Communication Sciences is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #24 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 15 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of communication sciences. Combined, these schools handed out 501 master's degrees in communication sciences to qualified students.
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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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Communication Sciences Master's Degree Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college decision.
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Northwestern University is a good choice for students pursuing a master's degree in communication sciences. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Evanston.
Communication Sciences master's degree recipients from Northwestern University get an earnings boost of approximately $3,262 above the typical earnings of communication sciences graduates.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in communication sciences. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the communication sciences major at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign get $9,134 above the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in communication sciences has to look into Rush University. Located in the city of Chicago, Rush University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Master's recipients from the communication sciences major at Rush University get $5,676 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Illinois State University is a good option for students interested in a master's degree in communication sciences. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the communication sciences program report average early career earnings of $54,477.
SXU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.
Master's recipients from the communication sciences degree program at Saint Xavier University earn $4,951 more than the typical 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).
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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
