Today we continue our series looking more specifically as what goes on inside a major, by providing links to some of the best descriptions and web 2.0 technologies out there. Today’s Field Guide to Communications follows the same basic format as last week’s Field Guide to Business.

What is the study?

• Wikipedia does a nice break down of the field and the CollegeBoard offers a more specific look at the major in US college while the British Council outlines the UK approach in their Fact Sheet. I found one other decription of the Communications majorI though was intersting, while Student reviews tries to spell out what the stuy is really be sure to check out their various tables:

Job Salaries

Salary by Major

Job Satisfaction by Major

Descriptions of Majors

Unemployement by Major

Still in field by Major

From the new media, I found a YouTube video called Major in Communications at Pace University.

Here is another one from NYU:

Magazines you should read

• Advertising age:
• Adbusters
• Media Post
• Communication Arts
• Media Education Foundation
• Public relations journal
• The Wall Street Journal
• Business Week

High school preparation

Courses you should love:
• AP Language/IB English
• IB Film/IB-AP Art
• Journalism/yearbook
• Speech
Clubs that matter
• PR for any club
• Start blogging

Podcasts worth listening to:

o New Communication Technologies
o NPR Business story of the day
o University channel

o watch the videos:

Courses

• University of Cincinati Electronic Media Communications
• Rock Valley College Intro to Communications
• Stanford University Journalism
• MIT: Comparative Media Studies
• UC Berkeley Journalism and Media
• City University of New York Journalism and Media
• Missouri Stat U: Principles of Communications
• Arizona State University Essential of Advertising and Marketing

Best places to study?

Honestly there are so many great places out there, but some people have tried to rank them, so I may as well share their results with you:

College cruch has a nice list with a concise write up for each entry:

The 20 Best Schools for Communications Majors in 2009

1. University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication is the best in country. It has a thorough communications program which covers a broad range of relevant course work. Students majoring in communications will learn of contemporary culture, media institutions, and will study the impact and influences of the various disciplines which affect and are affected by communications. Communication majors will be required to take 14 communication specific courses. Students are offered the opportunity to participate in internships and independent study. Additionally, students are afforded the opportunity to study abroad. The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication is dedicated to the advancement of the communications field through research and educational experiences.

2. Syracuse University

Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications endeavors to explore the breadth of the communications discipline. Communications majors can study print journalism, broadcast journalism, even photography. The school integrates the internet and computer-based interactive multimedia into their program. The program places a concentration on ethics and professionalism. The faculty are professionals in the communications field. Admission to the school is extremely aggressive with only the top candidates gaining admission.

3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s department of communication studies offers hundreds of undergraduate majors. The program uses research and service to instill the ideas from the classroom and to further the reach of the program. The communications program investigates the effects of communication on social, political, cultural, and economic institutions. The program develops the necessary skills to be successful in the communications field. Students are required to complete thirty credit hours in communication specific courses and must choose a concentration in which at least four courses must be completed.

4. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

Communication studies at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor focus on the new technologies facilitating communications and the media. The curriculum includes studying the history of communication and how communication has affected history. The focus on mass media investigates the impact mass media has had on the culture, society, and the governments of the current world. The school endeavors to incite thoughtful discussion and curiosity of the way communications through mass media and the technological outlets for it have influenced every aspect of modern life. The program at the University ensures students are provided with the groundwork needed to pursue post graduate education or to enter into the profession.

5. Pepperdine University

The Pepperdine University Seaver College Communication Division is one of the best in the country. At Pepperdine, communication majors can select a concentration in advertising, communication, journalism, public relations, rhetoric and leadership or telecommunication. The program exams the methods and effects of communication on interpersonal relationships. The communication major has certain required courses which are mandatory; theory, communication research, ethics, and message creation and effects. The University offers an accelerated masters degree program.

Be sure to read about all of them, but know they are missing many quality porgrams like Emmerson, Lynn and Chapman.

As for the largest programs:

Largest Colleges by Student Enrollment with Programs in Communications

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Ohio State University

The School of Communication within Ohio State’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is well known for its research in the areas of health communication, mass media effects, communication technology and political communication. Communications students at Ohio State University benefit from interaction with leading communication researchers and teachers and an abundance of internship opportunities. An honors program is available to communications students, who may also participate in student organizations such as the Society of Professional Journalists. The School of Communication offers Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) programs in communications.

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University at Tempe

The Hugh Downs School of Human Communication within ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is an important research and teaching center for the study of human interaction and the analysis of communication problems. Benefits of studying communications at ASU include the opportunity to be part of a nationally recognized forensics team; study communications abroad in London, Dublin or Edinburgh; and explore the field through a broad range of internships. Communications students may earn a B.A., B.S. or M.A. in communications at ASU.

College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida

UF’s College of Journalism and Communications is known for being an early leader in electronic publishing. The College includes departments in advertising, public relations, journalism and telecommunication. In addition to bachelor’s degrees in these areas, students in the College can pursue master’s or Ph.D. programs in mass communication. Communications students participate in a large academic community of leading scholars and communications professionals while working for campus magazines and pursuing internships in the field.

But bigger does not always mean better, so you can look at productivity in terms of numbers of articles published.

1 Boston U.
2 Northwestern U.
3 New York U.
4 U. of Wisconsin at Madison
5 U. of California at Davis
6 Pennsylvania State U. at University Park
7 Michigan State U.
8 U. of Texas at Austin
9 George Mason U.
10 U. of California at Santa Barbara

Interesting that the hands down most scholarly place does not even make College crunch’s list…or that any of College crunch’s top ten even make the list on Productivity. As the Vitural advisor points out:

Even if there was one single, definitive list of the top U.S. journalism programs, I wouldn’t urge you to pay much attention to it. Almost 500 colleges in this country offer journalism majors, and dozens of them could probably be justifiably considered among the best. Thing is, it’s really tough to figure out just what having the “best” program means.

Is it the school with the best student newspaper? Any number of colleges have excellent student papers — Indiana University, New York University, Loyola, Kansas State and the University of North Carolina regularly win awards for their work, and that’s just to name a handful of the great student newspapers out there. The University of Pennsylvania’s student newspaper (The Daily Pennsylvanian) gets an awful lot of acclaim, and graduates loads of students who go on to successful journalistic careers, yet UPenn doesn’t even have a journalism major. The same is true of Harvard, whose student newspaper, the The Harvard Crimson, is considered by many to be the best in the country.

So maybe you would be better off looking at student reviews.

And of course you can use US NEws Grad school ranks as a hint, but a strong grad deparment does not always mean a stong undergrad department (and more importantly a lack of a grad school actually gives an advantage to undergraduates.

Public Relations

Journalism

Meanwhile in the UK, there is actually a list:

The Guardian gives their top ten as:

University guide 2010: Media studies, communications and librarianship

How we communicate - includes information services, publicity studies, media studies, publishing, journalism and mass communication

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 May 2009 00.31 BST

Media studies, communications and librarianship

More about this subject and compare research ratings

Go to:
Rating	Name of Institution	Guardian score/ 100	% Satisfied with teaching	% Satisfied with feedback	Spend per student (FTE)	Student: staff ratio	Career prospects	Value added score/ 10	Average Entry Tariff
1	Warwick	100	98	80	9	11.1	50	8	428
2	Southampton	93.9	73	57	10	10.5		5	393
3	Sheffield	91.2	94	76	6	19.1	83	8	381
4	Cardiff	89.4	92	61	10	17.7	72	6	382
5	Birmingham	85.3	87	73	10	17.8	48	7	360
6	Newcastle	84.1	81	54	9	16	70	7	386
7	Loughborough	84	89	72	4	17.9	66	8	394
8	Leicester	82.7			8	17.6	64	9	311
9	Leeds	79.5	82	60	8	19.4	70	5	374
10	King’s College London

Where as the Times

Warwick 5.2 430 85% 58% 100

Sheffield 2 404 87% 81% 96

Cardiff 4.3 391 78% 67% 93.5

Loughborough 2.7 374 82% 69% 90.7

Queen Mary, London 3.3 337 75% 75% 88.9

Leeds 2.6 374 74% 72% 87.3

Leicester 3.8 312 64% 87.1

Goldsmiths College 4.4 349 71% 61% 86.4

Bournemouth 2.5 355 73% 74% 86.2

East Anglia 4.8 339 78% 42% 85.3

To add to the cofusion, yet a third league table gives a different ranking

Communication & Media Studies

Rank	Institution	Student Satisfaction	Research Assessment	Entry Standards	Graduate Prospects	Overall Score
1	St Andrews	.00	3.35	453	0	100.0
2	Warwick	4.26	3.50	430	58	93.4
3	Sheffield	4.12	2.20	404	81	93.1
4	Cardiff	3.81	3.15	391	67	91.7
5	Southampton	.00	2.65	398	59	91.4
6	Leeds	3.84	2.65	374	72	90.9
7	Loughborough	4.26	2.40	374	69	90.9
8	Leicester	.00	3.04	312	64	90.2
9	Stirling	.00	2.75	356	60	90.2
10	Bournemouth	3.67	2.50	355	74	89.9
11	Goldsmiths College	3.72	3.20	349	61	89.3
12	Brunel	3.84	2.40	303	74	88.5
13	Central Lancashire	3.73	2.20	316	76	88.5
14	Nottingham Trent	3.93	2.80	307	66	88.4
15	Royal Holloway	3.72	2.90	368	56	88.3
16	East Anglia	.00	3.40	339	42	87.4
17	Robert Gordon	.00	2.10	321	63	87.4
18	Sussex	3.80	2.90	353	52	87.3
19	Birmingham City	3.91	2.70	311	57	86.7
20	Surrey	3.56	2.10	321	67	86.4
21	Liverpool	3.84	1.80	387	54	86.2
22	Westminster	3.50	3.50	338	44	86.1
23	Keele	4.00	.00	309	74	85.8
24	Lancaster	4.04	2.80	339	43	85.7
25	Newcastle	3.70	2.45	0	0	85.2
26	Glasgow Caledonian	3.76	2.30	351	48	85.1
27	Salford	3.53	2.55	300	57	85.1
28	Lincoln	3.78	2.75	283	52	84.8
29	King’s College London	3.80	.00	403	50	84.1
30	Plymouth	.00	2.35	273	0	84.0
31	Roehampton	3.97	2.35	262	0	83.9
32	Birmingham	3.95	.00	363	53	83.7
33	Queen Margaret	.00	2.45	297	46	83.6
34	Hertfordshire	3.82	2.15	244	59	83.4
35	Brighton	3.65	2.20	307	49	83.4
36	Aberystwyth	3.58	2.70	250	53	83.3
37	Edinburgh Napier	.00	.00	301	63	83.1
38	Northumbria	3.75	2.25	299	46	82.9
39	City	3.55	.00	315	63	82.9
40	Bangor	.00	1.95	283	0	82.7
41	Sunderland	3.90	2.75	240	46	82.7
42	Sheffield Hallam	3.44	2.40	268	52	82.6
43	Lampeter	.00	1.60	265	59	82.6
44	Ulster	3.66	2.80	267	43	82.5
45	Coventry	3.15	2.45	270	55	82.5
46	De Montfort	3.92	2.42	250	47	82.4
47	West of England, Bristol	3.88	2.65	269	40	82.3
48	Derby	.00	2.45	233	52	82.3
49	Middlesex	3.53	2.15	226	59	82.1
50	Portsmouth	3.84	2.10	292	43	82.1
51	Leeds Metropolitan	3.26	2.55	261	51	82.1
52	University for the Creative Arts	3.91	.00	0	58	82.0
53	Staffordshire	3.78	1.85	250	54	81.9
54	University of the Arts, London	3.46	.00	297	60	81.6
55	Oxford Brookes	3.87	.00	321	47	81.1
56	Swansea	3.73	2.05	262	44	81.0
57	Falmouth	.00	.00	265	60	80.9
58	Bath Spa	3.76	1.80	261	45	80.5
59	Kingston	3.78	.00	260	55	80.4
60	Liverpool John Moores	3.78	.00	276	52	80.4
61	Greenwich	4.24	1.65	240	42	80.3
62	Wolverhampton	4.06	1.75	204	49	80.1
63	Southampton Solent	3.56	.00	249	58	80.0
64	Queen’s, Belfast	.00	.00	324	45	79.9
65	Manchester Metropolitan	3.58	1.99	211	50	79.9
66	Glamorgan	3.31	2.15	267	40	79.5
67	East London	.00	2.95	192	40	79.4
68	Gloucestershire	3.44	1.20	260	51	79.3
69	London South Bank	3.46	2.40	195	45	79.2
70	Worcester	3.93	.00	243	48	79.0
71	Bradford	.00	1.65	244	0	78.9
72	Bedfordshire	4.21	2.55	188	31	78.8
73	St Mary’s	3.86	.00	239	48	78.7
74	Chester	.00	.00	245	53	78.4
75	Plymouth St Mark and St John	3.89	.00	0	41	78.0
76	Thames Valley	3.56	1.65	182	46	77.4
77	Canterbury Christ Church	3.88	.00	211	45	77.4
78	Edge Hill	3.77	.00	262	37	77.4
79	Huddersfield	3.33	1.00	284	39	77.2
80	Cumbria	3.33	.00	0	46	77.2
81	Chichester	4.11	.00	235	36	77.2
82	York St John	3.77	.00	270	33	76.9
83	UWIC, Cardiff	3.94	.00	229	35	76.4
84	Buckinghamshire New	3.46	.00	203	46	76.3
85	Northampton	3.90	.00	218	34	75.8
86	Teesside	4.12	.00	220	30	75.8

Please choose another subject:

What can you do with a degree in Communications?
• UNCW:
• UC Berkeley