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.
College Factual looked at 3 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Communication Sciences Master's Degree Schools in Iowa ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 107 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 full 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.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Communication Sciences Master's Degree Schools in Iowa ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Communication Sciences in Iowa
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in communication sciences.
Top Iowa Schools for a Master's in Communication Sciences
University of Iowa is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in communication sciences. Iowa is a very large public university located in the city of Iowa City.
After graduation, communication sciences master's recipients generally make around $58,814 at the beginning of their careers.
University of Northern Iowa is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in communication sciences. Located in the small city of Cedar Falls, UNI is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the communication sciences program report average early career wages of $60,535.
Saint Ambrose University is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a master's degree in communication sciences. Located in the midsize city of Davenport, St. Ambrose University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Master's students who receive their degree from the communication sciences program make around $56,535 in their early career salary.
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).