2025 Best Public Relations & Advertising Master's Degree Schools

Public Relations & Advertising is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #60 most popular master's degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual reviewed 65 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of public relations & advertising. Combined, these schools handed out 2,855 master's degrees in public relations & advertising to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

The public relations master'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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a master'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 include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 - The number of public relations & advertising students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• 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 master'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 master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Public Relations & Advertising Schools

The public relations school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Public Relations & Advertising Master's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Relations & Advertising in the United States

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for public relations & advertising students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

13 Top Schools for a Master's in Public Relations

1

George Washington University
Washington, DC

78 Annual Graduates

$73,569 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public relations & advertising has to take a look at George Washington University. Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Public Relations & Advertising master's degree recipients from George Washington University earn a boost of around $13,582 over the typical earnings of public relations & advertising majors.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from George Washington University

2

Boston University
Boston, MA

127 Annual Graduates

$73,982 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in public relations & advertising has to check out Boston University. Located in the city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Master's recipients from the public relations & advertising program at Boston University make $13,995 above the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Boston University

3

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

43 Annual Graduates

$82,421 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat Northwestern University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public relations & advertising. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Public Relations & Advertising master's degree recipients from Northwestern University earn a boost of around $22,434 over the average earnings of public relations & advertising majors.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Northwestern University

4

Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY

160 Annual Graduates

$62,662 Median Starting Salary

It's hard to beat Syracuse University if you want to pursue a master's degree in public relations & advertising. Located in the midsize city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Public Relations & Advertising master's degree recipients from Syracuse University get an earnings boost of about $2,675 above the average earnings of public relations & advertising majors.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Syracuse University

5

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

101 Annual Graduates

$50,634 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the public relations program make around $50,634 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from University of Southern California

6

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN

17 Annual Graduates

UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the large city of Minneapolis.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

7

Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

22 Annual Graduates

Temple is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Temple University

8

Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX

16 Annual Graduates

SMU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Dallas.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Southern Methodist University

9

The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

43 Annual Graduates

$54,561 Median Starting Salary

UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the city of Austin.

Soon after graduating, public relations master's recipients typically earn about $54,561 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from The University of Texas at Austin

10

Quinnipiac University
Hamden, CT

44 Annual Graduates

Quinnipiac is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Hamden.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Quinnipiac University

11

The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL

42 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Tuscaloosa, UA is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from The University of Alabama

12

Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI

16 Annual Graduates

Michigan State is a very large public university located in the city of East Lansing.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Michigan State University

13

American University
Washington, DC

34 Annual Graduates

$63,727 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Public Relations & Advertising master's degree recipients from American University receive an earnings boost of approximately $3,740 above the typical income of public relations & advertising majors.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from American University

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Public Relations & Advertising students that almost earned our Best Public Relations & Advertising Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank	College	Location
14	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Champaign, IL
15	Emerson College	Boston, MA
16	University of Oregon	Eugene, OR

Public Relations & Advertising by Region

View the Best Public Relations & Advertising Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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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
Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	834
Public Relations	483
Communication Management and Strategic Communications	359
General Organizational Communication	253
Advertising	250
Other Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	244
Health Communication	152
International & Intercultural Communication	92
Technical & Scientific Communication	67
Sports Communication	65

Most Popular Majors Related to Public Relations

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Communication & Media Studies	4,471
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	2,736
Journalism	1,474
Communication & Journalism (Other)	575
Publishing	172

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.