I know I don’t need a public relations degree to get into the industry, but I feel I should try to obtain the best education on it. I want to go to the east coast to study public relations. So out of Boston University, Syracuse University, and Emerson College, which is best for a good education in public relations? (or please suggest another school)
Also, any additional information on the schools (student life, reputation, etc) would be appreciated.
December 27th, 2009 at 9:33 am
As a college consultant, I think Syracuse is the best bang for your buck. It has many strong majors and is a very good education. It is a good size, but not too large. Syracuse has a beautiful campus and their public relations major will be very helpful in the business world. They have a great sports program and lots of school spirit. It is well known and has a good reputation. Boston University is a huge school with the campus pretty much right in the city. It is known to be more expensive than perhaps it is worth. Emerson is a small school with a fairly limited choise of majors.
December 29th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
BU is great, because it is located in an excellent spot. I applied there so I know a lot about it. It has a great student body. Most people who go there are kids who got rejected to Harvard and MIT. BU is their back-up school. And, most of them come from rich families/backgrounds. They student life is amazing. And getting internships is easy. Also, BU does not have a campus. The school is ranked number 60 this year according to us weekly.
I would not suggest Syracuse. I wanted to apply there, but after extensive research I did not mainly because the location is so far away from the city gaining job-experience would have been difficult. Also, the weather there is very unpredictable, and it is always raining. Syracuse is a better school for Business students.
I would suggest you look into George Washington University, Georgetown, American University, Boston College. All these schools have excellent Public Relation programs, they are all in the East Coast, in fact in the best part of the east coast. I don’t think you will find more job opportunities and internship (paid and otherwise) opportunities anywhere besides DC and Boston, MA.
You might want to look into NYU, Cornell and Colombia, but living in NY is much more expensive in comparison to DC and Boston.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:41 am
For Public Relations, it is best to go with a college that is as prestigious as possible in the area that you want to get a job in and one with deep alumni networks. I assume you are targeting the Boston area. If you have the grades Boston College and Holy Cross would be excellent choices for the Boston area. Harvard as well but typically out of reach for nearly all. Emerson is a left leaning writing school and not strong alumni network, BU is one of the largest inner city schools and doesn’t foster strong alumni ties. Syracuse has strong rep nationally but not particularly strong in Boston.