2023 Most Focused Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication in Illinois

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication is the 170th most popular major in the country with 4,517 degrees awarded in 2021-2022.

Across Illinois, there were 35 public relations, advertising, & applied communication graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 35 public relations, advertising, & applied communication graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,374 and $23,086 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in public relations, advertising, & applied communication. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their public relations, advertising, & applied communication program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 “Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois” list to help you make the college decision.

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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best for illinois bachelor’s degree public relations, advertising, and applied communication students.

Top 3 Most Focused Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication in Illinois

1

Bradley University
Peoria, Illinois

#11 overall quality in Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Bradley University. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois list. Bradley is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Peoria, Illinois. It awarded 25 bachelors’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication degrees in 2021-2022.

With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.9% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read more about Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication at Bradley University

2

McKendree University
Lebanon, Illinois

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend McKendree University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois list. Located in Lebanon, Illinois, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 8 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication students in 2021-2022.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication at McKendree University

3

Saint Xavier University
Chicago, Illinois

Out of the 3 schools in the Schools for a Bachelor’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Saint Xavier University landed the #3 spot on the list. SXU is a small school located in Chicago, Illinois that handed out 2 bachelors’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication degrees in 2021-2022.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full SXU Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication Report

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Bill Koplitz.