If you pursue a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #5 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 93 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 8,175 bachelor's degrees in communication & media studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Communication & Media Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
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 collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Communication & Media Studies in the Middle Atlantic Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
18 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Communications
It is hard to beat Cornell University if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies major at Cornell University make $28,353 above the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Villanova University is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Villanova is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Villanova.
Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Villanova University receive $18,465 more than the typical communications student.
University of Pennsylvania is a wonderful decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. UPenn is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.
Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Pennsylvania receive $19,193 more than the average communications graduate.
University of Maryland - College Park is a good decision for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Located in the large suburb of College Park, UMCP is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies major at University of Maryland - College Park get $9,867 above the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Marist is a medium-sized private not-for-profit college located in the large suburb of Poughkeepsie.
Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Marist College make $7,989 more than the typical communications graduate.
Located in the suburb of Newark, UD is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies program at University of Delaware earn $8,068 more than the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Fordham U is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Bronx.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Fordham University receive an earnings boost of approximately $12,576 above the average earnings of communication & media studies graduates.
Located in the midsize city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Syracuse University make $2,938 more than the standard communications grad.
University at Buffalo is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Buffalo.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies degree program at University at Buffalo earn $5,397 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the large city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies program at American University earn $3,151 more than the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the small city of New Brunswick, Rutgers New Brunswick is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies program at Rutgers University - New Brunswick earn $9,820 more than the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Baltimore, Loyola Maryland is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies program at Loyola University Maryland earn $8,811 above the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Pace University is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Pace University - New York receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,163 above the average income of communication & media studies graduates.
Located in the city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from George Washington University earn a boost of around $16,723 over the typical income of communication & media studies graduates.
TCNJ is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of Ewing.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from The College of New Jersey receive an earnings boost of about $3,322 above the typical income of communication & media studies majors.
Towson is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Towson.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Towson University get an earnings boost of about $8,828 over the typical earnings of communication & media studies majors.
Rest of the Top Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region
Honorable Mentions
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region 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).
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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
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