Program Notes
- No GRE required.
- Merit scholarships available. No additional application required. See tuition.
- International students: This program is eligible for the OPT STEM extension.
Why an MS in Marketing Communication Research (Media Science)
Bring the best insights to better understand consumers—master quantitative and qualitative methods, tools, and techniques to better understand audience values, likes, needs, and wants. Enhance your expertise with an optional certificate in Data Analytics, with no extra semester needed.
Maximize your value with consumer insights + communications expertise—while many masters in consumer behavior or consumer insights masters (even those offered by business schools) provide an analytic skillset, they lack our unique combination of measurement science, applied statistics, and data storytelling, plus comprehensive communication strategies.
Become a leader in your field—alumni of the master’s in marketing research and communication achieve impressive career growth, starting out as product managers, consumer insights analysts, and senior data analysts, to name a few. With experience, they become company founders, owners, CEOs, vice presidents, and more, at leading client and supplier side companies.
Join Successful MS in Marketing Communication Research Alumni
Master’s in marketing research and communication alumni are product managers, consumer insights analysts, and senior data analysts, to name a few. With experience, they become directors, company founders, owners, CEOs, and more. They help organizations solve consumer-related problems and improve communication. They work for brands and consumer insights companies, on both the client and supplier sides.
Example Alumni Careers
Alumni in this master’s in marketing research and communication concentration (through Media Science) hold jobs that include:
- Product Manager at TikTok
- UX Researcher at Google
- Sr. Data Science Manager at Visa
- Director, Consumer Insights and Front End Innovation at Nestlé Coffee Partners
- Associate Director, Marketing Insights and Strategy at The Clorox Company
- Senior Research Analyst, Research & Strategy at Sony Electronics
- And many more
Additional employers include Comedy Central, Lenovo, PBS, Edelman, Gupta Media, M Booth, and a wide range of marketing communication research companies, think-tanks, and organizations.
You’re Prepared for Diverse Roles in Media Science
Alumni of the MS in Media Science: Marketing Communication Research work as research analysts, UXR analysts, user experience researchers, research consultants, brand and consumer insights managers, research managers, marketing managers, market research analysts and specialists, management analysts, professors, and more.
Your degree is versatile and valued in the job market—over 90% of alumni have reported that they’re employed in their field of study.
You’re Skilled in Key Areas for Marketing Communication Research & Consumer Insights
Alumni are highly skilled in thought-process management, research, analytics, quantitative and qualitative analysis, data analysis, strategy, communications, marketing, social media, branding, teaching, and more.
What You’ll Learn in This MS in Marketing Communication Research (MCR)
Boston University’s Marketing Communication Research (MCR) concentration (within the Media Science master’s program) is three semesters. It prepares you to master quantitative and qualitative methods, tools, and techniques to match audience needs to communication strategies.
By combining measurement science, applied statistics, and storytelling with data into one master’s program, this BU COM master’s in marketing research and communication stands out from any other program that focuses on consumer insights – whether it’s a business school masters in consumer behavior, consumer insights masters or degrees solely in communication. Here, you’ll be equipped with a measurement mindset that’s very versatile for making data-driven decisions about consumers of media, technology, products, and services. Your understanding of data will be unmatched—and so will your communications strategies.
Explore our curriculum and courses.
You’ll learn advanced research methods through eight core courses to gain consumer insights, predict purchasing behaviors, evaluate the impact of media consumption, and analyze consumer decision making processes. You’ll understand consumer behavior in relation to brands, services, products, and more.
From UX research to social media expertise, you can build the remaining four courses of your master’s in marketing research and communication to fit your interests. Learn how consumer behavior impacts health initiatives, political candidates, and more. Understand how interactive experiences can affect consumer behavior. Master advanced data analytics. You decide.
You’ll build all the skills of a business school masters in consumer behavior or consumer insights masters—plus the communications strategies of BU’s world-renowned College of Communication.
This master’s in marketing research and communication concentration (through Media Science) gives you the option to select a sequence of courses focusing on analytics and earn an additional Certificate in Data Analytics. You’ll learn data visualization, machine learning techniques, web mining and graph analytics, data mining, and more.
Build Real Experience in Marketing Research and Consumer Insights
This master’s concentration in marketing research and communication (through Media Science) gives you the experience to succeed in the burgeoning fields of marketing research and consumer insights research and user experience research (UXR). Hold an optional internship. Build a marketing research, consumer insights, and communications strategies portfolio. Earn an optional certificate in data analytics.
Marketing research and consumer insights offer lucrative entry-level positions, ranging from data analysis to market planning, data visualization, and analytics, among others.
Experience Collaborative Research with Teachers, Researchers, Mentors
COM faculty are internationally recognized thought leaders in the fields of measurement, advertising, consumer insights, public relations, media law, media psychology, political communication, media design, and more. You’ll develop collaborative relationships with faculty in your area of interest.
There is nothing more rewarding to me than seeing my students, years after they graduate, still applying what I’ve taught them. The same can be said about watching students who did not think they had the needed background to understand advanced analytic techniques become masters of these techniques.
Michael Elasmar, associate professor
Faculty members serve as mentors, working alongside students in conducting original research. Together, you can leverage the technology at COM’s Communication Research Center to examine advanced communication phenomena, such as psychometrics. You can also utilize the state-of-the-art social media tools offered at the Zimmerman Family Social Activation Center. Your faculty are a great resource to help you position yourself for success after graduation.
Zimmerman Family Social Activation Center
The Zimmerman Family Social Activation Center offers the opportunity for advertising, public relations and journalism students to work in COM’s…
Benefit from Boston
- Ranked among the most livable cities in the world
- America’s college town
- Top city for innovation, research, and business creation:Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company, Forrester Research, Applied Marketing Science (AMS), Wayfair, Ipsos, Kantar, NielsenIQ, MassMutual, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Takeda, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Biogen
- Boundless opportunities for internships and careers
