Deadline for Fall 2013 admission is December 15, 2012.

As you are applying to our graduate program, think about the following questions:

What degree are you seeking— Masters or Doctoral? You must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution before beginning our MA program. You must have a master's degree or expect to graduate with a master’s degree before beginning our doctoral program.

What area of study interests you—Interpersonal Communication, Organizational Communication and Technology, or Rhetoric and Language Studies? See Areas of Study for more information about each area. Picking an area in the online application directs your application to only faculty members from that area. They are the only faculty members who will review that student's application. For that reason, be very careful about area choices.

We encourage only those with strong professional motivation and goals to enroll at the Ph.D. level. Doctoral students can expect opportunities to work closely with faculty on research ventures and to participate in the publication of their findings. Ph.D. students are also expected to achieve mastery in research design and methods. We do not have separate classes for MA students. They take the same courses that our doctoral students take. For that reason, prospective MA students should consider whether they are searching for an MA program that focuses on theory and research.

Decisions regarding financial assistance are separate from our admissions decisions, but are awarded based upon the application materials. No additional financial assistance application materials are required.

Admission Requirements

Important: Read UT's Admission web page for information about your application processing.

The following information/documents must be submitted to the University of Texas’ Graduate and International Admissions Center (GIAC) electronically. Mailing paper documents to either GIAC or the Department will slow down the processing of your application. 

1. Fill out the Texas Common application online. (Application is not available for Fall admission until early the previous September.) Apply to the Graduate School and the department electronically using the Graduate and International Admissions Center (GIAC) web site. If you cannot send the application electronically, see their web site for options. If you would like to contact GIAC, please see their contact us web site. The Communication Studies department code for the UT application is 623965.

2. Submit Graduate Records Examination (GRE) scores. If you are an International student, you should also take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Testing System (IELTS) exam as well as the GRE. Official scores should be sent by ETS to GIAC. The University of Texas ETS code is 6882. No department code is required.

3. An application fee must be paid to GIAC. Any questions about the application fee should be directed to GIAC.

4. Submit departmental documents. You must wait until the day after you submit the Texas Common Application to upload departmental documents online. These documents must be submitted online. Remember you must click the submit button for your application to load. You must also have paid your application fee. The Texas Common Application loads overnight. Emails will be sent to your letter writers requesting their letters when the application loads and to you to tell you that you may now submit your departmental documents. You must use your assigned UT EID (most commonly your UT EID is your initials and a string of numbers) and your password to submit these documents. The following documents (see admission requirements expanded for more information about each item):

__ Pdf copy of your official transcript(s) (four year universities only)
__ Statement of purpose
__ Brief essay of research questions (also called statement of research objectives)
__ CV or resume
__ Writing sample
__ 3 letters of recommendation (uploaded by your letter writers)

More information:
We require that beginning graduate students have at least nine semester hours of upper-division undergraduate or graduate course work in Communication Studies. You may apply without this requirement. If you are accepted with a deficiency in Communication Studies course work, you will be required to make up this deficiency after you are admitted to the graduate program and before you take any graduate course work. You may take this course work at UT during the summer or your first semester here or at another four-year institution before beginning graduate course work here.

Previous degrees: To be accepted to the master’s program, you must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. To be accepted to the doctoral program, you must have a Master's degree or be in a Master's program with plans to complete the degree before beginning the doctoral program. You may complete both degrees, an MA and a PhD at UT, but you must first apply to the master’s program; then apply to the doctoral program when you are finished with the your master’s degree. Admission to the MA program does not guarantee admission to the PhD program.

The Graduate School has set a minimum grade point average of "B" (3.0 on a 4.0 scale). You may apply to the Graduate School with a lower than 3.0 GPA. However, if you are accepted, it will be with conditions. You must maintain a 3.0 GPA while in graduate school

Rarely a telephone interview with a member of the Graduate Faculty MAY be requested by the Graduate Advisor or by a faculty member. An applicant may e-mail faculty members at any time during the application process to ask questions about their research, etc. E-mail addresses for university faculty are available online in the UT electronic directory.

ASK A QUESTION:

Email the CMS Graduate Coordinator, Susan Corbin with your question, or call her at 512-471-1942