Master’s in Public Relations

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What is public relations?

Public relations is about the relationships between organizations and the people who matter to them: customers, employees, journalists, investors, policymakers, communities, and others. PR professionals help organizations understand those audiences, communicate effectively, build trust, and manage their reputations.

Sometimes that means developing a long-term communication strategy or helping a company introduce something new. Other times, it means responding to a crisis, explaining a difficult decision, or advising leadership when a reputation is at stake.

And the work keeps changing. Social media lets organizations reach people directly, while journalists, creators, employees, and customers all shape how stories develop. AI is changing how information is produced, shared, and discovered.

The tools may change, but the underlying questions don’t: Who are we trying to reach? What matters to them? What do we need to understand before we communicate? And how will we know whether our approach worked? Those are the kinds of questions you’ll learn to answer at BU.

Why choose BU for your master’s in public relations?

What will you learn in BU’s MS in Public Relations?

The 48-credit curriculum combines seven core courses with five electives, covering everything from communication research and media relations to business strategy and reputation management. You’ll build a solid PR foundation while having room to explore the areas that interest you most.

Research and strategy

Good PR starts with understanding the problem. You’ll learn to research audiences, identify communication challenges, develop strategies, and evaluate results. You’ll also study how communication fits into an organization’s broader goals and business decisions.

Writing and storytelling

Clear, compelling writing is at the heart of PR. Through coursework in interviewing, editing, and writing for different audiences and media, you’ll learn to communicate across formats, from media pitches and digital content to complex organizational messages.

Media relations

What makes a story newsworthy? How do journalists decide what to cover? And how do PR professionals build productive relationships with the media? You’ll explore those questions while studying how social platforms, digital media, and shifting audience habits are reshaping the way organizations communicate.

Reputation and crisis communication

Organizations don’t always get to choose when they need to communicate. Through coursework and electives, you’ll learn how organizations manage issues, respond to crises, maintain stakeholder relationships, and make communication decisions under pressure.

Business and financial understanding

PR professionals need to understand the organizations they advise. You’ll study financial and strategic management, including how business priorities, budgets, and organizational decisions influence communication strategy.

Measurement and analytics

How do you know whether a communication campaign worked? You’ll use research and evaluation methods to assess communication efforts, interpret results, and make better recommendations.

Explore what interests you

Five electives let you explore different parts of public relations and related communication fields. Depending on your interests, you might focus on:

• Crisis and reputation: Crisis Management and Communication; PR Ethics
• Corporate and public affairs: Corporate Public Affairs, Governmental Public Affairs, Investor Relations
• Digital and marketing communication: Social Media Strategy, New Media & Public Relations, Interactive Marketing Strategy
• International communication: International Public Relations, Global Marketing Communication
• Professional development: Advanced Media Writing, Professional Presentation, PR Career Management

At least four electives come from the program’s approved elective list. Your fifth can be any approved course at BU, giving you additional flexibility.

You might arrive knowing exactly which area of PR interests you. Or you might discover it through a class, a client project, or an internship.

Put your skills to work before you graduate

Professional experience is built into BU’s MS in Public Relations. You’ll complete at least four credits through PRLab, a graduate internship, or both. You’ll also develop work through your courses and bring it together in a final presentation before you graduate. Apply what you’re learning, try different professional settings, and build work you can share with future employers.

PRLab: A student-run agency with real clients

PRLab isn’t a simulated agency. It’s a working public relations agency with paying clients, run by BU students with guidance from faculty. As part of an account team, you’ll work directly with clients on projects that might involve media relations, campaign planning, social media, events, or content creation. You’ll help develop strategies, present ideas, respond to feedback, and see projects through to completion.

It’s agency work while you’re still in graduate school with a portfolio you can share with future employers.

Internships: Experience PR in the workplace

Graduate internships are another way to explore the profession. Students intern at PR agencies, companies, nonprofits, government organizations, and other employers. An internship can help you test your interests, build professional skills, and see how communication teams operate. COM students have interned with organizations including:

Global agencies: Edelman, Burson, Weber Shandwick, FleishmanHillard, Ketchum

In-house brands + organizations: Boston Red Sox, Bank of America, Fidelity Investments, Biogen, Amnesty International, the United Nations

Many of the organizations where COM students intern also recruit our graduates for full-time roles.

A portfolio that shows what you can do

Throughout the program, you’ll develop writing, research, strategies, campaigns, and other work that demonstrates your skills.

Before graduating, you’ll complete an online Presentation of Final Work, reviewed by faculty, that brings together evidence of your learning and professional development. You’ll have examples of your work to share with employers and talk about in interviews.

Opportunities beyond the classroom

London Graduate Summer Program: Spend your third semester in one of the world’s leading communication capitals. Through BU’s London Graduate Mass Communication Summer Program, you can take advanced courses while interning with PR firms, creative agencies, startups, or international advocacy organizations.

PRSSA: Connect with industry professionals, alumni, and peers through BU’s Edward L. Bernays Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). Members join networking events, conferences, professional development workshops, and competitions. Since 2019, BU students have won the prestigious Page Society Case Study Competition three times.

Real clients, real experience

Through a paid PRLab internship, Sara Desroches (COM’27) helped launch Boston’s Jazz Urbane Café, developing media materials, supporting press coverage, and contributing to a strategic communications plan.

News cycles move rapidly, and public relations demands agility. I learned how to quickly get my bearings, where to focus my attention, and when to move on to the next thing. I also learned polite persistence in dealing with the media. It was an instant resume-building experience.

Sara Desroches (COM’27), MS in Public Relations

Where can an MS in Public Relations take you?

PR professionals work in just about every industry, from technology to healthcare to sports, entertainment, government, finance, and nonprofits.

Some build careers at PR agencies, working with different clients and industries. Others join in-house communication teams and develop expertise in a particular organization or field. And some specialize in areas such as crisis communication, public affairs, corporate reputation, or digital strategy.

Career paths include:

• Public relations and media relations
• Corporate communication
• Agency account management
• Crisis and reputation management
• Public affairs and government relations
• Social media and digital communication
• Internal and employee communication
• Investor relations
• Healthcare and nonprofit communication
• Brand and marketing communication

You might start in a generalist role, gaining experience across several areas of PR. Or you might discover a particular interest in crisis communication, public affairs, corporate communication, or elsewhere.

• Strategic management: Public Relations Manager, Crisis and Reputation Management Advisor, Corporate Communications Manager, Public Affairs Officer
• Digital + media tracks: Media Relations Strategist, Digital Content Strategist, Social Media Director, Influencer Relations Specialist

Over time, PR professionals can move into positions that advise senior leaders, manage communication teams, and shape organizational strategy.

Where BU PR graduates work

BU PR alumni work across agencies, corporations, nonprofits, and other organizations. Some have risen to senior communication leadership roles such as Chief Communications Officer (CCO) and Vice President of Corporate Affairs, and others have founded agencies.

• Global agencies: Edelman, Ogilvy, Burson, Weber Shandwick, FleishmanHillard, BCW Global, Ruder Finn, Baldwin Boyle Group, Hencove Marketing
• Entertainment, sports, + consumer brands: Reality Labs at Meta, MPRM Communications, Elevate 1850, Hasbro, Sotheby’s, Naked Group, Signet Jewelers, KIND
• Corporate, tech, + finance leaders: Citi, Wells Fargo, Dropbox, OneSignal, Union Pacific
• Biotech + healthcare leaders: Biogen
• Government, public affairs, + nonprofits: Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, Amnesty International, the United Nations

Where you go next depends on your interests, experience, and the opportunities you pursue. The program gives you a foundation in strategy, research, writing, media relations, and professional practice to keep building on throughout your career.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for PR managers to grow 6% through 2035, faster than the average for all occupations. As the ways people get information keep changing, organizations need PR professionals who can communicate clearly, build trust, and manage reputations.

BU COM’s reputation as one of the nation’s best for PR and lengthy list of notable alumni are what initially caught my eye. PRLab was one of the top reasons I ultimately chose BU. I also chose BU for the networking opportunities it offered and ultimately delivered — attending the Page Society Spring Summit and joining the PR Club of New England Board.

Clay Patrick, alumnus and public relations manager at Walker Sands

Learn from faculty who’ve worked in the field

PR involves decisions that don’t have obvious answers. Should an organization respond publicly to criticism? How should it communicate a difficult change to employees? What research does it need before launching a campaign? How do you balance stakeholder concerns?

At BU, you’ll work through questions like these with faculty who bring professional experience and academic research into their teaching. Their backgrounds span agency leadership, corporate communication, PR strategy, research, and consulting. BU also has two endowed professorships in PR, a sign of the University’s longstanding commitment to the field. You’ll be mentored by faculty with:

• Professional leadership: Editor in chief, Journal of Public Relations Research; members of the Arthur W. Page Society
• National recognition: PR News Top Educator; two-time PR News Top Women in PR; Outstanding Educator Award (PRSA); Distinguished Communicator of Color Award
• Industry experience: Executives from Fortune 200 companies

Mentoring, teaching, and engaging students is a passion that I never even knew I had until I started doing it. In short, the lesson I learned is that no matter how old you are or how long you’ve been working in a particular job or industry, you might just be lucky enough to find something even more special that you didn’t even know existed.

Laura Hannon, Associate Professor of the Practice, Public Relations

Study public relations in Boston

Boston is home to major healthcare organizations, technology companies, financial institutions, universities, nonprofits, sports organizations, and PR agencies. For a public relations student, that’s a front-row seat to see how communication works in very different settings.

A healthcare organization sharing new research faces different challenges than a startup launching a product or a nonprofit advocating for policy change. All of them need people who understand audiences, strategy, relationships, and reputation.

At BU, you’ll study in a city where those conversations happen every day, and connect with organizations and professionals through internships, client work, events, and the University’s alumni network.

Is BU’s MS in Public Relations right for you?

There’s no single route into public relations, and you don’t need to have your career mapped out before grad school. This program may be a good fit if:

You’re finishing college and want to build professional experience.

You’re interested in PR and want to build your skills and explore the field before starting your career. You’d like to work with clients, build a portfolio, and figure out which roles and industries fit you.

You’re considering a career change.

You have experience in another field and want work that brings together communication, research, strategy, writing, and relationships. You want a structured way to build PR expertise and put it to use.

You already have some PR or communication experience.

You’ve worked in communication, marketing, media, or a related field and want to strengthen your strategic skills, explore a specialty, or develop a broader understanding of the profession.

Whatever your starting point, you’ll study alongside people who bring different experiences and perspectives to the classroom.

Frequently asked questions about the MS in Public Relations at BU

Is a master’s in public relations worth it?

It depends on what you want from it.

You don’t need a master’s degree to work in public relations. Many people enter the field directly from college and build successful careers by learning on the job.

A master’s offers a different path. At BU, you’ll develop strategic skills while gaining professional experience through PRLab or internships, creating a portfolio, learning from experienced faculty, and making industry connections. Instead of waiting for a string of jobs to expose you to these experiences, you can pursue many of them in the graduate program.

If you want to move from understanding PR to practicing it strategically, with experience and work to show for it before you graduate, that’s the value of BU’s MS in Public Relations.

Why choose a 3-semester PR master’s?

BU’s three-semester program gives you time to build a strong foundation in PR strategy, writing, research, media relations, and business, while gaining professional experience and exploring your interests through five electives.

You’ll apply what you learn, get feedback, and create your portfolio along the way.

What’s the difference between public relations and marketing?

Public relations and marketing often work together, and both involve understanding audiences and communicating effectively.

Marketing generally focuses on connecting products and services with customers and creating demand. Public relations takes a broader view of an organization’s relationships with the people and groups that affect it: journalists, employees, investors, policymakers, communities, and customers. PR professionals work on media relations, reputation management, crisis communication, public affairs, corporate communication, and other areas where trust and stakeholder relationships matter. If those are the challenges that interest you, a PR degree may be a good fit.

What’s the difference between an MS in Public Relations and a master’s in integrated marketing or strategic communication?

There’s considerable overlap among these fields. Integrated marketing and strategic communication programs typically take a broader approach, bringing together advertising, marketing, branding, PR, research, and digital communication.

A specialized public relations master’s goes deeper into PR strategy, media relations, reputation, crisis communication, public affairs, stakeholder relationships, and the role of communication in organizational decision-making. At BU, you’ll also study business strategy, research, analytics, and related communication areas through electives.

The best choice depends on the kind of work you want to do. If you’re especially interested in how organizations build relationships, manage reputations, and reach the people who matter to them, PR may be the better direction.

Do PR professionals still need media relations skills in the age of social media?

Absolutely. Media relations is still a pillar of PR, but it has expanded. Today’s professionals don’t just pitch traditional journalists. They manage multi-channel strategies involving creators, digital platforms, employees, and direct-to-consumer newsrooms so an organization communicates consistently everywhere.

Why does it matter that BU launched the world’s first university-run PR degree?

It means you’re joining an active global alumni network that has helped lead and define the PR industry for nearly 80 years. Our curriculum covers AI tool integration, digital listening, and real-time social analytics, and our core focus stays the same: combining academic rigor plus hands-on agency work with real clients.

Can I study part-time?

Yes. BU’s MS in Public Relations offers both full-time and part-time enrollment.

Full-time students can complete the program in three semesters. If you want to study part-time, COM Graduate Affairs can help you understand your options and plan a course of study.

Do I need a background in PR or communication to apply?

No. Students come to the program from a range of academic and professional backgrounds.

Some studied communication, journalism, marketing, or related fields. Others bring experience from another discipline into PR.

The program builds your foundation in PR principles, writing, research, and strategy, so you don’t need professional PR experience to apply.

Will I get hands-on experience during the program?

Yes. Professional experience is part of the degree requirements.

You’ll complete at least four credits through PRLab, a graduate internship, or both. You’ll also develop work through your courses and complete a faculty-reviewed Presentation of Final Work before you graduate.

What is PRLab?

PRLab is BU’s student-run public relations agency, founded in 1978.

Students work in agency-style teams with real clients on assignments that can include media relations, campaign planning, content creation, events, branding, and social media. You’ll get the collaboration, deadlines, and expectations of professional client work while you build your PR skills.

Will I graduate with a portfolio?

Yes. You’ll create portfolio-ready work through your courses and professional experiences.

Before graduating, you’ll complete an online Presentation of Final Work that brings together examples of your writing, research, strategic thinking, and professional development for faculty review. It’s a chance to reflect on what you’ve learned and get ready to discuss your skills and experience with potential employers.

How is AI changing public relations?

AI is changing how PR professionals research audiences, develop content, monitor conversations, analyze information, and manage communication.

But using AI tools is only part of the work. PR professionals still need to evaluate information, understand audiences, weigh ethical questions, anticipate how messages might be received, and make smart recommendations.

BU’s MS in Public Relations emphasizes the research, analytical thinking, writing, strategy, and professional judgment that help communication professionals adapt as technology changes.

Can I study or intern abroad?

Yes. Eligible students can study abroad, including through BU’s London Graduate Mass Communication Summer Program.

The London program combines coursework with an internship, so you experience communication work in an international setting.

What kinds of jobs can I pursue with an MS in Public Relations?

Graduates pursue positions in PR agencies, corporate communication, media relations, public affairs, nonprofit communication, digital and social media, healthcare communication, and other areas.

Your interests, previous experience, internships, and professional skills will shape the roles you pursue.

BU’s curriculum gives you a broad foundation in PR and room to explore the areas that interest you most.

See all MS in PR frequently asked questions →

Also worth exploring

Learn more about our other graduate programs in communication and media, including:

• MS in Advertising: For students focused on brand strategy, creative campaigns, and consumer insight, with hands-on experience through AdLab.
• MS in Media Science: For students who want to understand how media messages influence audiences, with concentrations in health, politics, and marketing communication.
• MS in Journalism: For students who want to work on the editorial side: reporting, multimedia storytelling, and investigative journalism.
• MS in Strategic Integrated Communication (online): A fully online master’s for working professionals who want to lead at the intersection of branding, integrated marketing, crisis communication, and digital strategy.
• Graduate Certificate in Civic Science Communication (Online): A four-course online certificate for professionals who need to communicate scientific topics clearly to public audiences.