LUBBOCK, Texas, January 2004:  Students enrolled in advertising and public relations programs this fall found entrance requirements tougher, but more financial assistance is available, according to information available from the 40th edition of Where shall I go to study advertising and public relations? compiled and edited by Billy I. Ross, Louisiana State University and Keith F. Johnson, University of Southern Mississippi.

Of 196 schools with advertising and public relations programs, 165 require an ACT mean score of 21; 143 require SAT with a mean score of 1029 and 65 schools require the students be in the upper 42 percent of the high school graduating class.  Above the university entrance requirements, 106 programs required an average 2.50 university GPA (on four point scale) to declare the major.  On the bright side, there are approximately 2,344 types of financial assistance available including 1,425 scholarships available for advertising and public relations students.

The number of students and graduates reached a 10-year high with the number of enrolled advertising and public relations students reaching 43,810.  Also, the number of degrees awarded increased to 14,746.  During the past year the number of fulltime faculty rose to 915.

The directory measures programs in advertising, public relations and joint advertising and public relations degrees.  Public relations has the largest number of programs (136); advertising, 95; and 48 have joint programs.  Public relations also lead in the number of graduates (6,204); advertising has 5,861 and joint programs, 2,681.  Advertising has the largest number of graduate students (1,085); public relations had 707 and joint programs, 534.

The largest universities in advertising include Michigan State University, Roosevelt University, University of Texas at Austin and the University of Georgia.  In public relations, the University of Florida, University of Georgia and Colorado State University are among the largest.  Pennsylvania State University is the largest among the schools with joint programs.

Information from each school listed in the directory also includes accreditation, degrees offered, financial assistance, entrance requirement, tuition and fees, student organizations and the person potential students may contact for further information.

In addition to Louisiana State University and the University of Southern Mississippi, other research sponsors include the American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Academy of Advertising, the Advertising Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the American Advertising Federation, Direct Marketing Association, the Lubbock (TX) Advertising Federation, the Houston Chronicle and Texas Tech University.

The directory is published by Advertising Education Publications.  Information from the directory is also available on web site <www.whereshalligo.com>.