What is the communications major like at the University of San Diego?

USD’s Communication Studies major is fairly broad, and it generally leans more toward understanding how communication works across settings than toward narrow pre-professional media training. At the University of San Diego, the program is housed in the Communication Studies department and includes coursework in interpersonal, organizational, mediated, and rhetorical communication, so it keeps a lot of post-college options open. It tends to blend theory and application rather than being purely academic or purely career-prep.

In practice, that means you would likely take classes that examine how people communicate in relationships, groups, workplaces, public discourse, and digital/media environments. The major is not just about journalism, PR, or film production, though media-related topics can absolutely be part of it. It is better thought of as a versatile communication degree that helps students build skills in analysis, speaking, writing, collaboration, and understanding audiences.

If you want something heavily production-based, like a hands-on broadcast or film program, USD’s communication major may feel broader and less specialized than that. If you want flexibility, though, that breadth is a strength. Students can use it for paths like marketing, public relations, law, business, nonprofit work, media, human resources, and graduate study.

The overall feel at USD is usually more liberal-arts-oriented than trade-school-oriented, which fits the university as a whole. So the major is career-relevant, but not in a narrow technical sense. For a student who wants to keep options open while still studying media, public messaging, and human interaction in a structured way, it’s a solid fit.