Master of Arts in Communication

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You can now submit an application for the Spring, Summer, and Fall 2025 terms.

Transform Your Career with an Engaging Master’s Degree in Communication

Build empowering skills and accelerate your career with the online and on-campus MA in Communication program from Johns Hopkins University’s Advanced Academic Programs division. In this program, you will gain practical and applied knowledge through coursework that explores real-life communication issues.

Courses are led by social scientists who bring years of experience and best practices from the field into the classroom. Their leadership will help you enact effective methods leveraged by experienced communication practitioners. Study online or on campus to develop relevant communication skills and a strong portfolio, which can help you take the next step in your career.

This master’s degree program is built on in-depth instruction and the robust interactions that are the foundation of the Johns Hopkins tradition of excellence. As you earn this prestigious master’s degree, you can:

  • Choose from six concentrations that set up careers in applied research, health, politics, and digital media.
  • Gain a competitive advantage by learning best practices backed by research methods.
  • Complete the 10 graduate-level courses based on the level of flexibility you need.

Fast Facts

Study online or on campus to earn your MA in Communication in as few as 12 months.

Concentrations

Choose one or two of six optional concentrations to build specialized knowledge for your career.

Prepare to assess research needs of communication efforts as well as plan and refine these efforts using results data. You will explore how to design theory-based formative, process, and summative evaluation studies. Additionally, coursework focuses on ways to execute quantitative and qualitative methods, along with data analysis using thematic, descriptive, and inferential approaches.

Take part in coursework that focuses on pitching, planning, budgeting, and executing a comprehensive communication campaign. You will study public relations, media relations, crisis communication, and strategic communication program management. Private companies, nonprofit organizations, and federal agencies all employ communication strategies, and this concentration instills the skills and knowledge you need for in-demand positions.

Whether people are governing, running for office, or pushing for policy change, communication lies at the heart of politics. Explore how to address issues from campaign strategies, run a press office, and influence public policy. The coursework spans concepts in public affairs, campaign communication, crisis communication, and speech writing.

Health communication professionals must develop, deliver, and evaluate modern engagement programs. This concentration explores the communication methods that work, and why. Discover how to create and evaluate effective public information campaigns, manage communications during a crisis, and incorporate behavior-change messages across media channels and genres, such as entertainment. The coursework spans social marketing, health psychology, emergency and risk communication, and more.

Examine how communication professionals use digital technologies to their strategic advantage. This concentration addresses how to use websites and social media to reach out to diverse populations, along with ways to blend digital and traditional communication campaigns. Courses include effective web design and strategy, public relations in the digital age, using digital and social media, and devising a digital strategy for a nonprofit organization.

Successful organizations have solid internal and external communication strategies. Examine the essential components of communication in an organizational context. With this concentration, you will study how managers communicate with staff, how businesses and nonprofits communicate with the media, and how advertisers and marketers persuade potential consumers and donors. The courses review branding and advertising, integrated marketing communication, corporate social responsibility campaign strategies, and managerial communication.