Department of Communication and Media

Visit myWCU and access your Degree Program Report

To declare a COM or MDC major, visit MyWCU and submit an Academic Plan Change Request, following the directions listed here. Selection for admission will be made at the conclusion of the semester in which you completed the prerequisite core, after grades are posted.

For more information about the program requirements, see the University Catalog.

For more information regarding our undergraduate program, please contact our Department Chair, Dr. Mike Boyle.

Once you get into the major, you will be assigned a permanent advisor. Until then, you will need to continue to meet your current advisor for scheduling flags.

COM and MDC advisors use advising forms to help you plan your courses. Please choose from the following options to download your major or minor advising form:

MDC Advising Forms

• Advising form for MDC Majors
• Advising form for MDC Minors

COM Majors Advising Forms

• Advising Form for Communication Studies Majors

COM Minors Advising Forms

• Advising Form for Communication Studies Minors

You should fill out the form and bring it to your meetings with your advisor.

The purpose of the applied area is give students some flexibility in their schedule and in their career exploration. They are strategically selected classes by students that also help students reach the 120 required credit hours.

We encourage COM and MDC majors to consider a minor. For those students who elect to add a minor, the credits go in this area. We encourage taking 1-2 classes in your desired minor before officially adding the minor to make sure it is a good fit for you. Should you change your mind, we can still apply those credit hours in the "applied" area, which we would consider part of your career exploration.

Some students may wish to take as many classes in their major as they can. The extra/elective COM/MDC classes could then be placed in the applied area.

Some students may know of a particular career goal. Students would take courses (COM or from other departments) that will help them gain skills needed to achieve the career goal. For example, if you want to start a non-profit, you may want to take: 1) a business class that will help you create a business plan; b) an accounting class for keeping the books, and c) a course where you learn about grant writing. These all align with that career goal.

For transfer students, if you find you have some "extra" transfer credits that don't seem to "fit" anywhere, they might be able to fit here. Typically, we would put these extra classes in your free electives, but you have more than 9 credit hours that you've placed in free electives and they don't fulfill Gen Ed requirements, then we can consider placing them in this applied area. Part of the rationale is that we don't want you to lose tuition dollars for courses you took, so this provides a more flexible option.

For students who started with one major but are switching into COM or MDC, 12-18 hours of the coursework you took in your previous major can go here. Technically, that was career exploration too. If you have more credits than 18, you can consider putting them into the "free electives" section. Free electives are any college level courses that are of interest to you.

For students who are double majoring, 12-18 hours of the coursework you took in your other major can go here. You likely will have more credits than 18, so you can put them into the "free electives" section.

Be sure to meet with your advisor regularly. You can track your degree on your own by accessing your Degree Progress Report. You’ll find it in the Academics of myWCU. You can also read the Access Review file on how to access the Report.

Yes. Foreign Language is required. Students have two options for completing the requirement, and there are some additional options that may be attractive to some students. Please read below

• It may be helpful to be viewing the advising sheet while you review these options. You do not need to decide whether you select options 1 or 2 until you are enrolled in 102 and planning your next semester.

Option 1 - completing foreign language proficiency through the 202 level (please see more info below because demonstrating proficiency may not mean taking all four courses)

Option 2 - completing foreign language proficiency through the 102 level (please see more info below because demonstrating proficiency may not mean taking 101 and 102 courses) PLUS taking three approved culture cluster courses

a) the culture cluster courses must be approved for the language you are studying

b) the three culture cluster courses must have at least two different prefixes (i.e. - if SPA 101 and SPA 102 are completed, then the Spanish culture cluster courses must utilize at least two different prefixes within the Spanish culture cluster such as ESP, HIS, PSC, etc.)

NOTES:

i) If you speak a language fluently you may check to see if you qualify to test out of the requirement.

ii) if you took a foreign language in high school, you wish to continue in that language, and you think you remember some of what you learned, it may be worth your time to take the free online foreign language placement exam (about 20 minutes long, multiple choice). The results will help you determine at what level you should start your foreign language sequence (e.g., 101, 102).

Essentially this means you might be able to skip one or more classes. Although you will not earn academic credit for those courses you skip, it frees up some credit hours for you to take more electives. Find out if you qualify.

iii.) There is a way to earn academic credit for any courses you might place out of. If you wish to learn more about this credit-by-exam option -- a very economical way to earn college credit --- please refer to the link listed above.