Application and Admissions


If you are interested in applying as a freshman or transfer student, you should visit the UCSB Admissions web site for information about requirements, applications, and more. The Communication Department is not responsible for decisions regarding UCSB admission and does not review individual undergraduate applications. You can declare your major preference as Pre-COMM when you apply to the University. If you are a current UCSB student interested in the Communication Major, you can review the departmental requirements for being accepted below.

Step 1

COMM
Pre-Major

Required pre-COMM courses:
COMM 1, 87, 88, and 89

Upon completion of the pre-major course requirements with a 3.00 GPA or higher and no grade lower than a C-, students can be admitted to full major

 

Step 2

COMM
Major

 

Students must complete 40 upper division COMM units to graduate with a Communication degree.
 

Pre-Communication Major Students

 (Comm 1, 87, 88, and 89)

Pre-Communication Major Requirements

Pre-COMM Appeals Process

Declaring the Pre-Comm major:
Students intending to major in Communication are strongly encouraged to declare Pre-Communication as their major. "Pre-Comm" may be declared at any time before the pre-major is completed, but doing so earlier gives students priority during registration to enroll in pre-major courses. Please fill out a Pre-Comm Change of Major form through DocuSign to declare pre-major status. 

Pre-major equivalents and substitutions:
Students who take an introductory statistics course equivalent to COMM 87 at UCSB, such as PSTAT 5A, 5LS, or Psychology 5, will have those grades automatically applied toward the pre-major GPA. If a student takes an equivalent statistics course, they may not take COMM 87 to count toward the pre-major GPA instead. 

Effective Fall 2021, students have the option to substitute their Comm 87 requirement with CMPSC 5A: Introduction to Data Science 1 AND CMPSC 5B: Introduction to Data Science 2. Students would need to fill out a Petition for Degree Requirements after they've successfully earned a letter grade of C- or higher in both courses. The grades earned in CMPSC 5A/B will be averaged and will factor into pre-major GPA and re-calculated as if only 5 units were earned.

If a student takes both COMM 87/PSTAT 5A/LS and CMPSC 5A/B, we will default to our Comm major sheet to fulfill the statistics requirement (the grade earned in COMM 87/PSTAT 5A/LS will be calculated in the major GPA). 

Students declared double majors with Pre-Psych and Brain Sciences/Pre-Biopsychology and Pre-Comm:
Students who are declared double majors with Pre-Psych and Brain Sciences/Pre-Biopsychology and Pre-Comm have the option to substitute Comm 88 with PSY 10A.  Students would need to fill out a Petition for Degree Requirements after they've successfully earned a letter grade of C- or higher in PSY 10A. The grade earned in PSY 10A will factor into pre-major GPA.

If a student takes both Comm 88 and PSY 10A, we will default to our Comm major sheet to fulfill the research methods requirement meaning, the grade earned in Comm 88 will be calculated in the major GPA.

Please see the FAQ for Pre-Comm Students and/or for Transfer Students for more information and answers to questions regarding retaking classes, the "appeal" process, credit for pre-major classes taken elsewhere, etc.

Communication Majors
 

Communication Major Requirements

Petitions for Degree Requirements

Declaring the Comm major:
Upon completion of the pre-major course requirements with a 3.0 GPA or higher and no grade lower than a C-, students can request to be admitted into the full major. Students are advised to submit a Change of Major form to declare the full major during the quarter in which they are enrolled in their last pre-major class. This also applies to students who become eligible to appeal upon completion of the pre-major. Forms will start to get processed at the end of the quarter when grades reflect on Gold and will be completed 4-6 weeks later by the Registrar. Students requesting a Double Major approval can find instructions on how to complete this process here.

Communication Major Overview: 

During the regular academic year, upper-division Communication courses are restricted to full majors only. During summer sessions, any student may take upper-division Communication courses. Courses completed during Summer Sessions will not be applied to fulfillment of major requirements until the student's major status is officially updated on GOLD to Communication. Please do not ask for approval codes before the first day of instruction. 

Once formally processed into the full major, students must complete 40 upper-division Comm units. Courses must be taken for a letter grade; P/N grades will not count toward major. While there are no required full major courses, the following limitations apply:

Students may apply up to 8 units of the following courses from outside the Department of Communication toward their 40 UD unit requirement:

  • Asian American Studies 127
  • Chicano Studies 103, 187
  • Environmental Studies 161
  • Global Studies 157
  • Linguistics 124, 130, 132, 170, 180, 187
  • Philosophy 100C
  • Political Science 154, 172, 173
  • Psychology 102, 125, 143
  • Sociology 147

Note:  Some of the above courses may have prerequisites and may be closed to non-majors.

A total of 16 units combined of Communication 181ABC, 194, 199, and 199RA may be applied toward the full major, with no more than 12 units of 194, 199, and 199RA combined.

Senior standing students may take up to 8 units from the 175 series.

Please see the Undergraduate FAQ for Comm Majors for more information and answers to questions (e.g., regarding graduation requirements, special topics courses, internship credit, etc.).