Scouting out PhD Communication Programs

[MattHakor]

Hey everyone,

My name is Matt and I'm looking into PhD programs in Communications. I'm wrapping up my MA in Communication as I type this and am starting to scout out schools. What suggestions do you have for me as I prepare for my future?

[Duna]

Since you are already getting an MA in Communication you will most likely know where your research interests lie...

"Look for programs that really fit your research interests" is the most important thing almost everyone here will tell you I guess!

Look for programs that have a few (more than one) professor you would like to work with and start reading their work so that you can be sure you're all on the same page. Finish with a decent GPA and get some good GRE scores and you're good to get started on writing SOPs and such. Of course how well you want to be your scores and GPA depends on how eager you are to get into a top program. Great GRE and GPA definitely make that easier...

From my personal experience (wow, isn't it awesome that we can say that now?

) GRE is definitely less important than fit. It might be a little different for me because I grew up in Germany and English is not my first language but I still applied as an American and my GRE scores weren't great at all.

Pretty much the same suggestions as in every similar thread

I think by reading through some old topics here you will get a pretty good idea of how people prepared, which questions they asked schools and which criteria mattered not only for their final decision but also for scouting out where to apply.

[MattHakor]

Oh yes, I find that I'm very interested in the qualitative (specifically along the lines of exploring symbolism and there relationship therein with society) of the Communications field. I wrote my Master's thesis on "Vigilante Justice in Dexter" and explored how that particular television show displays patterns which aid in explaining the symbolic vigilante as related to popular depictions of said archetype in the USA. I find the relationship between society and media very fasinating as something to study.

I'll definitely have to take a look at the various threads to get a feel for what people are saying about the process. Thanks!

[fanon_fanatic]

Based on your interests, I'd suggest looking into Media Studies programs in conjunction with Communication. Many are related (such as UT-Austin's Radio-Television-Film), but it will help you when researching programs to find the ones that fit best to use that terminology. Also, check out any American Studies programs that have strengths in television and media studies.

[drapeblind]

It should be clear to all applicants interested in 'media studies' that it's a small and somewhat internally-contentious subfield that used to be theory and history centered and is now moving toward an Anthropological-English approach. Further, though media studies is usually based in some elements of film analysis, not every film program has media scholars or is willing to support media-centered students. There are roughly 10-11 'major' programs which produce one to four Ph.D. graduates per year, which means programs don't take many incoming students. In a completely unscientific ranking, these are the most established programs for media studies: (Tier 1) USC, NYU, Texas, UCLA, Penn; (Tier 2) Northwestern, Santa Barbara, Michigan, Illinois, Madison, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota. There are also many excellent programs that are either English-based, American Studies-based, new and still building, slightly outside the mainstream, or have lost faculty in recent years. Each of these programs are worth examining but are perhaps without as long or consistent of a track record for matriculating Ph.D. students into the 'media studies' subfield: Brown, Irvine, Penn St., Toronto, Pittsburgh, CUNY, Washington (Seattle), Georgia, Georgia State, Arizona State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Again these are all excellent programs worth attending but not quite as situated in the 'power center' of that subfield. This is not an evaluation of the quality of each department's scholarship, and indeed programs like Brown, Pittsburgh, and CUNY probably have more success placing students at interdisciplinary positions than 'media studies' centered programs. Some programs have simply been around longer and hold an established track record for training graduate students.

It's also worth noting that 'media studies' isn't always housed in Communication departments, though it often is. Some schools have specific Film and Media departments, others have large sprawling English departments with media as a concentration.