For Prospective Students

Yes. Elon is one of only 18 private colleges and universities in the nation with an accredited communications school. The school hosted its six-year reaccreditation review in 2011-12, and the site team representing the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) found the school in compliance on all standards. The site team wrote, “The growth of the school — in quality and quantity — is nothing short of spectacular.” The team listed these strengths: positive educational environment built upon mutual faculty-student respect and high expectations; exemplary culture of collegiality and esprit de corps; talented faculty members dedicated to preparing students; impressive and enthusiastic students who are proud of the education they receive; and strong and caring academic advising by faculty, complemented by impressive internship and career services programs.

Each year, Elon is highly ranked in the college edition of U.S. News & World Report, the National Survey of Student Engagement, and other comparative measures. Communications schools are not separately ranked. Media professionals and visiting deans call us one of the premier communications schools in America. But don’t take their word. We encourage you to visit our campus, talk with a professor and students, and sit in on classes if you wish.

Students are admitted to Elon University, not to the School of Communications. Once at Elon, students can select whatever major they desire; schools do not have their own entrance requirements. Also, what you designate as your intended major when applying to Elon has no bearing on whether you are admitted. The most important factors in the admissions decision are the academic record (courses taken, grades attained, class standing), SAT or ACT scores, the student’s personal statement, extracurricular activities and involvements, and the student’s potential to contribute positively to our campus environment.

The school offers six majors: Journalism, Strategic Communications, Cinema & Television Arts, Communication Design, Media Analytics and Sport Management.

Absolutely. We believe students should enjoy their chosen major from the start. Many students take the opening course in their department in the first or second semester at Elon: COM 1000 Communications in a Global Age or SPT 2120 Contemporary Sport Management. New students also participate in the voluntary FreshTV program in the fall term or get involved in student media.

Scholarships for entering students are granted at the university level. The only first-year scholarships awarded by the School of Communications are reserved for Communications Fellows.

Elon has 4-credit-hour courses, which means you’ll typically take four courses a semester instead of the five 3-hour courses that most universities offer. That extra hour a week is designed to take each course deeper and to enhance the engaged learning. Courses typically meet MWF or TTh. Your first semester will probably include a couple of First-Year Foundations courses such as Writing: Argument and Inquiry, General Statistics, and The Global Experience. Other courses will be from areas such as public speaking (required of all Communications and Sport Management majors), science, history, philosophy, fine arts and foreign language, plus the one-hour-a-week Elon 1010.

Easily. If you take 16 credit hours in the fall and again in the spring, with 4 credit hours in Winter Term, that’s 36 hours a year. Multiply that by four years and it’s 144 credit hours, and this calculation does not include summer school or Advanced Placement credits. You need a minimum of 132 credit hours to graduate. Some Elon students graduate in less than four years, but many students take advantage of this flexibility by pursuing double majors or a semester abroad. In the School of Communications, our students may accept a leadership role in student media or pursue a semester-long internship. Four years to graduation is the norm.

No. To encourage students to develop a second area of academic depth, Communications waives eight hours of COM electives for any student completing a double major outside of Communications (COM). For example, a student double majoring in journalism and history would need a total of 44 COM hours instead of the normal 52 hours.

The teacher of your Elon 1010 class serves as your adviser during the first year. After that, students who declare a major in the School of Communications are assigned a faculty member in their area who serves as their adviser for the rest of their academic time at Elon. You meet individually with your faculty adviser at least once each semester.

The registrar’s office designates which courses taken elsewhere will count toward an Elon graduation. Coursework in the arts and sciences such as math, English, history and the sciences normally transfer.

The school has four class sizes: 33, 25, 18 and 15. Conceptual courses are the largest, lab courses are capped at 18, and capstone courses have a maximum enrollment of 15. We average about 20 students in the typical communications class.

To promote academic depth, all students must complete a minor or double major outside of their department or complete a semester abroad (totaling 12 credit hours or more) in an Elon-approved program.

The School of Communications is a Mac environment. Students can bring any personal computer they would like, but our computer labs and edit suites will have Macs. If you are interested in a Mac, please visit the Elon University Apple Store.

The magic words, we believe, are your opening words: “I’m curious.” To succeed in a career, you first need curiosity about the world you live in. Do you ask lots of questions? Do you probe under the surface? If so, then that curiosity needs to grow into knowledge so that what you communicate will have depth, context and accuracy. Being a good writer is important because clear and logical writing reflects a clear and logical mind. Of course, hard work is necessary, with a generous dose of creativity. Finally, you need a strong sense of who you are and what values you hold, so that when you face temptation to do wrong, you will have the courage to do right. These are six ingredients for succeeding: curiosity, knowledge, writing, hard work, creativity, values.

Volunteer to work at the student news organization (Elon News Network), the student radio station (WSOE-FM 98.3), the student entertainment television group (ESTV), and the student yearbook (Phi Psi Cli). Or get involved in our student agency (Live Oak Communications), the student cinema group (Cinelon), or the student SPT organization (Sport Management Society). We highly recommend investing your time in student media and rising to leadership positions.

The School of Communications has a full-time internship director who guides COM students toward quality work experiences that will lead to professional references, networking opportunities and an excellent portfolio. In the Sport & Event Management department, faculty direct student internships. The school also has a full-time career services director who is a resource for students. In addition, the school has a corporate and employer relations staff member to connect employees with students.