Graduate Admissions

Many of your admissions application materials will be submitted online to UGA Graduate Admissions (e.g., application for admission, transcripts, resume, letters of recommendation, and statement of purpose). If offered admission, official transcripts should be sent electronically from your institution or mailed. The application process begins by submitting your application and materials to the UGA Graduate School, at their website Graduate Studies website.

Both the UGA Graduate School and Graduate Studies Office of Grady require the submission of specific admissions documents for the PhD and MA degree. The Grady College MFA degree has different requirements. See the MFA Narrative Media Writing webpage or the MFA Film, Television and Digital Media website for more information about those degrees.

Upload the following items to the Graduate School: (1) completed application form, (2) all transcripts (from every institution of higher learning at which you were enrolled; for even one course), (3) current resume, (4) Three letters of recommendation (completed via email after you submit your recommenders email addresses. Ph.D. candidates should submit 3 former professors as recommenders), and (5) a 2-3 page Statement of Purpose (SOP). The SOP should provide information about your educational background and interests, your reasons or interests in pursuing a graduate degree in a journalism or mass communication area, and the reasons Grady College’s graduate program is a good match for you and your professional, academic, or research interests.

A small number of competitively awarded graduate assistantships are available to admitted MA students. These assistantships usually involve 13 hours of work per week for the 9-month assistantship period, with most assignments being teaching or research assistants. These assistantships provide a monthly stipend (with 10 monthly payments) and a reduction of tuition to $25 per semester. These are renewable for up to two years based on academic and job performance. MA assistantship awards often involve a competitive application and selection process, where interested students submit a cover letter and resume in response to a provided assistantship opening.

The Grady College graduate program has very few M.A. graduate assistantships, and we generally do not know until mid-April or later if there will be funds to support M.A. assistantships for the upcoming academic year. For almost all available M.A. assistantships, we use a competitive process to fill them. When an M.A. graduate assistantship becomes available, the Grady College Graduate Office sends out an assistantship position announcement to incoming and current M.A. students. These announcements describe the assistantship responsibilities, the program in which the assistantship is housed, and the assistantship eligibility requirements, as well as the deadline for submitting a cover letter and resume. With respect to eligibility requirements, it is often the case that assistantship opportunities vary across Grady College departments, and that affects both assistantship availability and which students are considered (e.g., assistantships funded by the Journalism Dept. are only available to journalism concentration students and assistantships that involve the ADPR Dept. are only available to students in the AD, PR, Health Communication & Media, and IADPR concentrations). 

While we accept applications from students enrolled in graduate programs at other universities, we do not transfer credits from other graduate programs or accept transfer credits from other institutions. If you wish to do your graduate study at UGA, you must start at the beginning of your MA degree program coursework to complete your degree here.

Students admitted from another UGA MA degree graduate program may be allowed to use two graduate courses to satisfy cognate requirements. The decision is up to your advisor and/or major professor.

The length of the MA degree program will depend on your undergraduate degree and the courses taken to complete that degree. In general, however, the MA in Journalism and Mass Communication is designed to be a two-year program, while the MA in Emerging Media can be completed in either three or six semesters, including summer semesters. Be aware that all Emerging Media students start their program in the summer and that our summer classes are all offered online.

It takes from three to five semesters to finish most of our MA degree programs assuming registration for a full-credit load in the fall and spring semesters. A limited number of graduate courses are offered in the summer semester, and summer semester courses are required for our Emerging Media MA degree. A full-credit load is 12 hours or more, which is typically three to four courses per semester. Thesis track MA students usually spend three to five semesters taking courses and writing a thesis; the typical MA non-thesis student spends three to four semesters taking courses.

The simple answer—one involves writing a thesis, while the other involves taking an additional course.
The thesis-track MA degree requires the successful completion of nine graduate courses (27 credit hours) and the successful completion and defense of a thesis (three hours) (30 total credit hours). The thesis-track MA is intended primarily for students interested in conducting original scholarship in a particular area of interest or who are planning to undertake further graduate study.

The non-thesis MA degree requires an additional three-credit hours of coursework relative to the thesis-track MA (11 courses or 33 credit hours). The non-thesis MA degree is designed to further increase students’ understanding of media and mass communication theories, processes and effects and to provide advanced preparation for communication careers in advertising, journalism, health and medical journalism and public relations or for further graduate study in communication-related fields.

The Emerging Media Masters (EM) degree program focuses on the intersection of communication technology and design, allowing individuals to explore the roles and applications of emerging media across an array of disciplines and careers. Designed to accommodate students and professionals from a variety of backgrounds and industries, this program is intended for individuals who wish to further personal career goals and those of their employers by gaining more knowledge and experience in emerging media and innovative technologies.

The EM concentration requires 11 courses (33 credit hours, 3 credit hours per course) and can be completed in as few as 3 semesters beginning in Summer. Students must earn a 3.0 (B) in required and elective courses. Only courses on the 6000, 7000 and 8000 levels count toward graduation.

The Emerging Media MA degree can be done as a residential (i.e., in-person) or online program. More information about the EM degree and its requirements can be found on the New Media Institute website.

Grady College offers these areas of concentration: advertising, journalism, health media and communication, journalism, mass media studies, and public relations. An integrated advertising/public relations concentration is offered to students with a Grady College undergraduate major in advertising or public relations. In addition, Grady College has an Emerging Media (EM) Masters degree program, along with a low-residency Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in Narrative Media Writing and an MFA in Film, Television, and Digital Media.

You should note that concentrations are not majors. If you enroll in the MA program, you will receive an MA degree in Journalism and Mass Communication.

It is not necessary to have a JMC degree. Many of our students have undergraduates degrees in other areas and majors — from the humanities to the physical sciences — but do quite well in our program. When it comes to applying to our MA programs, we consider your undergraduate grade point average, your letters of recommendation, and your Statement of Purpose for information about your experiences, motivations, and career goals.

The simple answer — one involves writing a thesis, while the other involves taking an additional course.

The thesis-track MA degree requires the successful completion of 9 graduate courses (27 credit hours) and successful completion and defense of a thesis (3 hours) (30 total credit hours). The thesis-track MA is intended primarily for students interested in conducting original scholarship in a particular area of interest or who are planning to undertake further graduate study.

The non-thesis MA degree requires an additional three-credit hours of coursework relative to the thesis-track MA (11 courses or 33 credit hours). The non-thesis MA degree is designed to further increase students’ understanding of media and mass communication theories, processes, and effects and to provide advanced preparation for communication careers in advertising, journalism, health and medical journalism, public relations or for further graduate study in communication related fields.

The length of the MA degree program will depend on your undergraduate degree and the courses taken to complete that degree. In general, however, the MA in Journalism and Mass Communication is designed to be a two-year program, while the MA in Emerging Media can be completed in either three or six semesters, including summer semesters. Be aware that all Emerging Media students start their program in the summer and that our summer classes are all offered online.

It takes from 3 to 5 semesters to finish most of our MA degree programs assuming registration for a full-credit load in the fall and spring semesters. A limited number of graduate courses are offered in the summer semester, and summer semester courses are required for our Emerging Media MA degree. A full-credit load is 12 hours or more, which is typically 3-4 courses per semester. Thesis track MA students usually spend 3 to 5 semesters taking courses and writing a thesis; the typical MA non-thesis student spends 3 to 4 semesters taking courses.

An additional semester or additional courses may be needed if a student’s undergraduate degree work did not include prerequisites for Grady graduate courses. For example, MA students without undergraduate courses in journalism, advertising, public relations, or mass communication-related areas will most likely have to take prerequisite courses, which will require additional time.

For planning purposes, it is best to think about the MA as a two-year degree program.

While we accept applications from students enrolled in graduate programs at other universities, we do not transfer credits from other graduate programs or accept transfer credits from other institutions. If you wish to do your graduate study at UGA, you must start at the beginning of your MA degree program course work to complete your degree here.

Students admitted from another UGA MA degree graduate program may be allowed to use two graduate courses to satisfy cognate requirements. The decision is up to your advisor and/or major professor.

Yes, there is an application fee. The application-processing fee is collected to help offset the cost of processing application materials. The fee is non-refundable and cannot be deferred or credited toward tuition. As of July 1, 2009, the fee to apply for graduate programs at the University of Georgia is $75 for domestic applicants and $100 for international applicants. If at all possible, you should pay by credit card as soon as you submit the application. Applications are not reviewed until you have submitted and paid the application fee. If you must pay by check or money order, please email gradadm@uga.edu for further instructions.

Deadlines for admissions purposes are the dates by which your application file, with all needed materials, should be complete and submitted to the University of Georgia Graduate School. Applications can be completed and submitted in advance of the deadlines.

For admission to the MA program, it is recommended that your application be completed and submitted by March 1. For admission to the MFA program, it is recommended that your applications be completed and submitted by April 1.

In general, it is not possible to waive the application fee for applying to Grady College graduate programs, particularly for international applicants. The UGA Graduate School has a list of programs under which it is possible to apply for application fee waivers. This can be found at https://grad.uga.edu/admissions/application-fee/

Applicants whose primary language is not English may need to submit official TOEFL or IELTS scores that are not more than two years old. Applicants who have received degrees from accredited institutions in the U.S. or from institutions in countries where English is the primary language (e.g., the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand) usually are not required to submit the TOEFL (or IELTS) scores. The UGA Graduate School Admissions English Proficiency Requirement Policy can be found here:
https://grad.uga.edu/admissions/requirements/international-applications/english-language-proficiency-
requirement/
Country-specific requirements regarding English Proficiency requirements can be found here:
https://grad.uga.edu/admissions/requirements/international-applications/country-specific-requirements/

Grady College does not require applicants to provide GRE scores, but applicants can do so if they would like. We do not accept nor use GMAT or LSAT scores for the application and admission process.

You are responsible for checking the progress of your application. Once your application has been accepted by the UGA Graduate School, you will receive an email from gradadm@uga.edu with a link to the Check Application Status portal. You will login with the email and password you used to create the application.

You are encouraged to submit your application in advance of the deadline. You should be aware that letters of recommendations, transcripts, and test scores will usually arrive at UGA a few weeks after you request that they be sent to us. A completed application file by January 1st can only be assured in two ways: (1) getting all admissions materials to us before January 1 (for PhD), March 1 (for MA), or April 1 (for MFA) and (2) using the UGA Tracking System to monitor your application.

Most MA program students are admitted for fall semester entry, but it is possible to start the MA in Journalism and Mass Communication degree program in spring semester. This often happens with Double Dawg students who finish their undergraduate studies in December and return in January as graduate students. All Emerging Media Master’s students start their program in the summer.

The University of Georgia Graduate School policy states that applicants are eligible for a one-time move of their start date without filing a new application and application fee. Requests should be made in writing to gradadm@uga.edu. Please contact Graduate Admissions no earlier than 13 to 14 months before the month that your anticipated new semester of enrollment is to begin.

According to the University of Georgia Graduate School policy, you must reapply, following the same procedure and submitting the same admission materials.

More information on University of Georgia graduate program application deadlines can be found at https://grad.uga.edu/admissions/application-deadlines/