If you are interested in filmmaking, journalism, public relations, marketing, or another field that requires mastery of communication, a media studies major may be right for you. Through a media studies major, you’ll learn how people communicate — and how to get their attention.
You’ll also learn how media and forms of communication are influenced by and influence culture and society. Media Studies tends to be one of the most flexible majors, as it is by nature interdisciplinary, so it’s a great option for students who want a career-focused major with immediate professional applications without having to actually pick a career path yet.
Below we’ve compiled ten of our favorite media studies majors at colleges across the United States.
If you need help picking the right place for you, send us an email. We help students chart a course toward success.
Stanford University — Stanford, California
The Film & Media Studies major and minor at Stanford is in the Department of Art & Art History in the School of Humanities and Sciences. The program is very art-centric and designed for future filmmakers, film critics, and others working in or peripheral to the film industry. Students can elect to take on optional concentrations in Culture and Criticism or Screenwriting, and many courses center on how film and the visual medium have impacted and directed human culture since it was first invented.
University of California - Berkeley — Berkeley, California
Students in the Media Studies major at Berkeley study media history and theory through a broad examination of contemporary media “technologies, institutions, economics, as well as media content and audiences.” The program is focused on big-picture cultural shifts and impacts, not on developing skills in media production, and offers concentrations in Digital Studies, Global Cultural Studies, and Media Law & Policy.
Cornell University — Ithaca, New York
At Cornell, the Media Studies minor is open to students in any college at the university, so you can pair it with nearly any other major. The program is “unique for its broad cultural scope and historical reach,” looking at media over time, not just what is happening today, from the hieroglyph to Chat GTP. Students take two core courses, and then have a variety of options to choose from like “Black Speculative Fiction,” “Cultural Diversity and Contemporary Issues,” and “Sexual Identities and the Media.”
The New School — New York, New York
The New School is the school for media studies if you are looking to be a practicing creator or critic. If you are a traditional undergraduate student going to college immediately after high school, you can go for a BFA in Art, Media, and Technology or Communication Design, a BA in Culture and Media, or a BS in Media Studies. There is also a Media Studies program open to transfers and nontraditional undergraduates, and an Art, Media, and Technology BFA through Parsons Paris.
Emerson College — Boston, Massachusetts
The BA in Media Studies at Emerson approaches the study of media as an art form, and an attention-grabbing shaper of our communal culture. The program is in the Department of Visual and Media Arts, and so is immersed in the arts. Students “experience media as an intellectual challenge,” and they become scholars in the study of media as a form of art. The also offer a BS in Communication Studies, which is better for those looking to go into marketing, journalism, PR, or communications.
Colgate University — Hamilton, New York
The Colgate Film & Media Studies program is ideal for students who want to go into the creation of media alongside understanding the theory and cultural context of it. Students can pursue a major or a minor, both of which combine practice and theory through courses in analog and digital filmmaking and photography alongside theoretical courses in media history and communications theory.
Pomona College — Claremont, California
Pomona prides itself on having one of the first undergraduate media studies programs to “combine theory, history, and practice.” The Media Studies major examines “media in global perspective,” and pulls on the resources of the five Claremont Colleges. Students have more than 80 courses to pull on, but the program is definitely more focused on the theory and history side than the production side. This means the program is not ideal for someone who wants to spend more time making than studying — but who doesn’t have production skills yet. If you do know what you’re doing or are willing to teach yourself, you can borrow gear from the student-run Studio 47.
Northeastern University — Boston, Massachusetts
Students in the Communication and Media Studies program at Northeastern can pick between a major in Communication Studies and a major in Media and Screen Studies, or an integrated major that combines courses from both. All three programs prepare students for degrees in advertising, journalism, law, public relations, government and politics, or in the media production industry. The co-op program at Northeastern means you’ll get to try your new skills out in the field as part of your college experience.
Vassar College — Poughkeepsie, New York
The Vassar Media Studies Program is interdisciplinary, and students work with an advisor to select courses from Anthropology, Art, Computer Science, English, Film, Sociology, and more, as well as from within the Media Studies department itself. The program is theory, history, and anthropology forward, and students can take courses like “Queer Italian American Media,” “Chinese Popular Culture,” and “Bad” Physics, Good Movies, and the Media.”
University of Virginia — Charlottesville, Virginia
Students interested in combining media studies with internships and study abroad should consider the Media Studies major at the University of Virginia. The program is theory-heavy, and puts a strong emphasis on the history of media as a form of communication through courses like “Media Theory and Methods” and “Topics in Global Media.” Students are encouraged to pursue internships with local news channels, production companies, and publishers, as well as to study abroad — or, should we say, aboard. All courses taught through Semester at Sea are automatically approved for transfer credit.
If you are interested in pursuing a career in journalism, communications, politics, marketing, or filmmaking, media studies may be the perfect major for you.
Picking a major is easy compared to picking a college. If you’re having trouble deciding where to go, send us an email. We help students like you find, and get into, their perfect college.