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.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 124 schools in the Southeast Region to determine which ones were the best for communication & media studies students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 10,799 bachelor's degrees in communication & media studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Choosing a Great Communication & Media Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The communications bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality communications program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 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 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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to communication & media studies students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of communication & media studies students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
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 communication & media studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
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 schools for communication & media studies students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Communication & Media Studies Schools
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 Southeast 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 Southeast 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.
24 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Communications
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies has to take a look at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public university located in the small city of Chapel Hill.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill receive an earnings boost of around $10,232 over the average earnings of communication & media studies majors.
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies needs to take a look at University of Georgia. Located in the medium-sized city of Athens, UGA is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies major at University of Georgia earn $11,167 more than the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Elon University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Located in the suburb of Elon, Elon is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies major at Elon University get $15,521 above the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
It is difficult to beat Wake Forest University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Wake Forest University is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Winston-Salem.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies program at Wake Forest University get $8,939 more than the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
JMU is a very large public university located in the small city of Harrisonburg.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies program at James Madison University earn $9,653 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the medium-sized city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College receive $5,310 more than the typical communications student.
UK is a very large public university located in the city of Lexington.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of Kentucky earn a boost of around $6,195 above the average income of communication & media studies graduates.
Located in the small city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public school with a very large student population.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Virginia Tech earn a boost of about $11,193 over the average earnings of communication & media studies majors.
Auburn is a fairly large public university located in the city of Auburn.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from Auburn University earn a boost of around $2,813 above the average earnings of communication & media studies graduates.
Located in the small city of Fayetteville, UARK is a public university with a very large student population.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of Arkansas receive an earnings boost of about $6,979 over the average earnings of communication & media studies majors.
FIU is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Miami.
Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Florida International University receive $3,308 more than the average communications graduate.
UA is a very large public university located in the city of Tuscaloosa.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies program at The University of Alabama earn $7,674 above the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Richmond, VCU is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University earn $2,692 more than the typical communications graduate.
UCF is a very large public university located in the suburb of Orlando.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies degree program at University of Central Florida make $3,905 more than the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
ECU is a very large public university located in the city of Greenville.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies degree program at East Carolina University make $4,697 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the midsize city of Knoxville, UT Knoxville is a public university with a very large student population.
Those communication & media studies students who get their bachelor's degree from The University of Tennessee - Knoxville make $8,142 more than the typical communications student.
NC State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Raleigh.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies program at North Carolina State University get $6,773 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the large city of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies degree program at University of North Carolina at Charlotte get $5,118 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Lynchburg, Liberty University 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 Liberty University earn $2,276 more than the average communications grad.
Located in the city of Charleston, C of C is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies degree program at College of Charleston earn $3,787 above the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Rest of the Top Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region
Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great schools for Communication & Media Studies students in the Southeast Region that almost earned our Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast 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).
The communications bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality communications program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
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