UNC or Tulane for a communications major: which is better for internships and career opportunities?

The biggest practical tradeoff is scale and brand versus location and access. UNC gives you a larger, more established communications ecosystem through Hussman, a very strong alumni network, and broad name recognition, while Tulane offers a smaller setting in New Orleans where internships can feel more accessible during the school year because the city is right around you.

For communications specifically, UNC has an edge in structured opportunity. The Hussman School is especially well known in media, journalism, advertising, PR, and strategic communication, and that matters when you are looking for professors with industry ties, classmates headed into the same fields, and employers who already know the program. UNC also benefits from proximity to Raleigh-Durham, which helps with internships in media, politics, nonprofits, tech, healthcare communications, and agencies.

Tulane is attractive if you want a more intimate environment and you like the idea of building hands-on experience in a city with a distinct cultural, nonprofit, hospitality, and public affairs scene. New Orleans can be a real advantage for communications students interested in event marketing, community engagement, arts organizations, public relations, and local media. Tulane students often have strong access to city-based experiential learning, and the school tends to support internships that connect closely to the local community.

Where UNC tends to pull ahead is breadth of post-grad pathways. Its communications-related programs are more nationally visible, and the alumni base is larger and more spread across major markets. That usually helps with recruiting and networking, especially if you are not yet sure whether you want PR, advertising, media, corporate communications, political comms, or another branch of the field.

If your priority is the strongest overall platform for internships and career mobility in communications, I would lean UNC. Tulane is still a credible option, especially if you want a smaller-campus feel and can see yourself using New Orleans very intentionally, but UNC is more likely to give you wider recruiting reach and a deeper communications pipeline.