Rutgers or Fordham for communications: which is the better choice for a communications major?

For communications, Fordham often makes more sense for a student who wants a more media-centered path with easier access to internships during the school year. Its New York City location matters a lot for communications because media, PR, advertising, publishing, and corporate communications opportunities are woven into the city. Fordham students can build experience earlier simply by being close to those industries, which is a real advantage if your goal is internships that connect directly to jobs.

Fordham is especially appealing for someone who wants smaller classes, more discussion-based learning, and a campus culture that feels more personal. If you learn best through close faculty contact and want your classes tied fairly directly to journalism, strategic communication, media work, or public-facing storytelling, Fordham tends to line up well with that experience. The school’s professional network in New York can also be valuable in communications, where location and connections often matter.

Rutgers is a stronger match for a student who wants the resources and flexibility of a large public university. You may find more course variety across related areas, more chances to combine communications with another field, and a broader campus ecosystem with lots of student organizations, media outlets, and academic options. For someone who is proactive and comfortable navigating a bigger school, Rutgers can absolutely prepare you well for communications careers.

Rutgers also fits students who want a lower-cost option, especially in-state, without giving up access to the Northeast job market. Its size can be a plus if you want to explore PR, marketing, media studies, business, politics, or digital communication in combination. The tradeoff is that internship access may feel less immediate than Fordham’s day-to-day proximity to Manhattan employers, so you may need to be more intentional about networking and commuting.

If the deciding factor is the communications pipeline itself, I would lean Fordham for a student focused specifically on media, PR, and internship access during college. I would lean Rutgers for a student who wants more scale, flexibility, and value, and is confident about creating opportunities within a much larger university setting.