NEWS INDEX Archives 2006 January

U. of I. College of Communications opens doors to sophomores

Susan McKenna, College of Communications
217-333-8874; mckenna1@uiuc.edu

1/18/06

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Students no longer need to wait until their junior year to apply for admission to the College of Communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Starting today (Jan. 18), the college will accept applications from any current U. of I. student who will be at least a sophomore by the start of the fall semester.

The move is a first step in the college’s plan to offer four-year undergraduate programs in advertising, journalism and media studies. The college’s undergraduate programs previously admitted juniors and seniors.

Earlier admission, reflective of current trends, is designed to increase students’ opportunities for career-enhancing summer internships and involvement with campus media, said Ron Yates, the dean of the College of Communications.

“This is a significant change for the college,” Yates said. “It will allow us to get to know our students better – to better prepare them for critical internships, their first jobs and for more advanced study. It will also provide us with opportunities to recruit the best students while they are still in high school – something that is difficult to do with two-year programs.”

Current freshmen at the university who want to take advantage of the new admissions policy are encouraged to submit their applications between Jan. 18 and March 10 for fall admittance. Students who will be juniors at the university and off-campus transfer students also can apply during the same period.

Students who will have earned 30 to 59 credit hours by the start of the fall 2006 term will be admitted into a general curriculum within the college and will apply for a specific major in the semester in which they earn their 60th hour.

Students who already will have 60 to 90 hours by the start of fall 2006 will be eligible to apply for admission directly into one of the college’s specific majors: advertising, broadcast journalism, news-editorial journalism or media studies.

The college plans to move to a four-year program, admitting incoming university freshmen for the first time, in the fall of 2008.

The College also continues to offer graduate programs in advertising, journalism and communications.

For more information, contact the Student Services Center in the College of Communications at 217-244-4329, or e-mail ccomm@uiuc.edu.