Applying to Communication Programs: An Overview of the Main Directions

📚 Mass Communication/ Media Studies (theory-focused communication)

1. Theory-heavy and clearly interdisciplinary; courses focus on communication theory, social science research methods and discussion of topics in each sub-field

2. Pure communication programs are mostly PhD programs, and the master's programs are also mostly academically oriented

📚 Journalism

1. Career paths are clearly concentrated in: broadcast and TV journalism, publishing

2. Coursework includes news writing, investigative writing, and broadcasting or photography skills

3. Roughly split into General Program and Specialized Journalism; in terms of admission difficulty, General < Specialized

📚 AD/PR

1. PR coursework emphasizes organizational communication, internal and external coordination, and Brand Communication

2. AD coursework emphasizes creative planning, design thinking, producing work, and image and video production skills

📚 Media/ Communication Management

1. Closer to business school; builds leadership skills, with courses weighted toward strategy, product, investment, finance and so on; covers a wide range of branches

📚 New Media/ Digital Media

1. Studies emerging media. Some programs lean toward theory, analyzing online community ecosystems, observing participant psychology and so on, and also involve data analysis and processing skills

2. Others lean toward practice, focusing on using digital media and on how to boost communication effectiveness with new media tools, overlapping with mkt and ad

📚 Integrated Marketing Communication

1. The communication branch most closely related to mkt. The specific difference is that it's usually offered under a school of communication or school of education, and it puts less emphasis on data analysis skills than mkt