Apply to the Communication or JPIC major

The Department of Communication offers the following programs of study for undergraduates:
The Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Communication (COM)
The Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Communication: Journalism and Public Interest Communication (JPIC)

HOW TO APPLY

Admission Cycle	Admission Quarter	Application Open	Application Closed	Decision By	Eligibility
Autumn 2025	Winter 2026	January 24th, 2025, 8:00 AM	October 1st, 2025, 5:00 PM	October 24th, 2025, 5:00 PM	UW Seattle matriculated students only
Winter 2026	Spring 2026	January 5th, 2026, 8:00 AM	January 12th, 2026, 5:00 PM	February 6th, 2026, 5:00 PM	UW Seattle matriculated students only
Spring 2026	Autumn 2026	March 30th, 2026, 8:00 AM	April 6th, 2026, 5:00 PM	May 1st, 2026, 5:00 PM	UW Seattle matriculated students and direct-to-major transfer applicants
Autumn 2026	Winter 2027	September 30th, 2026, 8:00 AM	October 7th, 2026, 5:00 PM	October 30th, 2026, 5:00 PM	UW Seattle matriculated students only

Applications for the Communication (COM) and Journalism and Public Interest Communication (JPIC) majors are online and available the first week of autumn, winter, and spring quarters for admission the following quarter. Students may apply to only one of the two programs at a time.

Once their application has been submitted, applicants will receive a copy of their application via the email they used as a confirmation of submission. If no copy has been received, it may either be in another mailbox, such as Spam or Junk, or it may indicate that the application has not been fully submitted. Applications may be edited after they are submitted up until the deadline. No late submissions will be accepted.

Students will be notified by the end of the fourth week of the quarter for the autumn quarter cycle and the end of the fifth week of the quarter for the winter and spring quarter cycles with their admissions decision.

Apply to COM

Apply to JPIC

Both the Communication (COM) and Journalism and Public Interest Communication (JPIC) majors are capacity-constrained. Students must complete all minimum requirements to apply and must then compete with the entire applicant pool for a limited number of spaces. This includes completing the application form by the noted deadline. We recommend that all applicants meet with their general adviser before applying to figure out other major options as well.

To be eligible to apply to the COM or JPIC major, students must meet the following prerequisite criteria, including minimum grades and the successful completion of prerequisite coursework. All criteria met guarantees eligibility, NOT admission.

Minimum prerequisite grades, COM GPA, and cumulative GPA of 2.5. Eligible courses to count towards COM and cumulative GPAs include all UW, transfer, AP, and IB courses. These do not include CR/NC or S/NS courses.
For COM applicants: COM 200 and another COM 200-level course must be completed prior to applying. Courses cannot be in-progress during the quarter of application.
For JPIC applicants: COM 200 must be completed prior to applying. Course cannot be in-progress during the quarter of application.
All applicants must be current students at the University of Washington (autumn and winter admission cycles). For more information about admission to the UW as a first-year student or transfer student, click here.

The COM and JPIC applications include:

Basic Information. This includes name, address, email, student number, COM courses taken, and grades. Please note: all applications must be submitted using UW emails. Applications will not be considered if the email used in the application is a personal email address.
Transcripts. Unofficial transcripts from all institutions attended, including UW, are required to be uploaded via the Google Form as part of the application.
Program Interests. If you are interested in the Departmental Honors Program, student organizations, minors, and/or additional majors, please indicate so when applying so that we can help you plan out your time at the UW.
Personal Statement. Why do you want to study Communication and what would you like to learn as a major that would affect your personal, professional, or community life? Please cite specific examples from the communication courses you’ve already taken. If you have applied previously, please share what has improved since your last application. All personal statements may have up to 2,500 characters (including spaces) total. Please answer the following to write your statement:
1. Why are you interested in Communication as a major?
2. What do you hope to learn in this major and how will it further your personal and/or professional goals?
3. What experiences have prepared you for a Communication major/career?
4. How would you apply what you have learned in your Communication courses to your career and goals?
Writing Sample. Communication: Journalism and Public Interest Communication applicants only. Applicants are to provide any previously published work, creative writing, or previous essays exemplify their writing capabilities.
Additional Comments. If you would like to further explain any parts of your application, please use this section.

The UW Department of Communication Admissions Committee assesses applications to its major holistically. We’re looking for students who contribute to the Department in important ways, and who would benefit from the opportunities we have available. We encourage you to use the application to share how the major is important to you. The Department bases its considerations on the full application, but the following categories are the primary means through which we evaluate your potential:

Cumulative GPA as well as prerequisite and course-specific grades, with emphasis on grades received in COM 200 and any 200-level COM courses.
A personal statement response to the application prompt and is assessed on three criteria on a scale of 1-5, with one being the lowest and 5 being the highest:
- Relevance: Does the student answer the prompt by citing ways in which the major would affect their life and vice versa?
- Originality: Is the response thoughtful?
- Depth: Does the student support the position with information, details, reasons, or examples?
A strong writing sample that shows the student’s writing capabilities. (Communication: Journalism and Public Interest applications only)

Transfer students may apply to the University of Washington Seattle campus and the COM or JPIC major simultaneously during spring quarter admission cycles only for autumn quarter admission.

Students will be required to complete and submit their UW admissions application and a separate major application to either COM or JPIC. Students applying during autumn or winter quarter admission cycles for the following quarter’s admission to UW will be eligible to apply to the COM and JPIC majors once they have started their first quarter at the UW. All prerequisites and admission eligibility criteria to COM and JPIC must be completed at the time of application.

Admission to COM and JPIC are contingent upon admission to the UW. Submission deadlines for UW and the COM and JPIC majors may differ. Please refer to the UW Admissions page for more information. In your UW application essay, we recommend that you speak to your interests and goals while studying COM or JPIC. The strongest applicants to the UW are not those who show only evidence of previous academic rigor, but those who also show interest in fields of study at the UW and intent with what they wish to do with those studies.

Department of Communication advisers do not evaluate transcripts to determine how courses may transfer to the UW. Transcripts are evaluated officially by the UW Office of Admissions only when a student applies to the university. If you are transferring from a Washington area community college, you can determine the way your classes transfer to UW by using the Admission Office’s Transfer Equivalency Guide.

After submitting your enrollment deposit to the university, admitted transfer students will attend the required Transfer Advising & Orientation hosted by UW First Year Programs. This is a chance for you to meet with a COM adviser and create a plan to successfully complete your course requirements. If you have questions about transfer student admission to the COM or JPIC majors, please visit our academic advising page.

The Department of Communication considers appeals for only:

a) new information that was not available at the time of the original application, or
b) correction of material error in the original application.

Appeals are extremely selective and should address one or both of these criteria to be considered. To appeal an admissions decision, email a statement of no more than 200 words that outlines one of the above reasons. Appeals should be received no more than one week after the initial decisions are delivered (Friday before 5 p.m. PDT) and you will receive a response within 10 days. These statements are reviewed by academic advising and the Department chair (or her appointee), who make a final decision. Please be specific and succinct in addressing why the admissions decision should be reversed.

Appeals can be emailed to Communication Advising at comadv@uw.edu.