2025 Best Public Relations & Advertising Schools in District of Columbia
3Colleges in District of Columbia
522Public Relations Degrees Awarded
$41,961Avg Early-Career Salary
Public Relations & Advertising is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #52 most popular degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Public Relations & Advertising Schools in District of Columbia ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 522 degrees in public relations & advertising annually.
Learn how to use the latest technology and tactics to manage the flow of information between brands and the public with your Master's in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations at Southern New Hampshire University.
Keep your skills and knowledge at the forefront of new media technologies with this specialized online master's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Choosing a Great Public Relations & Advertising School
The public relations program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Public Relations & Advertising rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for public relations & advertising schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Public Relations & Advertising Rankings by Degree Level
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Public Relations & Advertising Schools in District of Columbia list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Learn how to use the latest technology and tactics to manage the flow of information between brands and the public with your Master's in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations at Southern New Hampshire University.
Keep your skills and knowledge at the forefront of new media technologies with this specialized online master's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Best Schools for Public Relations & Advertising in District of Columbia
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the public relations degrees they offer, see the list below.
Top District of Columbia Schools in Public Relations
George Washington University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in public relations & advertising. Located in the city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #25 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means GWU is a great university overall.
There were about 130 public relations & advertising students who graduated with this degree at GWU in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the public relations & advertising degree program at George Washington University earn $31,608 above the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
American University is a great decision for students pursuing a degree in public relations & advertising. Located in the large city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 7 colleges for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.
There were approximately 166 public relations & advertising students who graduated with this degree at The American University in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the public relations & advertising degree program at American University make $11,465 more than the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Howard University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in public relations & advertising. Howard is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington. This university ranks 5th out of 7 colleges for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.
There were approximately 80 public relations & advertising students who graduated with this degree at Howard in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the public relations program make around $39,120 in the first couple years of working.
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.
The public relations program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Public Relations & Advertising rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for public relations & advertising schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
