Undergraduate Degree Programs

The Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication provides analytic work from both humanistic and social-scientific perspectives, and practical work to improve communication performance in various kinds of situations. To become a major, students must first complete the requirements for the Pre-Communication major, then apply and be accepted as a Communication major, and then complete the requirements for the Communication major. Students who wish to major in Communication should meet with a department advisor as soon as possible. For additional information, please consult the catalog, a department advisor, or the associate chair of undergraduate studies in the department.

A. Pre-Communication (PRCM) Major

Students admitted to CU-Boulder beginning in summer 2003 who intend to pursue a COMM major must enroll as PRCM majors, and must complete each of the following courses with a grade of C- or higher with an overall GPA of 2.0 across the three courses, before applying to the COMM major (Students admitted prior to that time should consult the appropriate catalog that applies to them):
  • COMM 1210 Perspectives on Human Communication (satisfies Core requirement for Contemporary Societies)
  • COMM 1300 Public Speaking
  • COMM 1600 Group Interaction
Although space in these courses cannot be guaranteed, PRCM majors will have priority registration for these courses. Students who complete these courses with the minimum grade of C- or higher in each course may apply for admission to the COMM major through the following procedures but are not guaranteed admission. With some exceptions for transfer students, students must apply in or before the semester in which they will have completed 60 credit hours. The application is available and must be completed online. Applications include a completed form and a 500-word essay. Applications must be received by the end of the third week of classes in the fall and spring semesters. A faculty committee chaired by the associate chair of undergraduate studies in the department will review applications and make decisions. Applications will be ranked according to the following criteria: GPA in the three PRCM required courses, cumulative GPA, and quality of the application essay. If any of the PRCM required courses are repeated, including via the university’s course forgiveness policy, only the grade from the first repeat will be used for the purposes of calculating the GPA in those courses; that grade will be averaged with the original course grade received. The grade from the first repeat for any of the three PRCM required courses will be used in the case of course forgiveness to calculate cumulative GPA. Students will be notified of the decision about their application as soon as possible in the semester in which they apply. Students denied admission may appeal in writing to the associate chair of undergraduate studies in the department. Only appeals based on procedural or clerical error will be considered. Students may not appeal based on their disagreement with the decision. Students who have been denied admission may reapply once up until they achieve 60 credits. Once a student who has applied and been denied admission achieves 60 credits, the student is no longer eligible to reapply.

B. Communication (COMM Major)

On admittance to the major, students must complete a minimum of 33 hours of course work in communication (24 hours above and beyond COMM 1210, 1300, and 1600), 18 of which must be upper division (3000 level or higher). Only courses with grades of C- or better count toward the major, and the overall GPA must be a 2.00 (C- is 1.70). Required Courses (Not counting 1210, 1300, and 1600 completed for the PRCM) 
  • COMM 3210 Human Communication Theory
  • COMM 3300 Rhetorical Foundations of Communication
  • One Senior Seminar: COMM 4300, 4400, 4510, or 4600?
Two of the following:
  • COMM 2360 Campaigns and Revolutions
  • COMM 2400 Communication and Society (satisfies Core requirement for Contemporary Societies)
  • COMM 2500 Interpersonal Communication
  • COMM 2600 Organizational Communication
Three additional upper division electives (3000- or 4000-level courses): 4000-level courses may be taken twice (only twice) with different topics. Up top 8 credit hours of independent study and 6 hours of internships may be taken. These are upper division elective hours but do not count toward major requirements. Eligible students interested in graduating with departmental honors should contact the department’s honors coordinator as soon as possible. The department encourages its majors to take related courses in: business; English, ethnic studies; journalism and mass communication; linguistics; philosophy; political science; sociology; speech, language, and hearing sciences; and theatre and dance.