whitmanifesto

Most programs you would teach 3-4 courses a semester, including public speaking since its the backbone of most Communications departments (funding is funneled into program through course enrollment and that's a major undergrad requirement). Then rotate between 200-400 level courses, probably shifting between quantitative or qualitative research methods with another few professors and the 300 and 400 level courses that are your research area. Some fields do a lot of consulting type research, my area is more media representations and community focused research. There's also a lot of investigation type research in the media industry (this is what my current adviser does) such as who owns what and how does that effect democratic participation?
I know more about Media Studies. The large conferences include ICA, NCA (holds the PhD guides) and local regional Communications Associations (Midwest is CSCA). Internet Researchers Association is big with media people as well, I'm in the steering committee for Union for Democratic Communications conference which is a critical theory focused conference, and then many also attend sociology, anthropology and literature (rhetoric) conference (interdisciplinary is almost standard in our field). I am in a department that is split between PR, Media Studies and Performance theory so some of the graduate students also attend Popular Culture. I do cross-disciplinary work with History and Anthropology (my first field) so I will and have applied to their conferences as well. I do work on environmental justice and media representations, so I attended ASLE.
Some big journals are house in the conferences above but also New Media and Society  (housed at UIC) is important to the field. H-Net Commons is a very good resource for looking for conferences by subject and location (subject is good for communications since it's such a large field) as is EasyChair. You will mostly likely join conferences to be on the steering and planning committees, edit or review for conferences and journals, and spend a LOT of time in meetings. Plus the service that is required at the university level (teach, research, service mantra).
Each department will have a set of conferences their members regularly attend and encourage their students to apply (mine applies to UDC, NCA, CSCA, PC/AC, primarily). You will submit work to conferences in hopes to build onto it and edit it that will lead to a publication, but also to network. Based on your research, you will develop your own list of conference, journals and associations that are best to your specific interests and peer group. Thats one of the most important part of your graduate school experience if you decide to stay in academia. Because there is such variety, it's hard to create a guide for the entire field ( I didn't include any of the major ones for Health or Organizational Communications, and I know nothing about PR and Marketing associations.) Communications is a spin-off social science and humanities field, so the professional life greatly reflects that.

Everyday I check my mail, way beyond 5pm in their respective time, because you know, maybe they work late. It's so crushing as another day passes, constantly questioning your self worth(don't!). but today, nearly 8pm on their time, I got an acceptance. Relief! It feels good, hope you all get the same feeling soon.

@AnxiousKitty OMG! What a coincidence. I'm an undergrad at a mid tier liberal arts school but I'm in a consortium with an internationally ranked top school as well so I've taken several classes there through cross-enrollment. Even though I've always done well, and frequently better than my peers at the "better" institution, the disparity in our schools' ranks always shakes my confidence a little and makes me feel like I don't deserve to be there/ am not smart enough. The main difference between the students at my home school and the fancy school I attend part-time as well as the one I went to this weekend, however, seems to be class and opportunity. 
As far as the partnered application process, I'm trying to keep in mind that it's in the early stages and that most comm departments I'm applying to haven't sent out decisions yet. The waiting sucks, though. 

Hey I applied to MTS this year, saw there were two folks who got interview responses on the board and yeah there was something where one of them was recommended to the program from Communications, so maybe there's still some movement happening. I saw previous years it was usually around this week and next that interview stuff went out, so I've still got my fingers crossed, you never know! People turn offers down and spots open. I did officially get the notice from HASTS at MIT that interviews already went out and I was not part of the group, idk if you applied there. Keep us posted! 

It looks like folks got emails this week (unfortunately, I'm not one of them). Good luck, @whitmanifesto and @Lola Xie! I hope you hear good news!!

I decided to have a crazier dream than a PhD in history to make myself feel better if I don't get in and have something to work towards if I don't get in. First female GM in Major League Baseball. I mean, that does make a PhD seem a lot more attainable...

When I applied to Indiana University and Purdue main campus, those statuses never changed on the application until April, even tho I found out via email I was waitlisted at both and then reject by both in April.
 
Now, I've applied to Northwestern and even tho I know they've started their process, their system doeant have 'penidng' as an option. Wayne State started 'pending' 5 days before the due date and UIC is just "submitted". Neither rare close to their decisions yet. 
Each department is different in how they update the apps, and each uni has a slightly different system. I wouldn't worry until you start seeing people submit their results on here.

Howdy! I applied to health communication doctoral programs this year, and let me tell you -- it can be challenging to find programs that brand themselves as health comm. Case in point -- I actively started my search nine months before the deadlines, and I still found a new program the night before the application deadline (still wish I could've applied, UT Austin!).
A great starting place is NCA's Doctoral Program Guide. NCA, or the National Communication Association, compiles a doctoral guide which is searchable by research specialty. It's particularly helpful because you can get a pretty good ~vibe~ of where the active research is happening. In fact, I think that this will be the most helpful resource for you because you can search for both intercultural and health communication programs (social networks is a little more niche: I've seen social network research done in health communication, social media, comm & tech, etc.). The NCA guide will also give you admissions requirements, research emphases, # of communication doctorates conferred, names of active professors, etc.
Before you dive too deep into the guide, you need to know what kind of communication you're interested in. Comm is quite broad, and largely falls into two different camps: rhetoric and social behavioral sciences. Sometimes you'll have departments with both contingents, but in my experience, you'll find these programs in separate depts. I don't have much experience in the rhetoric camp, but in social behavioral sciences, you'll also have to ask yourself about methodology -- are you more of a qualitative or quantitative person? Finally, are you interested in interpersonal communication (person-to-person) or in mass communication (advertising, news, media, etc.). If you know what you're interested broadly (e.g. interpersonal communication), then you can first search for interpersonal communication programs, and see if there are any people that work on health stuff. I'm really interested in mass media effects and advertising (in the context of health) so once I realized that the NCA was missing integral programs, I broadened my search to mass comm and was able to find some really interesting programs. Starting broad is integral because in my experience, not many professors consider themselves health comm scholars. If you're sticking to "health comm" google searches, you're going to miss some stuff.
One final caveat: An (unfortunate) number of these programs require a master's. 
Here's a list of schools with health communication research from NCA. I encourage you to check out the website -- it has some good info!
Bowling Green State Cornell George Mason Michigan State Ohio State Ohio University Penn State Purdue Rutgers Texas A & M SUNY Buffalo Arizona Georgia Illinois Kentucky Maryland Memphis Nebraska New Mexico Oklahoma UPenn USC Utah Wisconsin-Milwaukee Washington State Other notable programs that you won't find on the NCA website:
Minnesota Northwestern: Strong in health communication. Rumor is that they are going to create a health communication PhD program in the next couple of years. UC Santa Barbara: Have more of a focus in interpersonal communication than those that are listed here, but does have a couple of faculty that conduct health communication research. UNC Chapel Hill: Strong in health communication, but is unfortunately only a three-year PhD program. UT Austin: Offers a PhD in "advertising" instead of communication, but it's very strong in health communication. Probably one of the strongest "health comm" programs out of all of those listed; most of the graduate students were studying health (or something closely related, such as risk). Wisconsin-Madison: It doesn't strictly have a *health communication* contingent, but it's a strong, well-funded department and one of the most prolific health communication scholars, Dr. Dhavan Shah. Feel free to PM me any questions!! I got my B.S. in communication and currently work as a lab manager in a communication department (and ya know, just went through the app process), so I have some knowledge to share!

I just got my first acceptance and it is one of my favorites.   Now I can finally sleep at night and not stress over waiting because I have a funded offer at a program I like and what more can you ask for?

Just got my first acceptance (well, kind of, recommended for admission) from UNC Chapel Hill!!!

So...  I may not get into grad school, but I JUST GOT PUBLISHED!

I submitted my last app on Dec. 15. I thought then "6 weeks of waiting is going to kill me". I also thought then, based on previous years survey results for my schools, that I would have heard from all of them starting around 1/15 and all of them for sure by say 1/26. This last week has been killer. I feel like I'm in actual purgatory. I don't know what is happening with my life. I just want to know. Every second of every day I'm like "this could be the moment" but hanging on the edge like this for weeks is terrible on my nerves, my job performance, my relationships, my sleeping and eating habits, just all around terrible. Add to the waiting the anxiety that they might all be rejections that I'm waiting for and I just feel crushed and unable to put myself together. I have never felt like I have this little control of my life before ever. I'm very thankful for this forum as a place to commiserate and see others facing the same struggles. Gaahhhh, just tell me already!!!

Hello, I've applied to Northwestern University's rhetoric tracks PhD program and will be submitting my applications for Illinois-University at Chicago and Wayne State tomorrow, so the horrible wait begins soon. This is my second time around, I applied in 2015 as well but only got into a MA program. My research is on media representations and articulations of intersectionality in activist coalitions on issues of environmental racism, immigration and incarceration. 
Has anyone heard anything from Northwestern just yet? I know the wait for the other two will be quite a while.

I'd like to read it. Also, from your experience so far (if you've had the classes), is their "communication and culture" from an anthropological definition of culture or an english/theatre definition of culture? With Kraidy there, I'm guessing more anthropology? And are they just focused on news and journalism for their "Media Institutions and Systems" or is it more the mechanics? It's on my list of places, but I've settled to take 3 years for masters, so two years for PhD program research. 
 
@ajayghale The director is a professor. So far I'm having a 50% email response rate. Lisa Gitelman and JoEllen Fisherkeller do email back.

Congratz! know where you'll accept?

You're completely right. They also have the most funding opportunities, that are stable for graduate students Hard work or original ideas doesn't always equal success, because it's all about being seen and the perceived usefulness of youre research.
 
My advisor, that had the same trouble as me getting into a program out of undergraduate (she got her masters from the same place she's sending me too before she got into University of Iowa for PhD) said that if you aren't sure you'll get into a top school or at least the second tier, make sure you orientate yourself to be a great asset to a teaching school. if you can secure a diverse teaching role, it's easier to push into a tenure track, even if at a satellite campus.

You're completely right. They also have the most funding opportunities, that are stable for graduate students Hard work or original ideas doesn't always equal success, because it's all about being seen and the perceived usefulness of youre research.
 
My advisor, that had the same trouble as me getting into a program out of undergraduate (she got her masters from the same place she's sending me too before she got into University of Iowa for PhD) said that if you aren't sure you'll get into a top school or at least the second tier, make sure you orientate yourself to be a great asset to a teaching school. if you can secure a diverse teaching role, it's easier to push into a tenure track, even if at a satellite campus.

You're completely right. They also have the most funding opportunities, that are stable for graduate students Hard work or original ideas doesn't always equal success, because it's all about being seen and the perceived usefulness of youre research.
 
My advisor, that had the same trouble as me getting into a program out of undergraduate (she got her masters from the same place she's sending me too before she got into University of Iowa for PhD) said that if you aren't sure you'll get into a top school or at least the second tier, make sure you orientate yourself to be a great asset to a teaching school. if you can secure a diverse teaching role, it's easier to push into a tenure track, even if at a satellite campus.

Here's the ranking system my professor in Media Studies advises us to use. In the greater communication field, before are a few of prestigious journals:
 
Human Communication Research
Journal of Communication
Communication Theory
 
But, just because the journal is currently highly ranked doesn't mean much if it's not in your interests. The best bet is to find a researcher you like, find their CV and see where they're publishing and who they are quoting are published in. Ranking is only in retrospect and is all based on who cited who and how often. Check out google scholar too.
 
What's your interest? And where are you coming from? If you're from China or Taiwan, a lot of the research I look at comes from there and has just been republished in English in journals like Computers and Education, so there may not be as big of a difference as you think!

I looked into MIT, but their HASTS program. Aren't their PhDs time there notoriously long? HASTS was 8 years! With no MA! Idk if I could risk that, even for MIT

I looked into MIT, but their HASTS program. Aren't their PhDs time there notoriously long? HASTS was 8 years! With no MA! Idk if I could risk that, even for MIT

You're right about the interdisciplinary focus being less common in academia. i want to pursue interdisciplinary work, so I applied to two departments that developed their programs for it. Still though, on my visits, the grad students said even those sort of places, with being able to take many classes in other departments and there being low department requirements (course count wise) it's still hard to stick with interdisciplinary stuff just because professors get stuck in the literature of their field and have a hard time adapting. It kinda makes sense. I feel like its the ideal of academic, but hard to push through the jargon and habit boundaries in the fields. 

I spoke to the Purdue Communication dept last Monday and they said there would be another round of acceptances sent out this week.
 
For the people who already got a PhD offer, did your application status on the online application change from anything other than "Submitted". Some programs are different.