Undergraduate - Getting In
Program Description | Admissions | Financial Aid
Program Description
Communication departments used to concentrate on one of two traditional fields: speech or journalism. The older programs focused on skills training, production experience, and preparation for entry-level practical work. In the past decade, the communication discipline has changed. The arrival of the internet has blurred the separation of personal (speech) communication from public (journalism) communication. On line, the media fuse with interpersonal activities. Leading universities have merged speech and media into one department. Instead of focusing on production and entry-level jobs, the new departments train students for a lifetime of career changes.
The Department of Communication provides undergraduate students with a broad liberal education that covers communication from the personal through the international levels and builds responsible citizenship. Students gain depth in understanding communication processes in a diverse metropolitan setting. The Department approach is conceptual, helping students build critical thinking and research skills to face challenges from the multiple careers they will pursue.
Within the communication discipline, the Department specializes in areas where speech and media converge:
- new technology
- intercultural diversity (including race, ethnicity, and gender/sexuality)
- politics and rhetoric
- cultural and visual studies
The Bachelor of Arts in Communication program has six core courses:
- an introduction to the discipline and the faculty
- a survey of human (speech) communication
- a survey of public (media) communication
- a course on technology introduces a main focus in the Department
- two courses on communication analysis cover statistics and teach students how to write communication research
Courses at the 300 and 400 levels fulfill selective requirements for seven courses in analysis and research, with topics ranging across the discipline. A senior seminar provides a capstone experience in the final year.
Students enrich their experience and build their own interests that match the faculty specialties. For example, a student with interests in diversity can gain intercultural experience through participating in study abroad, which is strongly encouraged, and through minoring in related areas, such as Gender & Womens Studies. A student with interests in visual communication can minor in Art History.
Students desiring hands-on experience for entry level jobs in communication industries arrange for at least one internship and participate in student activities that build a network of contacts with alumni and professionals.
Admissions
Students seeking careers in in art and design such as filmmaking, graphic design, interaction design, photography, and the like, should see the UIC School of Art and Design. Students looking for hands-on production training in traditional areas of communication, such as broadcast news, forensics (debate), journalism, reporting, speech teaching, and the like, should consider University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The Communication program has among the highest admissions standards of any program in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS). Students cannot declare the major without first completing performance requirements. To enter the major, a student must complete 24 credit hours of LAS courses, achieving a cumulative GPA of 2.5 on a 4-point scale. In addition, the student must receive a grade of C or better in the Introduction to Communication course (101), which is a rigorous survey requiring heavy reading, extensive writing, and critical thinking.
Upon meeting these performance standards and declaring the major, students should schedule an appointment with the department academic advisor, (see Advising) to get oriented to the program.
Financial Aid
Students in communication are eligible for a variety of scholarships. For example, the new ComEd Scholarship and the PNA-Hugh Hill Scholarship are available for communication students. The Department maintains a bulletin board listing other current scholarships. Students may also discuss scholarships with the department advisor.
Please check out the Awards page as well as the Office of Special Scholarship Programs.
Information on general scholarships and financial aid is available at the UIC Office of Student Financial Aid. The site allows students to:
- request applications
- check the status of applications
- see a schedule of events
- find more information from a frequently asked questions section.
UIC Office of Student Financial Aid
1800 Student Services Building
1200 West Harrison Street Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 996-3126
Federal School Code: 001776
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
University of Illinois at Chicago
1007 W Harrison Street, Behavioral Sciences Building 1140, MC132
Chicago IL 60607 | Phone: 312-996-3187 | Fax: 312-413-2125
Contact the Department for general information.
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