2025 Best Public Relations & Advertising Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

Public Relations & Advertising is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #60 most popular master's degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 16 schools in the Southeast Region to determine which ones were the best for public relations & advertising students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 819 master's degrees in public relations & advertising during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Public Relations & Advertising School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of public relations & advertising 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 public relations & advertising students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other public relations & advertising 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 public relations & advertising 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 public relations & advertising related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public relations & advertising students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Public Relations & Advertising Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Relations & Advertising in the Southeast Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for public relations & advertising students seeking a a master's degree.

10 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Master's in Public Relations

1

The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL

47 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public relations & advertising needs to take a look at The University of Alabama. UA is a very large public university located in the city of Tuscaloosa.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from The University of Alabama

2

West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV

148 Annual Graduates

$56,835 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public relations & advertising needs to check out West Virginia University. Located in the small city of Morgantown, WVU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Public Relations & Advertising master's degree recipients from West Virginia University get an earnings boost of around $8,607 above the average income of public relations & advertising majors.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from West Virginia University

3

Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL

69 Annual Graduates

$51,722 Median Starting Salary

Florida State University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public relations & advertising. Located in the midsize city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those public relations & advertising students who get their master's degree from Florida State University receive $3,494 more than the typical public relations graduate.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Florida State University

4

North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC

18 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat North Carolina State University if you want to pursue a master's degree in public relations & advertising. NC State is a very large public university located in the city of Raleigh.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from North Carolina State University

5

Arkansas State University - Main Campus
Jonesboro, AR

59 Annual Graduates

A-State is a large public university located in the small city of Jonesboro.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Arkansas State University - Main Campus

6

Belmont University
Nashville, TN

25 Annual Graduates

Belmont is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Nashville.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Belmont University

7

University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Wilmington, NC

60 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Wilmington, UNCW is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from University of North Carolina at Wilmington

8

The University of Tampa
Tampa, FL

33 Annual Graduates

UT is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Tampa.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from The University of Tampa

9

University of Mississippi
University, MS

61 Annual Graduates

$43,057 Median Starting Salary

Ole Miss is a fairly large public university located in the town of University.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public relations program earn around $43,057 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from University of Mississippi

10

Murray State University
Murray, KY

11 Annual Graduates

Located in the town of Murray, Murray State is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in public relations & advertising from Murray State University

Best Public Relations & Advertising Colleges by State

Explore the best public relations & advertising colleges for a specific state in the Southeast Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	208	151
Georgia	190	28
Virginia	182	24
North Carolina	178	24
Tennessee	166	4
Alabama	151	85
Kentucky	147	17
Louisiana	147	7
South Carolina	146	8
Mississippi	145	30
Arkansas	121	34
West Virginia	112	93

View All Rankings >

Public Relations & Advertising Related Rankings by Major

Public Relations & Advertising is one of 5 different types of Communication & Journalism programs to choose from.

Public Relations Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Communication Management and Strategic Communications	258
Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	188
Other Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	178
Public Relations	64
Advertising	54
General Organizational Communication	40
Sports Communication	20
International & Intercultural Communication	9
Technical & Scientific Communication	6
Health Communication	2

Most Popular Majors Related to Public Relations

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Communication & Media Studies	1,328
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	364
Journalism	289
Communication & Journalism (Other)	181

Notes and References

• 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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Bill Koplitz. More about our data sources and methodologies.