U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents
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.
Apply Online
Do you have everything on 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.
- 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.
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 single-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 copies of unofficial transcripts from all of the schools 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.
- 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.