Frequently Asked Questions

Typically, five to nine students join our program each year. Annual enrollment in the program usually totals about 30 students.

The Ph.D. program is focused on five substantive areas of study:

• Media processes and production
• Legal and regulatory issues in communication
• Media uses and effects
• Health communication
• Political, social and strategic communication

Visit our curriculum page to read about these research areas.

Our Ph.D. program can be completed in as little as three years, and many students choose this path. With four years of guaranteed funding, others elect to stay longer to compete more effectively for research-intensive positions at Research 1 universities or to pursue more ambitious dissertations.

With approval from the student’s adviser, program director and associate dean, a student may transfer in up to three hours of relevant graduate course credit.

Tuition and fee totals are listed on our page about program costs and funding.

If you indicate in your online application that you claim North Carolina residency for tuition purposes, you will be prompted to complete a residency determination form online. Guidelines for residency consideration are available from the North Carolina Residency Determination Service.

We strive to make our program as affordable as possible for all of our students through generous fellowship packages provided by UNC Hussman and The Graduate School. Details are available on our page about program costs and funding.

We offer online info sessions every fall for prospective students. Our graduate program staff and Ph.D. program director are available to answer your questions and connect you with more resources. Complete the form on our program home page, or contact the Office of Graduate Studies at mjgrad@unc.edu or (919) 843-8307 to be added to our program email list or ask a question.

Typically, about 10 students or fewer are offered admission with funding each year. A small number of additional students might be admitted pending funding availability.

Our application deadline to start the program in fall 2025 is Tuesday December 10, 2024. More information on the application timeline is available on our admissions page.

The following materials are required with your online application:

• Unofficial undergraduate and master’s or J.D. transcripts
• Statement of purpose
• Letters of recommendation, submitted by recommenders
• Resume/CV
• Writing sample(s)
• Application fee

GRE scores are not required. You may elect to submit GRE scores if you feel the scores will benefit your application.

The $95 application processing fee is due by the application deadline and can be paid online with your application via credit/debit card (Visa, MasterCard or Discover). You may also send a check drawn on a U.S. bank in U.S. dollars, payable to UNC-Chapel Hill to:

The Graduate School – Admissions
Campus Box #4010, 200 Bynum Hall
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC, 27599

Please visit The Graduate School’s website to determine whether you are eligible for an application fee waiver and for instructions on how to request an application fee waiver.

Minimum criteria include:

• A recognized undergraduate degree
• A recognized master’s degree or J.D.
• Undergraduate and graduate GPAs of “B” or better (3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale)

For more information, please visit our admissions page.

Applicants below these standards will need to demonstrate substantial compensatory qualifications to be considered. Meeting the above criteria is not a guarantee of admission.

International students who have not graduated from a degree program in which English is the sole language of instruction must take the TOEFL (including the iBT Home Edition) or IELTS exam and achieve the following scores:

• Internet TOEFL exam: 105 or higher
• Computer TOEFL exam: 260 or higher
• Paper-based TOEFL exam: 620 or higher
• IELTS exam: 7.5 or higher

The Graduate School’s application instructions outline the specific conditions under which this requirement is waived.

No. All application materials, including letters of recommendation, should be submitted electronically through The Graduate School’s online application system. Applicants will be prompted to provide the names and contact information for a minimum of three people who will write letters of recommendation. Each recommender will receive an email with instructions on how to upload the letter of recommendation into the online system.

Yes, you may have more than three letters sent on your behalf.

The statement of purpose should describe your background, career goals and areas of research interest, and how they fit with those of the program and specific faculty. It should be double-spaced and no more than four pages long.

Upload a writing sample in the Supplemental Document(s) – Required section of the Program Supplement page of the online application. You should submit an academic paper or a chapter from your master’s thesis.

One unofficial transcript from each university attended must be uploaded into the application by the application deadline. We only accept unofficial transcripts for application evaluation. Please do not mail transcripts. If you are offered admission, you will be requested to obtain one official transcript for each university attended and given instructions on how to submit those official transcripts.

No. You are welcome to contact faculty members whose research interests align with yours to learn more about their work, but you should not seek their agreement to serve as your adviser. We assign each incoming student an initial adviser. The student then typically identifies a permanent adviser in the first year of the program.