2025 Best Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor's Degree Schools in Michigan

If you pursue a bachelor's degree in public relations & advertising, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #32 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 10 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor's Degree Schools in Michigan ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 861 bachelor's degrees in public relations & advertising to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Public Relations & Advertising School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The public relations bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public relations 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

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality 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 host 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 many resources a school devotes to public relations & advertising students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other public relations & advertising 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 easy is it for public relations & advertising 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 public relations & advertising related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public relations & advertising students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Public Relations & Advertising Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor's Degree Schools in Michigan list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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 Public Relations & Advertising in Michigan

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in public relations & advertising.

10 Top Michigan Schools for a Bachelor's in Public Relations

1

Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI

444 Annual Graduates

$45,158 Median Starting Salary

$47,071 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in public relations & advertising needs to take a look at Michigan State University. Michigan State is a very large public university located in the small city of East Lansing.

Bachelor's recipients from the public relations & advertising major at Michigan State University make $5,281 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Michigan State University

2

Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI

78 Annual Graduates

$37,718 Median Starting Salary

$24,275 Median Student Debt

Western Michigan University is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in public relations & advertising. WMU is a fairly large public university located in the city of Kalamazoo.

After graduation, public relations bachelor's recipients usually make an average of $37,718 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Western Michigan University

3

Grand Valley State University
Allendale, MI

140 Annual Graduates

$38,172 Median Starting Salary

$28,837 Median Student Debt

Grand Valley State University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in public relations & advertising. GVSU is a fairly large public university located in the town of Allendale.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the public relations program report average early career wages of $38,172.

More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Grand Valley State University

4

Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI

65 Annual Graduates

$40,346 Median Starting Salary

$21,992 Median Student Debt

Central Michigan University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in public relations & advertising. Located in the distant town of Mount Pleasant, Central Michigan is a public university with a large student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the public relations program earn about $40,346 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Central Michigan University

5

Wayne State University
Detroit, MI

29 Annual Graduates

$41,306 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Detroit, Wayne State is a public university with a very large student population.

Soon after graduation, public relations bachelor's recipients typically make around $41,306 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Wayne State University

6

Ferris State University
Big Rapids, MI

18 Annual Graduates

$38,375 Median Starting Salary

Ferris is a moderately-sized public university located in the remote town of Big Rapids.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the public relations program earn an average of $38,375 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Ferris State University

7

Oakland University
Rochester Hills, MI

17 Annual Graduates

$40,299 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Rochester Hills, Oakland is a public university with a large student population.

Soon after graduation, public relations bachelor's recipients generally make about $40,299 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Oakland University

8

Albion College
Albion, MI

11 Annual Graduates

Albion is a small private not-for-profit college located in the town of Albion.More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Albion College

9

Siena Heights University
Adrian, MI

14 Annual Graduates

$39,677 Median Starting Salary

Located in the town of Adrian, Siena Heights University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the public relations program earn about $39,677 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Siena Heights University

10

Northern Michigan University
Marquette, MI

13 Annual Graduates

$34,319 Median Starting Salary

Northern Michigan University is a medium-sized public university located in the remote town of Marquette.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the public relations program earn about $34,319 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in public relations & advertising from Northern Michigan University

Best Public Relations & Advertising Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Public Relations & Advertising Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Ohio	252	576
Illinois	241	811
Indiana	235	287
Wisconsin	213	268

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Public Relations

One of 5 majors within the Communication & Journalism area of study, Public Relations & Advertising has other similar majors worth exploring.

Public Relations Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Advertising	470
Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	181
Public Relations	97
Other Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	50
General Organizational Communication	26
Health Communication	19
Sports Communication	12
Technical & Scientific Communication	6

Majors Similar to Public Relations

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Communication & Media Studies	1,148
Journalism	199
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	185
Communication & Journalism (Other)	15
Publishing	1

Notes and References

• 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. More about our data sources and methodologies.