Do I Need a Communications Degree to Work in the News Industry?

Peo­ple get into the News indus­try in a vari­ety of ways. Chief among them are jour­nal­ism and com­mu­ni­ca­tions degrees, intern­ships, dogged report­ing work, and sig­nif­i­cant net­work­ing. Get­ting into a com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree pro­gram with like-mind­ed peers and a struc­tured envi­ron­ment can be a huge boost to your oppor­tu­ni­ties to work in media, jour­nal­ism, or the news itself.

In our rank­ing of the Top 15 Bach­e­lor of Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Pro­grams you’ll find schools that specif­i­cal­ly tar­get report­ing and news with their pro­grams and course­work. You should fol­low up with any school you’re inter­est­ed in and request infor­ma­tion from them.

We ranked the best com­mu­ni­ca­tions degrees based on the fol­low­ing criteria:

• We only chose col­leges from the top 50 of the U.S. News and World Report nation­al rank­ings that offered Bach­e­lor’s in com­mu­ni­ca­tions majors.
• We pri­or­i­tized schools that PayScale marked for greater salary potential.
• Schools were inspect­ed for their accreditation.
• We chose com­mu­ni­ca­tions majors that offered face-to-face speak­ing skills built into class time.
• We used the NCES Col­lege Nav­i­ga­tor data­base to con­sid­er aver­age annu­al tuition.
• Oth­er fac­tors con­sid­ered were: expe­ri­en­tial oppor­tu­ni­ties, class size, reten­tion rate, con­cen­tra­tions, fac­ul­ty cre­den­tials, and post-grad­u­ate success.

One great option on the list for peo­ple look­ing to use their com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree to work in the News indus­try is Boston Col­lege. It’s been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the 31st Top Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty and 41st in Best Val­ue. Their Mor­ris­sey Col­lege of Arts and Sci­ences has a Bach­e­lor of Com­mu­ni­ca­tion pro­gram with a Jour­nal­ism Con­cen­tra­tion. Through it, stu­dents can intern with the Boston Globe, study abroad in over 30 coun­tries, and join the pres­ti­gious Ful­ton Debat­ing Society.

Anoth­er selec­tion to con­sid­er for afford­abil­i­ty is the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na’s B.A. in Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Stud­ies major. No mat­ter where you’re a res­i­dent, it’s the most afford­able school on our list and offers con­cen­tra­tions for Rhetoric Stud­ies, Per­for­mance Stud­ies, Inter­per­son­al & Orga­ni­za­tion­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tion, or Media & Tech­nol­o­gy Pro­duc­tion. Jour­nal­ism has changed a lot, and the abil­i­ty to pro­duce mul­ti­me­dia quick­ly by your­self is just as impor­tant as report­ing chops in terms of job prospects.

Your com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree will give you skills that are high­ly demand­ed in the News indus­try, and far out­side of it. Some of these are:

• Ana­lyt­i­cal skills.
• Ver­bal and writ­ten communication.
• Cre­ativ­i­ty.
• Flex­i­bil­i­ty.
• Research skills.
• Empa­thy and under­stand­ing of others.
• Indus­try skills, meth­ods, and experience.
• Visu­al design skills.
• Prob­lem-solv­ing and deci­sion-mak­ing skills.
• Under­stand­ing of how the law and orga­ni­za­tion­al stan­dards impact pub­lic and inter­nal communication.

These skills will ben­e­fit you in your pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al lives, and a Bach­e­lor’s com­mu­ni­ca­tions degree is a great way to build them up. So don’t daw­dle. Go to Top 15 Bach­e­lor of Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Pro­grams, and be sure to fol­low the links and request infor­ma­tion from any school you’re inter­est­ed in. Good luck!

Relat­ed:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Programs

15 Best Online Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Bach­e­lor’s Programs

10 Fastest Online Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Bach­e­lor’s Programs

10 Most Afford­able Online Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Degree Bach­e­lor Programs

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Dig­i­tal Communications

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Dig­i­tal Communications

25 Best Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificates