If you pursue a master's degree in communication sciences, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #24 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 27 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Communication Sciences Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,100 master's degrees in communication sciences to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Communication Sciences School for Your Master's Degree
The communication sciences master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality communication sciences 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
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to communication sciences students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of communication sciences students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for communication sciences to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
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 schools 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 the Far Western US Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in communication sciences has to take a look at University of Washington - Seattle Campus. UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the city of Seattle.
Communication Sciences master's degree recipients from University of Washington - Seattle Campus get an earnings boost of about $6,248 above the average earnings of communication sciences graduates.
Loma Linda University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in communication sciences. Loma Linda University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Loma Linda.
Master's recipients from the communication sciences degree program at Loma Linda University earn $2,970 more than the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
It is hard to beat San Diego State University if you want to pursue a master's degree in communication sciences. Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public university with a very large student population.
Communication Sciences master's degree recipients from San Diego State University get an earnings boost of approximately $5,503 above the average income of communication sciences majors.
California State University - Northridge is a wonderful option for students interested in a master's degree in communication sciences. CSUN is a very large public university located in the large city of Northridge.
Soon after graduation, communication sciences master's recipients generally make an average of $66,689 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the large city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public university with a very large student population.
Communication Sciences master's degree recipients from San Francisco State University earn a boost of approximately $8,695 above the typical earnings of communication sciences graduates.
Located in the city of Stockton, Pacific is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Those communication sciences students who get their master's degree from University of the Pacific earn $6,994 more than the typical communication sciences student.
University of Redlands is a small private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Redlands.
Communication Sciences master's degree recipients from University of Redlands receive an earnings boost of approximately $6,102 over the average income of communication sciences majors.
Located in the midsize city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Master's recipients from the communication sciences degree program at Chapman University earn $6,861 more than the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Cal State Fullerton is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Fullerton.
Master's recipients from the communication sciences major at California State University - Fullerton make $3,383 more than the typical graduate in this field 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 communication sciences master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality communication sciences program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
