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Graduate Program in Communication

Admissions Process

The Communication Department only admits students once per year, for the fall quarter. We are not able to accept late applications. The next opportunity to apply will be for Fall 2021. The Fall 2021 online application will be available in late summer 2020, with a deadline of December 2020. The deadline to apply for Fall 2020 has now passed. 


Admission Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university (undergraduate major does not need to be in Communication)
  • Minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale or its equivalent)
  • GRE General Test (no required minimum score); use institution code 4836 to report scores to UCSD
  • International applicants: Demonstrate English language proficiency via one of four options:
    • Option 1: TOEFL with a minimum score of 550 (paper based test-PBT) or 80 (internet based test-iBT). Use institution code 4836 to report scores to UCSD.
    • Option 2: IELTS with a minimum Band Score of 7
    • Option 3: Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic with a minimum overall score of 65
    • Option 4: Full-time enrollment for a minimum of 1 year in a university-level institution where English is the language of instruction and in a country in which English is a dominant language. (For example: U.S.A., England, Australia, Guam, Jamaica, Ireland, parts of Canada.) See Graduate Division's English language proficiency exemption policy for more details

Application Checklist

A completed admissions application includes the items below. All items must be received by the application deadline. Do not mail hard copy materials. All documents must be uploaded and submitted via the online application system.

  • UCSD Online Admissions Application 
  • Non-refundable application fee
  • Statement of Purpose (pdf format no larger than 10 MB; uploaded to online application)
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Academic writing samples: copies of term papers, journal articles, or other examples of intellectual work (no page limit, formatting requirements, or size limit)
  • Scanned unofficial copies of transcripts from all higher education institutions attended (uploaded to online application)
  • Official GRE General Test scores (submitted to UCSD via ETS; see "Admission Requirements" section above)
  • Demonstration of English proficiency (International applicants only; see "Admission Requirements" section above)

Admission Decision

All materials must be submitted by the deadline to be considered for admission.
We do not admit on a 'rolling' basis. The review of applications begins after the application deadline.
Applicants are notified of the admission decision via email, usually by the end of February.