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Apply International

International Students

Pitt’s Doctoral Program in Communication evaluates applications holistically.  We are interested in learning about not only your academic performance to date, but also your potential for contributing to research and the context for your commitment to the research you see yourself pursuing here as a student.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete and submitted in accordance with admission guidelines.

Apply Online

Do you have everything in the application checklist? Apply online now.

Application Checklist

1. Application forms: The University of Pittsburgh and the Department of Communication now accept online applications only. If you need help please contact our Graduate Administrator, Ian Bennett, at iab5@pitt.edu or our general department email at comm@pitt.edu.

2. Recommendation forms: Complete online in the applicant section; add the email addresses for your recommenders and they will receive an email to upload their recommendation. Your recommendation writers should be your college or university instructors who know your work well enough to evaluate it and to assess your capacity for graduate study in our department.

3. Fee: $75.00 payable via the online application. This fee is not refundable. Applications will not be processed without the paid fee. (If your zip code isn't five digits you will need to put 00000 as your zip code for payment.)

  • For those seeking an application fee waiver: In an effort to reduce financial barriers to attending graduate school, the Kenneth P. Dietrich Graduate School of Arts and Sciences offers application fee waivers. Please note that fee waivers are approved on a case-by-case basis and not all fee waiver requests will be granted.  All requests received will be reviewed and responded to within 48 hours during normal business hours: Monday - Friday 8:30a.m. to 5:00p.m. EST.  To be considered for a fee waiver, please complete the following fee waiver survey for review: https://pitt.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cD38CmmjcOT3Tvw.

    • The Application Fee Waiver Request Form will be unavailable starting the morning of Friday, December 20, during the winter recess. The form will reopen on Wednesday, January 1, and responses will be processed in the order they are received starting Thursday, January 2.

4. Enclose a statement of purpose explaining why you want to pursue graduate work in communication and why you are applying to our program. The statement should not exceed two double-spaced typewritten pages.

In your statement, be sure to let us know how you see yourself advancing the department’s mission and vision, in terms of your experiences both in and out of school.  Specifically, you might:

  • discuss your strengths in identifying research problems that interest you and operationalizing approaches to studying them;
  • articulate the stakes of such problems;
  • point to the scholarly and/or public audiences that you aim to address or serve in grappling with those problems;
  • suggest the methodologies you now can employ or would like to learn about in order to help you in your research;
  • and identify potential faculty members or other resources in our department or elsewhere at Pitt that you wish to take advantage of in order to advance your research.

5. Enclose a sample of your written work, which you believe represents your best effort. The ideal sample would be an article-length research humanities-oriented paper with proper documentation, sophisticated and nuanced argumentation, a broad base of evidence, and a deft summoning of scholarship from across humanities disciplines.

6. Collect and return the following materials.

  • If you do not have a baccalaureate or postbaccalaureate from an institution of higher learning in the United States or if your native language is not English, submit your TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Score, meeting the university minimums listed here. For TOEFL scores, instruct the Educational Testing Service to send original results directly to the University electronically. (Dept code: 4599/ School Code: 2927)
  • Unofficial transcripts from all of the school you have attended and upload them to the online application. Do not send official transcripts until you are invited to do so within our offer of admission. Only if we offer you admission into our program should you send official transcripts and certified/notarized native-language versions and English translated version of all academic records, mark sheets, and transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended. Also then you would need to submit certified copies of certificates of diplomas awarded at completion of studies. 
     
  • Note: As of October 2019, Pitt's Department of Communication dropped the requirement that all applicants submit scores from the Graduate Record Examination. Since those will no longer factor into admission decisions, please do not refer to them in your application application materials. 

Application Deadline: January 3, 2024

All completed applications, international and domestic, received by January 3rd will be evaluated, on an equal basis, for teaching assistantships and non-teaching fellowships.