What Can I Do with a Bachelor’s in Media Communications Degree?

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• A Bach­e­lor’s in Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tions offers diverse career paths such as jour­nal­ism, pub­lic rela­tions, adver­tis­ing, and dig­i­tal media.
• Stu­dents devel­op skills in writ­ing, edit­ing, mul­ti­me­dia pro­duc­tion, and strate­gic com­mu­ni­ca­tion. The degree also pre­pares grad­u­ates for roles in social media man­age­ment, con­tent cre­ation, and media plan­ning.
• Many pro­grams offer intern­ships and hands-on projects to enhance prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence and job readiness.

Media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions rep­re­sent a large and steadi­ly grow­ing sec­tor, all the more because it over­laps with so many oth­er occu­pa­tions. Because of that growth, a degree in com­mu­ni­ca­tions and media stud­ies can come with any of sev­er­al nich­es, spe­cial­iza­tions, and career paths.

What Is a Media Communications Degree?

Is media stud­ies a good degree? Is a com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree worth it? These are some of the first ques­tions on many people’s minds when con­sid­er­ing media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions stud­ies. As with any degree, the answer to is media stud­ies a good degree will depend on the person’s goals.

Relat­ed:

• Best Bach­e­lor’s in Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Programs
• Best Online Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Bach­e­lor’s Programs
• Fastest Online Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Bach­e­lor’s Programs
• Most Afford­able Online Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Bach­e­lor Programs

Appli­cants may find the media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions field the right fit for their needs if they:

• Enjoy talk­ing to peo­ple and fig­ur­ing peo­ple out
• Like hav­ing the abil­i­ty to com­mu­ni­cate their mes­sages clear­ly and efficiently
• Enjoy con­nect­ing with dif­fer­ent peo­ple and groups of people
• Want to improve their abil­i­ty and con­fi­dence when writ­ing and communicating
• Already enjoy things like blog­ging or using social media
• Want to learn how to lever­age nat­ur­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills to their benefit

Objec­tive­ly speak­ing, yes, com­mu­ni­ca­tions and media stud­ies degrees are def­i­nite­ly good degrees, par­tic­u­lar­ly because of their flex­i­bil­i­ty and adapt­abil­i­ty. Sub­jec­tive­ly, the answer will depend on the applicant’s desires, dreams, tal­ents, and abil­i­ty to choose a good media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions stud­ies degree pro­gram or school.

What Does a Media Communications Degree Offer?

When won­der­ing is a com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree worth it, con­sid­er that the field opens many career paths and oppor­tu­ni­ties for degree hold­ers. Of course, this all begs anoth­er ques­tion: What can you do with a mass com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree?

The media com­mu­ni­ca­tions major also has a lot of over­lap with oth­er majors and fields. This means career paths can include things like pub­lic speak­ing and pub­lic rela­tions. Still, the degree also opens avenues to things like jour­nal­ism, mar­ket­ing, and advertising.

Those exam­ples are only a few of the careers avail­able to com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree hold­ers. Each of these posi­tions requires some­one with an under­stand­ing of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, get­ting a mes­sage across, and mak­ing sure the mes­sage is clear.

Stu­dents will also learn how to stay abreast of trends in mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion that they can ana­lyze, under­stand, and lever­age. Media is one of the great­est influ­encers of mod­ern times. Mas­ter­ing the sub­ject puts stu­dents in a posi­tion that makes them valu­able to just about any industry.

A look at the media stud­ies def­i­n­i­tion can help peo­ple under­stand how broad a reach a com­mu­ni­ca­tions and media stud­ies degree can real­ly have. A broad media stud­ies def­i­n­i­tion includes the study of how peo­ple achieve mass com­mu­ni­cate through mod­ern tech­nol­o­gy. Includ­ed in that study is a look the his­to­ry, tech­ni­cal aspects, and ana­lyt­i­cal con­sid­er­a­tions for media studies.

A media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions stud­ies degree goes a lit­tle fur­ther as the com­mu­ni­ca­tion and media stud­ies def­i­n­i­tion includes aspects of com­mu­ni­ca­tion in gen­er­al. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion pow­ers every aspect of life. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion also includes aspects of soci­ol­o­gy and psy­chol­o­gy, which are some things a media com­mu­ni­ca­tions major will study as they nav­i­gate the subject.

Gain­ing an under­stand­ing of how to ana­lyze and apply that pen­chant for com­mu­ni­ca­tion to com­mer­cial, busi­ness, and pub­lic enter­pris­es makes a com­mu­ni­ca­tion degree an invalu­able tool towards find­ing a reward­ing career and place in the indus­try. Those inter­est­ed in a media com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree should won­der about what can you do with a mass com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree to help them plan for how they will use their degree on graduation.

How Do You Choose an Excellent Media Communications Degree School or Program?

As with any school or pro­gram, find­ing the best uni­ver­si­ties for media stud­ies comes down to a few basic things all appli­cants can start with. Poten­tial stu­dents need to start with under­stand­ing the impor­tance of accred­i­ta­tion.

Prop­er­ly accred­it­ed schools and pro­grams help to nar­row the list as well as weed out schools and pro­grams that are less than ide­al for those seek­ing a supe­ri­or media com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree pro­gram expe­ri­ence. Sev­er­al types of accred­i­ta­tion exist.

Accred­i­ta­tion means the school or pro­gram an appli­cant wants to attend receives reg­u­lar assess­ments as to its edu­ca­tion­al qual­i­ty and stan­dards. Under­stand­ing the dif­fer­ent types of accred­i­ta­tion can become a lit­tle con­fus­ing, but there are a few things appli­cants should under­stand about accred­i­ta­tion. A good media com­mu­ni­ca­tions pro­gram can have mul­ti­ple types of accred­i­ta­tion. Poten­tial stu­dents should first check for region­al accreditation.

Understanding Regional Accreditation for Media Communications Degree Programs

Region­al accred­i­ta­tion orga­ni­za­tions han­dle accred­it­ing duties for a spe­cif­ic region of the coun­try, hence the name. Region­al accred­i­ta­tion sta­tus means the school, col­lege, or uni­ver­si­ty meets min­i­mum edu­ca­tion­al stan­dards. There are sev­en region­al accred­it­ing orga­ni­za­tions, which col­lec­tive­ly form the Coun­cil of Region­al Accred­it­ing Commissions.

Region­al accred­i­ta­tion is the old­est, most trust­ed, and most rec­og­nized form of accred­i­ta­tion. Region­al accred­i­ta­tion is also known as insti­tu­tion­al accred­i­ta­tion because the accred­it­ing stan­dards apply to all parts of the insti­tu­tion, not just a spe­cif­ic program.

One major ben­e­fit of region­al accred­i­ta­tion is that stu­dents have a far eas­i­er time of trans­fer­ring cred­its between oth­er region­al­ly accred­it­ed schools. Since most col­leges have region­al accred­i­ta­tion, the abil­i­ty to move around more freely with cred­its may appeal to many students.

Col­leges with region­al accred­i­ta­tion tend to have a stronger aca­d­e­m­ic focus when it comes to degrees. This can mean stu­dents in a region­al­ly accred­it­ed col­lege may see more lib­er­al arts course­work and more class­es involv­ing the aca­d­e­m­ic study of media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions, as opposed to strict­ly career-ori­ent­ed cours­es. Because of that, region­al accred­i­ta­tion doesn’t always show up for some schools that have a more tech­ni­cal or career-based focus.

How­ev­er, none of these state­ments con­sti­tutes rules. A col­lege can have region­al accred­i­ta­tion but still pro­vide career-ori­ent­ed pro­grams or also have oth­er forms of accred­i­ta­tion to val­i­date their media com­mu­ni­ca­tions program.

Understanding National Accreditation for Media Communications Degree Programs

Nation­al accred­i­ta­tion agen­cies have a larg­er reach than region­al accred­i­ta­tion agen­cies. Nev­er­the­less, a nation­al accred­i­ta­tion can mean sev­er­al things, depend­ing on the accred­it­ing orga­ni­za­tion involved. Nation­al accred­i­ta­tion orga­ni­za­tions favor voca­tion­al schools, tech­ni­cal pro­grams, and career-ori­ent­ed schools.

Accred­i­ta­tion from a nation­al accred­i­ta­tion agency can cov­er an entire insti­tu­tion like region­al accred­i­ta­tion, but they can also cov­er sin­gu­lar pro­grams, class­es, or aca­d­e­m­ic paths sep­a­rate­ly. When the nation­al accred­i­ta­tion orga­ni­za­tion cov­ers a spe­cif­ic pro­gram or field, then the terms pro­gram­mat­ic accred­i­ta­tion or spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion come into use.

Spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion can mean a lot more than oth­er types of accred­i­ta­tion depend­ing on the indus­try involved. Some nation­al accred­it­ing orga­ni­za­tions hold com­plete sway over the edu­ca­tion­al stan­dards of a par­tic­u­lar indus­try. Even if a school doesn’t have region­al accred­i­ta­tion, the spe­cial­ized nation­al accred­i­ta­tion sta­tus of a pro­gram can make a lot more sense for poten­tial students.

The major ben­e­fit of nation­al accred­i­ta­tion is the pro­gram will like­ly focus on course­work that’s more prac­ti­cal and nat­ur­al and bet­ter tuned to the field the stu­dent will enter on grad­u­a­tion. Nev­er­the­less, trans­fer­ring cred­its from a nation­al­ly accred­it­ed school can often prove difficult.

Trans­fer­ring cred­its between oth­er nation­al­ly accred­it­ed pro­grams often goes smooth­ly, but trans­fer­ring them to a region­al­ly accred­it­ed col­lege isn’t always easy. These hur­dles aren’t always present; it depends on the nation­al­ly accred­it­ed school some­one ini­tial­ly earns cred­its from.

Some nation­al accred­it­ing orga­ni­za­tions do cre­ate stan­dards the region­al accred­i­ta­tion orga­ni­za­tions rec­og­nize as equal or supe­ri­or to their own. In such cas­es, there’s a bet­ter chance of trans­fer­ring cred­its, should a stu­dent need to.

In the case of media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions, some of the best uni­ver­si­ties for media stud­ies will have ACEJMC accred­i­ta­tion. The Accred­it­ing Coun­cil on Edu­ca­tion in Jour­nal­ism and Mass Com­mu­ni­ca­tions (ACEJMC) sets stan­dards and eval­u­ates mass com­mu­ni­ca­tions pro­grams. ACEJMC accred­i­ta­tion has wide recog­ni­tion and rep­re­sents an indus­try stan­dard in many places.

Some of the best col­leges for media com­mu­ni­ca­tions majors will have ACEJMC accred­i­ta­tion, but poten­tial stu­dents should know that ACEJMC accred­i­ta­tion sta­tus means that a school with­out it isn’t a good one.

A good rule of thumb for any school or program’s accred­i­ta­tion sta­tus is to do some research. First, check if the accred­it­ing orga­ni­za­tion has the recog­ni­tion of the US Dept. of Edu­ca­tion. This fed­er­al agency gives recog­ni­tion to region­al, nation­al, and oth­er types of accred­i­ta­tion organizations.

Even if the accred­it­ing orga­ni­za­tion doesn’t have that recog­ni­tion, appli­cants can still do some research to see if the accred­i­ta­tion orga­ni­za­tion of the pro­gram they’re inter­est­ed in has a good rep­u­ta­tion or indus­try recognition.

What Are the Different Types of Media and Communication Degrees?

A bach­e­lor’s in com­mu­ni­ca­tion can come with var­i­ous spe­cial­ties. Because of that, media and com­mu­ni­ca­tion cours­es have a focus on a par­tic­u­lar con­cen­tra­tion. For exam­ple, a BS in com­mu­ni­ca­tions can have a focus on journalism.

The bach­e­lor’s in com­mu­ni­ca­tion isn’t the same as a jour­nal­ism degree, but the two over­lap. In fact, the two over­lap so much that appli­cants may see media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree pro­grams that are actu­al­ly a com­bi­na­tion of the two, in the form of a com­mu­ni­ca­tions and jour­nal­ism degree.

Con­cen­tra­tions with media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree can include:

• Busi­ness, com­mer­cial, and indus­tri­al relations
• Jour­nal­ism, broad­cast­ing, and media
• Mar­ket­ing and advertising
• Pol­i­tics and government
• Pub­lic relations

This means not every media com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree is pre­cise­ly the same type of degree. Beyond indus­try fields, some stu­dents may choose a more aca­d­e­m­ic or schol­ar­ly pur­suit of media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions and enter the field of research or oth­er career paths that deal more with the fun­da­men­tals under­ly­ing communication.

Some stu­dent may want a media com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree with a strong focus on a spe­cif­ic indus­try rather than on any par­tic­u­lar con­cen­tra­tion. An exam­ple of this is a BS in Polit­i­cal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree. For a stu­dent that knows they will apply their com­mu­ni­ca­tions knowl­edge to some­thing like video cre­ation, cours­es in media and enter­tain­ment will make more sense.

Poten­tial stu­dents should always pay close atten­tion to the prospec­tive media stud­ies syl­labus and make sure they under­stand exact­ly what any media com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree cours­es are real­ly offer­ing. For exam­ple, some pro­grams may have a strong focus on mar­ket­ing and adver­tis­ing when the stu­dent real­ly wants to dig into media and com­mu­ni­ca­tion cours­es designed more for pol­i­tics and pub­lic speaking.

When it comes to the types of com­mu­ni­ca­tion degrees avail­able, a media stud­ies syl­labus should have all the infor­ma­tion an appli­cant needs to under­stand if that par­tic­u­lar pro­gram is right for their needs and goals.

How Are Online Media and Communications Degrees Different?

An online com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree isn’t any dif­fer­ent from a degree earned at any oth­er school, col­lege, or uni­ver­si­ty. Stu­dents who grad­u­ate will receive their com­mu­ni­ca­tions bach­e­lor degree and go on to use their skills where they choose.

An online com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree pro­gram works much like any oth­er tra­di­tion­al degree pro­gram. All the same rules apply when it comes to choos­ing a pro­gram or find­ing the best online com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree path. That includes look­ing for prop­er accred­i­ta­tion. Poten­tial stu­dents will still have to make sure they’re choos­ing a school that pro­vides the right types of com­mu­ni­ca­tion degrees.

Nev­er­the­less, choos­ing to become a media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions major through a mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion degree online does come with some poten­tial ben­e­fits not often found in more tra­di­tion­al set­tings. While pur­su­ing a bach­e­lor’s in com­mu­ni­ca­tions online, stu­dents can often take advan­tage of com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree online pro­grams that offer high lev­els of sched­ul­ing flexibility.

For many adults, sched­ul­ing their jobs and lives around their class­es can become a real has­sle. Many online mass com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree pro­grams allow for a slow­er pace, or alter­na­tive­ly, a faster pace through an accel­er­at­ed com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree online pro­gram. Many online pro­grams are more afford­able as well, but stu­dents should be care­ful — some less scrupu­lous online edu­ca­tors pack hid­den costs into their programs.

An online bach­e­lor’s in com­mu­ni­ca­tions will come with the same course­work and ded­i­cat­ed study require­ments. Appli­cants should not assume an online mass com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree will require less of their atten­tion than a tra­di­tion­al class­room. A mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion degree online will cer­tain­ly bring just as much chal­lenge and give just as many rewards to those who grad­u­ate with their degree. The best online com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree will come from a pro­gram with high stan­dards and a great aca­d­e­m­ic reputation.

Addi­tion­al­ly, peo­ple inter­est­ed in media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions or cours­es in media and enter­tain­ment can find a tremen­dous amount of resources online. For exam­ple, many pro­grams exist offer­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tion cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online, free online mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion cours­es, and free online media cours­es with cer­tifi­cate proof of atten­dance. These things can sup­ple­ment an online com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree or help stu­dents self-guide them­selves towards par­tic­u­lar indus­tries or roles that may look favor­ably on a com­mu­ni­ca­tion cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online completion.

Do Media Communications Graduates Need Certifications or Licenses?

Com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­ti­fi­ca­tions aren’t always nec­es­sary, but some indus­tries or jobs may require or look favor­ably on some spe­cif­ic cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. Com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­ti­fi­ca­tions vary wide­ly, so there are no spe­cif­ic cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for com­mu­ni­ca­tion pro­fes­sion­als that all grad­u­ates need to chase.

Some­times, a spe­cif­ic cer­tifi­cate can help a stu­dent find an entry-lev­el posi­tion before they obtain their degree. This can help increase their expe­ri­ence and gain prac­ti­cal knowl­edge before they graduate.

A stu­dent should pur­sue com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­ti­fi­ca­tions that fit with their goals, indus­try, or niche. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for peo­ple who want to work inter­na­tion­al­ly exist right along­side cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for peo­ple who plan to work with social media.

Some spe­cif­ic tools a grad­u­ate may use in their career may have cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams. Just about every net­work­ing or IT field has a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion for using cer­tain types of tech­nol­o­gy for things like dis­trib­ut­ing rich media.

A good idea is for stu­dents to explore any relat­ed cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams offered by the school. Many schools have cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams or even include cer­tain types of cer­ti­fi­ca­tion as part of the over­all cur­ricu­lum. If in doubt, a stu­dent would do well to look up com­mon cer­ti­fi­ca­tions used in the indus­try they plan to go into.

What Types of Careers Are Available in Media and Communications

Media and com­mu­ni­ca­tion jobs rep­re­sent a broad spec­trum of career oppor­tu­ni­ties. Many tra­di­tion­al and estab­lished job types exist, but the dig­i­tal age cre­at­ed a whole bevy of oth­er poten­tial career pos­si­bil­i­ties. It’s not just press releas­es and pub­lic image anymore!

Com­mu­ni­ca­tions and media stud­ies jobs that nev­er exist­ed before are also show­ing up all the time as tech­nol­o­gy changes the media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions land­scape. For exam­ple, the con­cept of new media con­tin­ues to grow and evolve, lead­ing to new career oppor­tu­ni­ties and even entre­pre­neur­ial paths for those who seek careers in media and communications.

Some media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions jobs can include media pro­fes­sion­als like:

• Dig­i­tal designer
• Dig­i­tal media buy­er, coor­di­na­tor, or manager
• Event man­ag­er
• Mar­ket­ing con­sul­tant or manager
• Mul­ti­me­dia specialist
• Pub­lic relations
• Social media spe­cial­ist or manager
• Tele­vi­sion, film, or video direc­tor or producer
• Writer or journalist
• Inter­preters
• Cam­era operators
• Strate­gist
• Copy­writer
• Com­mu­ni­ca­tions manager
• Video edi­tors
• Con­tent manager
• Mar­ket­ing specialist
• Tech­ni­cal writers
• Pub­lic rela­tions specialists
• Mar­ket­ing manager
• News Ana­lysts

With a com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree jobs are plen­ti­ful and not lim­it­ed specif­i­cal­ly to the tra­di­tion­al media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions field (like radio or news­pa­pers). There are spe­cial­iza­tions like mar­ket research, dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing, graph­ic design, and more.

Media com­mu­ni­ca­tions jobs and careers in media and enter­tain­ment exist in prac­ti­cal­ly every sec­tor. An appli­cant can find careers in media stud­ies in edu­ca­tion, legal, gov­ern­ment, and lit­er­al­ly any oth­er sec­tor that requires some aspect of com­mu­ni­ca­tion. You can work in non­prof­it, health­care, human resources and more. Com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree jobs are grow­ing, and careers in media stud­ies con­tin­ue to evolve.

The types of jobs in media avail­able today encom­pass both old and new media, which means media com­mu­ni­ca­tions jobs still val­ue both new and tra­di­tion­al skill sets. For exam­ple, the types of jobs in media that rely on jour­nal­ism still require some­one to know the his­to­ry and tra­di­tion­al meth­ods of con­vey­ing news.

At the same time, advances in tech­nol­o­gy mean careers in media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions that rely on jour­nal­ism will need the jour­nal­ist to know how to apply those tra­di­tion­al fun­da­men­tals to mod­ern platforms.

Mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion degree jobs offer chal­lenge, ful­fill­ment, and some­times, real change to the world. Media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions careers and careers in media and enter­tain­ment will require grad­u­ates to stay abreast of trends and changes.

Many com­mu­ni­ca­tions and media stud­ies jobs can require appli­cants to have some expe­ri­ence. Intern­ships, cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, and find­ing entry-lev­el jobs for com­mu­ni­ca­tion majors can help appli­cants gain that expe­ri­ence before attempt­ing to apply for hot­ly con­test­ed positions.

Often, entry-lev­el jobs for com­mu­ni­ca­tion majors can grow into oth­er mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion degree jobs and posi­tions rel­a­tive­ly quick­ly. Since media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions careers can vary wide­ly, com­mu­ni­ca­tions and media stud­ies jobs can also offer grad­u­ates a lot of room to move around and test the waters along dif­fer­ent career paths.

What are the Salary Expectations for Media and Communications Graduates?

Media com­mu­ni­ca­tions salary will depend on loca­tion, posi­tion, expe­ri­ence, and many oth­er fac­tors. A com­mu­ni­ca­tion stud­ies salary can also rise very high over time. Because of the need for com­mu­ni­ca­tions majors in one capac­i­ty or anoth­er across many sec­tors, it’s cer­tain­ly pos­si­ble to find high-pay­ing jobs with a com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree.

For mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion jobs, the salary can also depend heav­i­ly on the degree holder’s spe­cial­ty, accord­ing to the BLS. For exam­ple, aver­age base com­mu­ni­ca­tion stud­ies salary for a com­mu­ni­ca­tions spe­cial­ist is around $56k, but the aver­age base salary for a mar­ket­ing com­mu­ni­ca­tions spe­cial­ist sits around $68k. The same thing occurs with oth­er com­mu­ni­ca­tion and media stud­ies salary ranges. Media com­mu­ni­ca­tions jobs salary can aver­age $50k; how­ev­er, high pay­ing jobs with a com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree can aver­age far more than that.

Often, job seek­ers look­ing for a good mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion jobs salary should make sure they search for oppor­tu­ni­ties wher­ev­er they can. Some jobs that pay well don’t always seem obvi­ous from the start. For exam­ple, a media com­mu­ni­ca­tions salary can rise if the job exists with­in a cer­tain niche.

One job may offer a low­er salary for a media com­mu­ni­ca­tions spe­cial­ist, but anoth­er busi­ness may offer a far high­er mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion degree salary for a dig­i­tal media com­mu­ni­ca­tions spe­cial­ist. Appli­cants should not assume one type of media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions job will dic­tate the salary range for oth­er types of jobs. For exam­ple, a pub­lic rela­tions man­ag­er and a social media man­ag­er can make wild­ly dif­fer­ent amounts of mon­ey, despite using the same type of degree as a qualifier.

In addi­tion, demand also mat­ters. A com­pa­ny with a full mar­ket­ing team may offer a low­er salary for a social media man­ag­er. But, a com­pa­ny that needs a com­pe­tent social media man­ag­er right now to guide them into the social media land­scape may start with a far high­er salary offer.

Typ­i­cal­ly, man­age­ment posi­tions have the best salary ranges for degree hold­ers. Beyond oth­er salary con­sid­er­a­tions, degree hold­ers can also carve a niche for themselves.

The skills and knowl­edge acquired through a media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions pro­gram lend them­selves heav­i­ly toward more entre­pre­neur­ial work. Degree hold­ers can eas­i­ly start busi­ness­es of their own as free­lancers, con­sul­tants, and oth­er types of inde­pen­dent con­trac­tors or free agents.

Are There Any Professional Organizations for Media and Communications?

Many pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions exist for media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions. Some very large pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions exist for just about every media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions dis­ci­pline. Stu­dents and grad­u­ates should def­i­nite­ly con­sid­er join­ing a pro­fes­sion­al com­mu­ni­ca­tions asso­ci­a­tion as soon as they can. Pro­fes­sion­al asso­ci­a­tions come with a tremen­dous amount of benefits.

One of the main ben­e­fits of a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion is the abil­i­ty to net­work with oth­ers in the same field. Net­work­ing and uti­liz­ing a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion can pro­vide con­tacts, job oppor­tu­ni­ties, refer­rals, sup­port, resources, and many oth­er ben­e­fits. Mem­ber­ship in a com­mu­ni­ca­tions asso­ci­a­tion can also look good on a resume.

Some well-known pro­fes­sion­al media and com­mu­ni­ca­tions orga­ni­za­tions include:

• Amer­i­can Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Association
• Asso­ci­a­tion for Women in Communications
• Asso­ci­a­tion of Mar­ket­ing and Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Professionals
• Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Busi­ness Communicators
• Inter­na­tion­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Association
• Pub­lic Rela­tions Soci­ety of America

Many, many more asso­ci­a­tions exist. Stu­dents may have an orga­ni­za­tion in their school, or a local one in their hometown.