Communications Graduation 2019As a nationally accredited program, the School of Communications monitors four indicators of student success: enrollment, retention, graduation and employment.

Enrollment

The School of Communications is home to about 20 percent of Elon’s student body. The school offers six undergraduate majors: Journalism, Strategic Communications, Cinema & Television Arts, Communication Design, Media Analytics, and Sport Management.

Program Fall 2021 Fall 2020 Fall 2019
Undergraduate Programs
Journalism 167 178 160
Strategic Communications 474 496 518
Cinema & Television Arts 251 249 237
Communication Design 214 192 187
Media Analytics 117 104 97
Sport Management 200 189 175
Undergraduate Total
1,423 1,410 1,374
Graduate Program
M.A. in Interactive Media 14 20 30

Retention

Retention refers to the number of students who return to school the following year. One method of determining retention in a major is based on the entering first-year class. Another method is based on the last declared major of all students at the university. This section provides data for both methods of calculation. The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications specifies that retention, graduation and employment data be provided for an accredited Communications program.

Retention and Growth Based on Entering First-Year Class

When students are admitted to Elon, they are free to enter the major of their choice, unlike some journalism and communications programs that have their own admission process or restrict students from declaring a major until the junior year. As a result, high school students who express an interest in Communications in their application process to Elon become the entering first-year cohort in Communications.

The chart below shows that 193 students expressed an interest in Communications when they applied and were admitted to Elon in fall 2017. Three years later, 163 of them (84%) had become seniors at Elon, with 129 (67%) as Communications majors. This means 28 seniors remained at Elon but had switched to other majors since their first year. Meanwhile, an additional 135 students from that first-year class became Communications majors after they began at Elon, resulting in 71 more students being Communications majors in the senior year (264) than in the entering first-year cohort.

Source: Elon’s Office of Institutional Research

These tables reflect full-time first-year students entering Elon. They do not include transfer students and count a student (for instance, those who double major) only once. The technical description is “unduplicated, first-time, full-time and first-year students enrolling at the university.” These tables and later ones do not include Sport Management, which is a separate department in the school and not part of the accreditation process.

Retention Based on Last Declared Major

A second method of determining retention in a major is based on the last declared major of all students at the university – both those who eventually graduate from Elon as well as those who leave the university with Communications as their last declared major. This method is used to describe enrollment and retention of Communications majors within the university over time and to calculate graduation rates, as shown in the next section.

The chart below shows retention of students in this cohort in comparison with students in the university overall. Of all first-time, full-time students who entered Elon in 2017, 298 students ultimately declared Communications as their last major in the university. Some entered Elon as first-year students having expressed an interest in Communications, some became Communications majors after starting at Elon, and others were Communications majors when they left the university.

Of the 298 last declared COM major students in entering cohort 2017, 275 (92%) returned to Elon the following year, 259 (87%) returned to the university by their junior year, and 261 (88%) remained and had declared a major in Communication by the end of the senior year.

Of those, 248 (83%) graduated in 4 years or less and 256 (86%) graduated in 5 years.

Class of 2021 Cohort Sophomore Year Junior Year Senior Year
Communications Majors 298 275 (92.3%) 259 (86.9%) 261 (87.6%)
All Elon Students 1,572 1,414 (89.9%) 1,340 (85.2%) 1,309 (83.3%)
Class of 2020 Cohort Sophomore Year Junior Year Senior Year
Communications Majors 301 279 (93%) 268 (89%) 265 (88%)
All Elon Students 1,553 1,386 (89.2%) 1,324 (85.3%) 1,286 (82.8%)
Class of 2019 Cohort Sophomore Year Junior Year Senior Year
Communications Majors 285 268 (94%) 258 (91%) 253 (89%)
All Elon Students 1,524 1,387 (91%) 1,325 (86.9%) 1,280 (84%)

Source: Elon’s Office of Institutional Research

University retention rates reflect full-time, first-year students in all majors who remain at Elon at the time of fall enrollment each year. Because students may change majors at any time, retention data for Communications majors are based on their declared major at the time of fall enrollment each year.

Graduation

A four-year graduation is the norm for Communications students at Elon.

In the graduating Class of 2021, 248 students graduated as Communications majors in four years. This is 83% of all Elon students whose last declared major was Communications.

Graduating Class of 2021 Cohort 4-Year Graduation 5-Year Graduation
Communications Majors 298 248 (83.2%) +8 = 256 (85.9%)
All Elon Students 1,572 1,229 (78.2%) N/A
Graduating Class of 2020 Cohort 4-Year Graduation 5-Year Graduation
Communications Majors 301 258 (86%) +3 = 261 (87%)
All Elon Students 1,533 1,226 (78.9%) N/A
Graduating Class of 2019 Cohort 4-Year Graduation 5-Year Graduation
Communications Majors 288 242 (84.0%) +7 = 249 (86.5%)
All Elon Students 1,524 1,206 (79.1%) +55 = 1,261 (82.7%)

Employment

Each year the university conducts a survey of the most recent graduating class, nine months following graduation, to ascertain employment or graduate school status, type of employer, and salary. The report on the Class of 2021 was released by the Student Professional Development Center in spring 2022.

Employment and Graduate School Status, Nine Months After Graduation

Graduating Class 2021 2020 2019
Communications Graduates Employed 88.3% 74.6% 86.9%
Entering Graduate School 3.9% 6.4% 4.2%

A few graduates each year indicate they fit in both categories.

Employment by Organization Type

Communications graduates who are employed are asked each year to indicate the type of organization where they work.

Organization Type 2021 2020 2019
Corporate For Profit 93% 79% 78.7%
Not For Profit 2% 5% 10.9%
Educational 2% 3% 4.6%
Government 0% 2% 2.3%
Entrepreneurial/Self-employed/Start-up 3% 10% 3.4%

2021 percentages were based on 125 employed graduates (of 226 total respondents) who reported their organization type; 2020 percentages were based on 200 responses; 2019 percentages were based on 246 responses.

Employment Related to Career Goals

In 2021, 96% of the employed Communications graduates who responded to this survey said their work was related to their career goals.

Average Salaries

2021 Elon Communications graduates reported an average starting salary of $44,741.

— Last updated Aug. 2, 2022