Frequently Asked Questions
Admissions Questions
Do you have any written materials that you can send me?
Everything we have about the Communication Studies Graduate Program is on this Web site. If you have questions that are not addressed here, then please feel free to e-mail the Communication Studies Graduate Coordinator.
What is your minimum and average GRE score?
There is no minimum GRE score as Texas state law requires that all state schools consider the entire application packet and not just one thing in the packet. The average GRE score for students admitted to the Communication Studies Department’s graduate program is 1100 – 1150.
What is your minimum and average GPA score?
The University of Texas Graduate School has set a 3.0 minimum GPA score. You may apply with a lower than 3.0 GPA. If you are accepted with a lower than 3.0 GPA, then you will be accepted with restrictions that are usually that you maintain a 3.0 GPA the first year of your graduate course work at UT and that you have no incompletes during that year. The average GPA of the students who have been accepted to our program in the last five years is 3.7.
How firm is your application deadline?
The deadline for applications to our Fall program is a postmarked package for December 15. We will accept your application anytime during that week in December.
Do you have a Spring Admission?
We do not have a Spring admission.
Do I have to have a background in Communication Studies to apply to your program?
No, you do not. However, should you be accepted without 9 hours of undergraduate Communication Studies course work. You will be accepted on a provisional basis and expected to take these hours either before or at the same time you take your graduate course work.
Can I visit with faculty and/or current graduate students?
Our faculty and graduate students are always happy to talk to prospective students. You should contact faculty on an individual basis to set up appointments for a visit. Their e-mail addresses can be found on the UT Directory. If you would like to talk to graduate students, please e-mail the Graduate Coordinator and your e-mail will be forwarded to the graduate student community. Someone will contact you. The Graduate Coordinator is very available to answer questions about the program.
Do you accept non-degree seeking students?
The Communication Studies Department does not normally accept non-degree seeking students. All faculty members from an area must agree to accept a student under these circumstances. We do allow students from any department in the University to take our courses.
Are applications reviewed on a rolling basis or all at one time?
Applications to our graduate program are reviewed about two weeks after the application deadline. They are not reviewed as they come in. Remember that if you apply to one area, faculty in another area probably will not see your application, so be sure about the area you are interested. You can apply to two different areas. If you choose to do that, you will probably want to write a different essay of questions for each area.
How soon will I find out whether I have been admitted or not?
All of departmental admissions decisions are provisional until the Graduate Dean approves them. We inform students as soon as possible about our decisions usually by the middle of February. Funding offers follow shortly.
How many students are accepted into your department each year?
We usually accept 60 total students each year (master’s and doctoral combined), that’s about 20 per area. We certainly don’t expect that many to show up. Our incoming first year students usually total between 20 and 30. We accept the same number of students regardless of the number of applications, which has been between 150 and 190 for the last five years.
Are there any special admissions issues that international students should know?
We have no special considerations for international students. We are of course interested in the level of English proficiency of our international applicants. The University requires that international students take the TOFLE (or IELTS) unless they have a bachelor’s degree from a university in the United States. We do not have special funding for international students. They are considered for funding in the same manner as US students.
I need to know departmental codes and university codes. What are they?
On the University of Texas application, you will need to specify a department by a code. The Communication Studies Department code is 623965. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) also requires codes for sending GRE and TOEFL scores. The ETS codes are 6882 for the University of Texas and 4506 for the Communication Studies Department code.
Financial Questions
How much does a degree from UT cost?
Information about the cost of an education at UT Austin is at this link. Note that this information is for a past semester and is subject to change semester by semester.
Is there an application for TA and AI positions?
There is not a separate application for TA and AI positions. We consider every admitted student for funding. We ask questions on the departmental application that help us in our decisions about funding, such as teaching and forensics experience.
How is financial support from the department determined?
Frankly speaking, financial support by the department is the carrot we use to entice the best students to come to our graduate program. Having said that, please do not think that if you don’t get a funding offer, then we don’t want you here. Unfortunately, funding availability varies from year to year, so that one year we will be able to offer funding to six students and the next year we will be able to offer funding to sixteen students. The availability of funding is determined by how many TA’s and AI’s we think we will need in the coming year which in turn is determined by how many graduate student TA’s and AI’s we will have returning. Funding offers made before the student decides to come to UT are for four years for doctoral students and for two years for master’s students. The Graduate School allows us to offer Pre-emptive Fellowships to incoming graduate students. We offer those to the very best students to “sweeten” our AI/TA offers.
We wish we could support all of our graduate students with funding, but we cannot. Please let us know if you are interested in funding through the department on your application form. Should you decide to start graduate school unfunded, please continue to let us know that you are interested in funding.
What does an offer of financial support include?
Graduate students are offered a part time job (20 hours) as either a TA or an AI. Our Assistant Instructors who are employed for 20 hours teach two sections of a class. Being a TA or AI includes a stipend for nine months of work, in-state tuition with tuition assistance, the same health insurance as faculty and staff receive free of charge to the student for twelve months and the opportunity for students to put spouse and family on the insurance for a fee.
How do I apply for financial aid?
Please see the web at Student Financial Services and the Office of Graduate Studies for more information on financial help from the university and other lending institutions.
Program Questions
What are your required courses?
We have total course hour requirements for both the master’s degrees (with thesis (24 course hours) and with report (30 course hours)) and for the doctoral degree (45 course hours). We have only one required course for all degrees and that is the 081M Introduction to Graduate Studies in Human Communication taken in the Fall of your first year. Within the required course hours, both master’s and doctoral students are required to take 6 hours outside the department and 6 hours within the department and outside their area of study. The courses that you take within the required course work depend on what you and your advisor think are the courses you need to take to write the report/thesis/dissertation that you want to write.
Can I transfer hours from another institution?
You can transfer up to 6 graduate hours (two courses) from another institution if these courses are approved by your advisor and the departmental Graduate Studies Committee.
How are advisors assigned?
You will be assigned a “first semester mentor” to help you choose your first semester’s course work. In February of your first Spring semester, doctoral students choose a faculty advisor and two Comm. Studies faculty committee members. Master’s students choose an advisor and one reader.
Are students required to attend graduate school full time?
Students who take nine hours (three classes) are considered full time students. If you are offered funding through the department, you must be a full time student. If you are not offered funding through the department, then you are not required to be a full time student. We do, however, strongly suggest it. You will complete your degree in a much more timely fashion and get to know your fellow graduate students better. It is possible to work full time and get a graduate degree if your work schedule is flexible enough to take graduate courses when they are offered. Our program is not structured for students who work full time, but it can be done and has been done.
Does the Department specialize in qualitative or quantitative research?
Our department is fairly balanced in how our faculty chooses to do research. There are faculty members in all three areas of research who use qualitative methods and others who use quantitative methods.
