Accreditation
The School of Journalism and Mass Communications is one of 117 programs accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. The council reviews schools every six years. KU's programs received reaccreditation after the council's last review in 2017.
The information below shows the school's enrollment, retention rates and job placement rates.
KU School of Journalism Enrollment
| Year | Strategic Communication | News & Information | Total enrollment |
| Fall 2021 | 470 | 229 | 696 |
| Fall 2020 | 534 | 220 | 753 |
| Fall 2019 | 556 | 231 | 781 |
| Fall 2018 | 552 | 270 | 815 |
| Fall 2017 | 566 | 278 | 837 |
| Fall 2016 | 560 | 269 | 826 |
| Fall 2015 | 584 | 304 | 888 |
| Fall 2014 | 537 | 328 | 865 |
| Fall 2013 | 510 | 344 | 853 |
| Fall 2012 | 446 | 318 | 764 |
| Fall 2011 | 501 | 342 | 843 |
| Fall 2010 | 499 | 364 | 863 |
| Year | Male | Female | Domestic Minority |
| Fall 2021 | 27.01% | 72.99% | 17.67% |
| Fall 2020 | 24.70% | 75.30% | 15.94% |
| Fall 2019 | 24.97% | 75.03% | 16.77% |
| Fall 2018 | 27.24% | 72.76% | 16.80% |
| Fall 2017 | 26.05% | 73.95% | 18.52% |
| Fall 2016 | 29.43% | 70.57% | 17.31% |
| Fall 2015 | 29.39% | 70.61% | 18.36% |
| Fall 2014 | 30.4% | 69.6% | 16.18% |
| Fall 2013 | 28.37% | 71.63% | 12.78% |
| Fall 2012 | 28.67% | 71.33% | 12.27% |
| Fall 2011 | 30.13% | 69.87% | 11.39% |
| Fall 2010 | 29.43% | 70.57% | 10.43% |
KU School of Journalism Retention Rates
| after 1 semester | after 1 year | after 2 years | after 3 years | ||
| Fall 2010 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 93.33% | 74.67% | 69.33% | 63.89% |
| retained at KU | 98.67% | 96.00% | 85.33% | 84.72% | |
| graduated (in journalism) | 4.00% | ||||
| Fall 2011 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 92.68% | 74.39% | 63.41% | 58.54% |
| retained at KU | 93.90% |
82.93% |
79.27% |
75.61% | |
| graduated (in journalism) | 2.44% | ||||
| Fall 2012 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 94.39% | 81.31% | 71.03% | 62.62% |
| retained at KU | 97.20% | 88.79% | 85.98% | 78.50% | |
| graduated (in journalism) | 3.74% | ||||
| Fall 2013 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 94.84% | 79.35% | 66.45% | 62.58% |
| retained at KU | 96.13% | 90.97% | 89.68% | 86.45% | |
| graduated (in journalism) | 3.23% | ||||
| Fall 2014 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 97.22% | 85.19% | 75.93% | 63.89% |
| retained at KU | 100% | 95.37% | 94.44% | 86.11% | |
| graduated (in journalism) | 6.48% | ||||
| Fall 2015 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 94.84% | 86.26% | 77.10% | 67.94% |
| retained at KU | 97.71% | 91.60% | 92.37% | 83.97% | |
| graduated (in journalism) | 4.58% | ||||
| Fall 2016 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 92.71% | 77.08% | 66.67% | 60.42% |
| retained at KU | 95.83% | 88.54% | 86.46% | 82.29% | |
| graduated (in journalism) | 1.04% | ||||
| Fall 2017 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 93.90% | 83.02% | 73.58% | 64.12% |
| retained at KU | 98.11% | 93.40% | 91.51% | 83.96% | |
| graduated (in journalism) | 5.66% | ||||
| Fall 2018 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 88.79% | 76.64% | 68.22% | 57.01% |
| retained at KU | 98.13% | 93.46% | 87.85% | 82.24% | |
| graduated (in journalism) | 2.80% | ||||
| Fall 2019 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 93.27% | 88.46% | 74.04% | |
| retained at KU | 98.08% | 94.23% | 85.58% | ||
| graduated (in journalism) | |||||
| Fall 2020 freshmen admits | retained in journalism | 89.53% | 74.42% | ||
| retained at KU | 95.35% | 93.02% | |||
| graduated (in journalism) | |||||
| KU Overall retention rates | 2010 | 93.50% | 79.90% | 72.50% | 68.10% |
| 2011 | 92.30% | 79.20% | 72.10% | 67.60% | |
| 2012 | 92.40% | 79.90% | 72.90% | 68.30% | |
| 2013 | 93.00% | 80.40% | 73.30% | 68.90% | |
| 2014 | 92.00% | 80.00% | 71.40% | 66.10% | |
| 2015 | 93.40% | 80.90% | 72.70% | 68.00% | |
| 2016 | 93.60% | 83.00% | 75.20% | 69.1% | |
| 2017 | 93.50% | 83.90% | 75.70% | 69.90% | |
| 2018 | 94.60% | 86.20% | 76.90% | ||
| 2019 | 94.60% | 85.70% | |||
| 2020 | 91.90% | ||||
Retention rates are based on freshman cohorts that are directly admitted to journalism. Students who are retained at KU but not in journalism have changed majors to something outside journalism. Information on KU retention rates can be found at KU Institutional Research and Planning.
KU School of Journalism Graduation Rates*
|
2.5 |
3 years |
3.5 years | 4 years |
4.5 years | 5 years |
5.5 years | 6 years | 6+ years | |
| 2010 | 0.00% | 2.33% | 63.42% | 12.84% | 12.45% | 2.72% | 0.39% | 5.45% | |
| 2011 | 1.20% | 1.99% | 70.12% | 11.16% | 22.71% | 1.20% | 0.80% | 1.99% | |
| 2012 | 0.78% | 2.33% | 73.93% | 8.17% | 7.78% | 0.39% | 1.56% | 5.06% | |
| 2013 | 1.93% | 1.45% | 64.73% | 17.39% | 7.73% | 0.48% | 0.48% | 5.80% | |
2014 |
0.53% | 0.53% | 9.63% | 72.73% | 4.28% | 8.02% | 0.53% | 0.53% | 3.21% |
| 2015 | 0.00% | 2.51% | 7.54% | 69.35% | 9.05% | 8.54% | 1.01% | 1.51% | 0.50% |
| 2016 | 0.00% | 3.24% | 8.33% | 68.98% | 9.72% | 6.48% | 2.31% | 0.93% | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 0.45% | 4.07% | 5.88% | 74.21% | 5.88% | 7.24% | .90% | 0.00% | 1.36% |
| 2018 | 0.00% | 3.20% | 10.96% | 68.95% | 6.85% | 7.31% | 0.46% | 0.46% | 1.83% |
| 2019 | 0.00% | 2.28% | 8.68% | 72.60% | 8.22% | 4.11% | 1.83% | 0.91% | 1.37% |
| 2020 | 0.49% | 1.96% | 11.76% | 65.20% | 11.27% | 4.41% | 0.49% | 0.98% | 3.43% |
* Indicates percentage of students from each graduating class in journalism that graduated in the noted time frame. Only students whose initial college term was at KU are included. The School of Journalism did not have substantial freshman admit cohorts until fall 2010. Graduation rates are traditionally based on freshman cohorts.
KU School of Journalism Graduate Employment Data
| Graduate self-reports 6 months after graduation | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| Employed full-time* | 79.8% | 81.2% | 81.8% | 82.4% | 69.7% | 75.9% | 78.0% | 75.2% | 73.4% | ||
| Employed part-time | 9.2% | 9.4% | 10.5% | 7.5% | 14.4% | 7.8% | 6.8% | 17.9% | 14.1% | ||
| Internship | 9.2% | 4.7% | 3.2% | 2.7% | 5.6% | 6.4% | 4.5% | 5.1% | 5.4% | ||
| Graduate School | .9% | 2.4% | 4.2% | 4.8% | 7.5% | 7.8% | 7.7% | 6.8% | 10.9% | ||
| Unemployed | -- | 2.4% | 6.3% | 8.8% | 10.6% | 2.1% | 3.0% | 1.0% | 6.5% | ||
| Employed in news/info or strategic communication career | 73% | 72.9% | 88.8% | -- | 71.6% | 89.8% | 85.7% | 91% | 94.5% | ||
| Number of internships completed while at KU | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |||
| Four or more | 6.4% | 8.2% | 9.1% | 11.6% | 9.7% | 14.2% | 10.1% | 15.7% | |||
| Three | 18.3% | 15.3% | 22.7% | 17.5% | 11.8% | 17.3% | 16.8% | 14.7% | |||
| Two | 38.5% | 31.8% | 22.7% | 28.2% | 22.8% | 27.6% | 23.5% | 27.5% | |||
| One | 29.4% | 31.8% | 27.3% | 28.2% | 20% | 29.9% | 32.8% | 23.5% | |||
| None | 7.3% | 12.9% | 18.2% | 14.5% | 35.9% | 11% | 16.8% | 18.5% | |||
*Full-time employment reflects only those seeking full-time employment immediately following graduation.
