If you pursue a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #5 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 15 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in Wisconsin ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,044 bachelor's degrees in communication & media studies to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Communication & Media Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The communications bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality communications program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
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 ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to communication & media studies students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of communication & media studies students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
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 easy is it for communication & media studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized communication & media studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for communication & media studies students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Communication & Media Studies Schools
The communications 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 & Media Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in Wisconsin.
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 when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
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University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the communications program state that they receive average early career income of $37,286.
It's hard to beat University of Wisconsin - Whitewater if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. UW - Whitewater is a fairly large public university located in the town of Whitewater.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the communications program make around $39,367 in the first couple years of working.
It's difficult to beat University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Located in the large city of Milwaukee, UWM is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the communications program earn around $38,040 in the first couple years of working.
It's hard to beat Marquette University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in communication & media studies. Located in the city of Milwaukee, Marquette is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the communications program earn an average of $36,443 in their early career salary.
Located in the small city of Eau Claire, UW - Eau Claire is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Communication & Media Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire earn a boost of approximately $2,143 above the average earnings of communication & media studies majors.
Located in the city of La Crosse, UW - La Crosse is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies major at University of Wisconsin - La Crosse make $2,103 more than the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Oshkosh, UW Oshkosh is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the communication & media studies major at University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh get $2,483 more than the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
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).
The communications bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality communications program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
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