023 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 college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection 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 complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools 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.
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
University of Arizona is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. University of Arizona is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Tucson.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of Arizona earn a boost of about $8,563 above the average income of communication & media studies majors.
More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from University of Arizona
Texas A&M University - College Station is a good option for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public university located in the city of College Station.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Texas A&M University - College Station earn a boost of around $8,865 over the average earnings of communication & media studies majors.
More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Texas A&M University - College Station
Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies has to take a look at Arizona State University - Tempe. Located in the medium-sized city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Arizona State University - Tempe get an earnings boost of around $10,141 above the typical income of communication & media studies graduates.
More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Arizona State University - Tempe
The University of Texas at Austin is a great decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the city of Austin.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from The University of Texas at Austin earn a boost of around $9,418 above the typical earnings of communication & media studies graduates.
More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from The University of Texas at Austin
TCU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Fort Worth.
Soon after graduating, communications bachelor's recipients generally earn an average of $32,123 in the first five years of their career.
More information about a bachelor’s in communication & media studies from Texas Christian University
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