The Master of Arts in Communication provides broad exposure to the field of communication, while at the same time allowing students to emphasize either interpersonal interaction/cultural practices communication, political communication, or organizational communication. Students are expected to concentrate in one of those areas and to organize their studies toward the final requirement of a thesis or the final requirement of a practicum/seminar. An orientation toward the completion of a thesis leads most naturally toward doctoral studies, while an orientation toward a practicum/seminar leads most naturally to the application of communication theory in business or government.

Interpersonal communication involves the processes and effects of communication in personal relationships and between persons in groups and organizations. Political communication involves the methods of stating and defending policy, solving problems, assessing and responding to public opinion, and decision making that are essential in political organizations. Organizational communication involves processes of coordination within organizations and interactions between organizations and their social and economic environments. Communication research methods involve procedures for obtaining and analyzing data about conditions preceding communicative events, the impact of communicative events on beliefs, attitudes, and behavior, and the structure of communication interactions.

Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the perspectives, research methodologies, historical development and values of the field of communication, and their understanding of the communication discipline’s relationship to other academic disciplines.
Students will be able to analyze and synthesize theory and research related to one or more of the fields of study represented within the Department’s M.A. program.
Professionally oriented students will be able to apply knowledge of theory and research within their field of study to understanding and explaining communication phenomena experienced within practical contexts and proposing courses of action designed to achieve relevant communication-related goals.
Students with the goal of pursuing further graduate study will be able to apply their knowledge of theory and research to the generation of appropriate research questions, and to the collection and analysis of data designed to answer research questions related to their field of study.

Admissions Requirements

Deadlines

• Fall: July 15
• Spring: November 1
• Summer: Not Available

There is no departmental assistantship consideration for this program.

Applications received after those dates may be reviewed if there is space for new students.

Required Application Materials

• Transcripts from all schools attended
• Three letters of recommendation
• Statement of Goals
• Writing Sample

Available information for International Applicants.

Letters of Recommendation

Letters should come from university faculty with whom you studied, preferably more senior, permanent faculty. Letters from employers or work associates do not provide information about your ability as a student. If you have been out of touch with faculty with whom you studied and cannot supply letters from academic sources, you should contact the Communication department’s Director of Graduate Studies for advice.

Personal Statement

Your personal statement should inform the Admissions Committee about what you hope to gain from studying Communication at the graduate level. In particular, your statement should be informative about:

• How you expect graduate studies in Communication to be relevant to and supportive of your plans and goals after your receive your degree
• What you hope to learn as a graduate student and how that will benefit you
• What it is about the UAlbany program in particular that led you to apply here

Writing Sample

Your writing sample should demonstrate your ability to analyze and reason about the claims and thinking presented in others’ texts, and to write arguments supporting your claims. Papers that summarize or evaluate or dispute others’ work but do not analyze it, are less helpful to the admissions committee in discerning your ability to do the kind of writing required in our classes. Press releases or other professional writing, or creative writing, generally do not reveal abilities relevant to the kind of writing you would be asked to do in our classes.

You can submit a sample of writing you did in the past that presents an analysis and argument about materials you read. This may have been written to fulfill a class assignment or a work-related report or recommendation. If you have a writing sample of this kind, please include it with your application, adding an explanation of the assignment or task you were fulfilling.

OR

You can write a new essay to submit with your application in response to the following assignment: In an essay of 700-1,000 words, provide reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the argument that David Bohm is making about communication in his short essay "On Communication".

Note: In submitting your writing sample, you are guaranteeing that it is entirely your own work, both in regard to the content and the actual writing. If you are admitted to the program, and it is later found that your writing sample was not original work created solely by you, that would be grounds for dismissal from the program.

GRE Scores

Applicants to the MA program do not need to submit GRE scores.

TOEFL/IELTS Scores

All international applicants must submit TOEFL or IEFLTS scores except for those who have earned BA or MA degrees in English-speaking countries. In general, the minimum TOEFL score required for admission to our graduate program is 580 (paper-based total), 237 (computer-based total) or 93 (internet-based total). The minimum IELTS score is 7.0.

Tuition-$56,000 for 2 years