2025 Best Public Relations & Advertising Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

a master's degree in public relations & advertising is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #60 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual reviewed 19 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of public relations & advertising. Combined, these schools handed out 987 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree 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 master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master'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 - 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 colleges 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 in the Middle Atlantic Region.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Relations & Advertising in the Middle Atlantic Region

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

10 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for a Master's in Public Relations

1

George Washington University
Washington, DC

85 Annual Graduates

$73,569 Median Starting Salary

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

Those public relations & advertising students who get their master's degree from George Washington University receive $7,841 more than the average public relations graduate.

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

2

Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY

152 Annual Graduates

$62,662 Median Starting Salary

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

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public relations program make about $62,662 in the first couple years of working.

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

3

Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

39 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Temple University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public relations & advertising. Temple is a very large public university located in the city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Temple University

4

American University
Washington, DC

33 Annual Graduates

$63,727 Median Starting Salary

American University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public relations & advertising. Located in the large city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the public relations program make about $63,727 in the first couple years of working.

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

5

University of Delaware
Newark, DE

47 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Newark, UD is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from University of Delaware

6

Rider University
Lawrenceville, NJ

13 Annual Graduates

$53,323 Median Starting Salary

Located in the suburb of Lawrenceville, Rider is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

After graduation, public relations master's recipients generally make an average of $53,323 in the first five years of their career.

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

7

Rutgers University - New Brunswick
New Brunswick, NJ

10 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of New Brunswick, Rutgers New Brunswick is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Rutgers University - New Brunswick

8

Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY

49 Annual Graduates

$70,802 Median Starting Salary

Marist is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit college located in the large suburb of Poughkeepsie.

Public Relations & Advertising master's degree recipients from Marist College receive an earnings boost of around $5,074 above the average income of public relations & advertising majors.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Marist College

9

University of Maryland Global Campus
Adelphi, MD

88 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Adelphi, UMGC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from University of Maryland Global Campus

10

Towson University
Towson, MD

16 Annual Graduates

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

Best Public Relations & Advertising Colleges by State

Explore the best public relations & advertising schools for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	261	346
Pennsylvania	248	87
Maryland	193	9
New Jersey	188	59
District of Columbia	154	259
Delaware	109	1

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
Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	341
Public Relations	310
Advertising	89
Political Communication	88
General Organizational Communication	57
Communication Management and Strategic Communications	35
Health Communication	25
Sports Communication	25
International & Intercultural Communication	17

Majors Similar to Public Relations

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	938
Communication & Media Studies	597
Journalism	540
Communication & Journalism (Other)	209
Publishing	141

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.