Undergraduate Major in Communication Studies

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Career Options & Course Clusters

As a student majoring in Communication Studies, you will soon realize that the field you have selected offers coursework where you’ll study how people communicate as individuals, in society, and across and within cultures.  At the same time, you may experience difficulty describing what it means to be a major in Communication Studies or you might not know what you will do once you graduate with a degree in Communication Studies.  To help you explore your options, departmental faculty has identified six ways to cluster courses in Communication Studies. 
     
The faculty created the information on the following pages to guide you with the selection of courses for the group and upper level course requirements for the major as well to help you identify potential careers within and related to the field of communication.  In addition, you will find course options for possible second majors, minors or certificates which you could take to help you earn the required hours for your degree.

The requirements for the Communication Studies major as well as potential careers have been clustered around six areas:

Communication and Organizational Life Communication and Relationships Communication and Health Media, Culture and Technology Intercultural and International Communication Rhetoric and Public Advocacy

As you look through the linked pages and read through the list of potential careers, you may need to conduct further research to learn more about a specific career or to identify which ones match not only your knowledge, skills and abilities but also your interests, values and work style.  A limited number of career resources are available in the Communication Studies Advising Center, Room 162 – Becker Communication Studies Building, that correlate to some of the careers identified in each of the six clusters.  The list of potential careers for each area is by no means exhaustive but merely provides a starting point for your career exploration.  The Pomerantz Career Center, Level 3 - C310 PC, offers a variety of services and has a number of resources about careers.  You can also request to take career assessments that may offer more insights into areas that interest you.

Although you should take advantage of the available career services while you’re attending The University of Iowa, you can also use these services after your graduate, and it may be beneficial to know that the Career Center has sites in Chicago and Des Moines to assist alumni.  You can direct your Inquiries about available services to the Center at (319) 335-1023 or go to the Center’s web site at www.careers.uiowa.edu.