Careers and Outcomes
Communication is a flexible major, giving our students great flexibility in their career choices.
Communication is a major that helps students understand the world they live in, taking a critical eye to the constant flow of messages that surround us — messages from the news media, social media, advertising and marketing, governments and non-profits, and more.
While building students’ analytic and writing skills, Communication asks them to examine how ideas flow from media to audiences, from corporations to consumers, from governments to citizens and vice-versa. These critical thinking skills can be applied to a wide variety of careers, and indeed our students find success in many different arenas.
The most popular areas for employment immediately following graduation include media/journalism/entertainment, marketing/advertising/public relations, consulting, retail/wholesale, consumer products, education, and nonprofit work. Many of our graduates also continue on to graduate school in law, business, the social sciences, and the humanities.
The following table contains a sampling of the kinds of opportunities recent Comm majors have gone on to pursue post-graduation:
| Careers | Graduate Schools |
|---|---|
|
ABC News, Senior Research Analyst Broadcast Media |
Adelphi University, Ph.D., Clinical Psychology |
Alumni Graduation Speakers
Each year, we bring back to campus a distinguished Comm major alumnus to speak at our graduation ceremony. Hear them reflect on their Comm majors and their advice to new graduates.
Political communications expert Lauren Hitt (C'13) delivered the 2023 commencement address for Annenberg's Communication Major Graduation Ceremony.
Author and journalist Jo Piazza (C'02) delivered the commencement address at our 2022 undergraduate graduation ceremony.
Michigan State University Assistant Professor Fashina Aladé (C'11) delivered the alumni address during our 2021 virtual commencement ceremony.
Due to the pandemic, filmmaker Katie Koeblitz (C'09) spoke to our 2020 graduates from her home in Los Angeles.
In 2019, Dylan Hewitt (C'14, G'15), who has worked in politics since graduation, spoke to our graduating seniors.
Washington Post journalist Ashley Parker (C'05), who covers the White House, spoke to our 2018 graduates.
Our 2017 graduates heard from Seth Grossman (C'01), then chief of staff to the President of the University of California.
Brain Pickings founder Maria Popova (C'07) was our 2016 speaker.
In Their Own Words
In a series of Q&As, we spoke with some of our alumni, who represent a broad array of careers and class years.
Mika Rao (C'96)
Managing Director of Regional Communications & Public Affairs, Teach For America
Jabari Evans (C'04)
Recording Artist and Doctoral Student
Yael Krigman (C'02)
Owner of Baked By Yael
Caren Osten Gerszberg (C'86)
Life Coach and Freelance Journalist
Lisa Serad (C'07)
Head of Pet Therapy, CHOP
Adriana Massara (C'10)
Training and Outreach Manager, How I Decide
Kevin Esteves (C'12)
Senior Director of Digital Content Strategy, NBA
Margot Amelia (C'80)
Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer, National Aquarium
Free Rein to Explore
"Studying Communications at Penn is an incredible path for students whose interdisciplinary interests don’t necessarily fit within the confines of other fields. This major allows students to study human interaction through a myriad of perspectives, ranging from constitutional law to computational text analysis and more. Majoring in Communications gave me free rein to explore, without which I never would have discovered my interests in data visualization and tech policy." —Anna Callahan C'21, Brunswick, ME