2023 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication in the Southeast Region

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in the Southeast Region” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

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

Across the Southeast region, there were 1,571 public relations, advertising, & applied communication graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 189 public relations, advertising, & applied communication graduates with average earnings and debt of $55,462 and $43,311 respectively.

For this year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in the Southeast Region” ranking, we looked at 5 colleges that offer a degree in public relations, advertising, & applied communication. That schools that top this list have a program in public relations, advertising, & applied communication in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication Schools

The public relations, advertising, and applied communication 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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in the Southeast Region”.

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 by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in the Southeast Region

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

Top 5 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication in the Southeast Region

1

The University of West Florida
Pensacola, Florida

Out of the 5 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, The University of West Florida landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in Pensacola, Florida, this fairly large public school handed out 16 diplomas to qualified masters’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication students in 2021-2022.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.8% 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 UWF

2

Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida

#23 overall quality in Southeast

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Florida State University. The school came in at #2 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in the Southeast Region. Florida State University is a large public school situated in Tallahassee, Florida. It awarded 63 masters’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication degrees in 2021-2022.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full Florida State University Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication Report

3

University of Mississippi
University, Mississippi

Top 20% overall quality in Southeast

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Mississippi. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in the Southeast Region. Ole Miss is a large public school situated in University, Mississippi. It awarded 51 masters’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication degrees in 2021-2022.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 88%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication at Ole Miss

4

Coastal Carolina University
Conway, South Carolina

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Coastal Carolina University. The school came in at #4 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in the Southeast Region. Coastal Carolina University is located in Conway, South Carolina and, has a fairly large student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 12 masters’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication degrees to qualified students.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.1% 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 full report on Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication at Coastal Carolina University

5

University of North Florida
Jacksonville, Florida

Out of the 5 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication Major in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of North Florida landed the #5 spot on the list. University of North Florida is a fairly large school located in Jacksonville, Florida that handed out 24 masters’s public relations, advertising, and applied communication degrees in 2021-2022.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication at UNF

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.