Ranked #24 in popularity, communication sciences is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 4 schools in Tennessee to determine which ones were the best for communication sciences students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 126 master's degrees in communication sciences during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Choosing a Great Communication Sciences School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of communication sciences for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on communication sciences students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other communication sciences students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt communication sciences students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized communication sciences related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for communication sciences students working on their master's degree.
The communication sciences 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 Communication Sciences Master's Degree Schools in Tennessee.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Communication Sciences in Tennessee
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in communication sciences.
Top Tennessee Schools for a Master's in Communication Sciences
It's hard to beat The University of Tennessee - Health Science Center if you wish to pursue a master's degree in communication sciences. UTHSC is a small public university located in the large city of Memphis.
Students who graduate with their master's from the communication sciences program report average early career wages of $52,331.
University of Memphis is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in communication sciences. UofM is a fairly large public university located in the city of Memphis.
Master's recipients from the communication sciences major at University of Memphis earn $3,472 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
It is difficult to beat East Tennessee State University if you want to pursue a master's degree in communication sciences. Located in the city of Johnson City, ETSU is a public university with a large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the communication sciences program report average early career income of $49,976.
Tennessee State University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in communication sciences. Tennessee State University is a medium-sized public university located in the city of Nashville.
Students who graduate with their master's from the communication sciences program state that they receive average early career earnings of $51,545.
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).
Your choice of communication sciences for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
