Admissions»Graduate Applicants

Communication (PhD) Fall 2025

When is the application deadline?

The application deadline for the PhD in Communication is December 1, 2024.  New students are admitted to the fall term only.  Late applications will not be accepted.

Should I submit a résumé or curriculum vitae?

Submit a current résumé. However, if you have presented at conferences and published papers and/or articles, a CV is expected.

What is the personal statement and what must be included?

The personal statement is an expression of three areas: (1) research experience, (2) professional background and (3) conceptual questions and phenomena of interest to you. In addition to addressing these three areas, your statement must include a detailed explanation of why you would like to work with the USC Annenberg faculty members that you identify in your application as possible mentors and/or committee members. Limit this statement to five pages. 

What type of writing sample is required?

Select a 10-page representative sample from an essay, article, or book chapter that you solely wrote that demonstrates a research area of interest that you wish to pursue in the doctoral program. This sample must be entirely your own writing and not co-authored. Please describe why you wrote the piece and where it was submitted.

What is the questionnaire?

This required questionnaire is designed to identify your interests in doctoral program faculty, research and courses.

How many letters of recommendation are needed and from whom?

Three faculty recommendations are required. However, if you have substantial work experience, you may provide one professional reference (a direct manager or supervisor only) in place of one faculty recommendation.

What admission test scores are required?

All international student applicants are expected to demonstrate adequate English-language proficiency. To learn more about how to satisfy this requirement, click here.

Contacting Faculty

While prospective students and applicants are welcome to reach out to individual faculty members, applications to the Annenberg PhD program are reviewed holistically by a faculty admission committee. Accepted students are offered placement in the program as a whole, rather than in any individual faculty member’s lab or under their advisement. This means that applicants may apply to the PhD degree program without seeking agreement to work with or be supervised by any faculty member.

The application will ask you to list several faculty members with whom you may be interested in working. Please note that applicants with a broad interest in various faculty best demonstrate potential fit with the PhD degree program as a whole.  

Provost Fellowship

The Provost Fellowship is designed to support PhD students who will enrich the academic and the broader workforce with a commitment to diversity and inclusion. We will offer up to two (2) of these awards to incoming students each year.

To be considered for this fellowship, please write a 600-word essay that addresses the following questions and upload it to your application for admission.

  1. Describe your sustained personal engagement with communities that are underrepresented in academia. 
  2. Describe how your personal experiences have informed and will inform your teaching and scholarship.

 

Application Requirements

The online USC Graduate Admission Application opens August 1, 2024. Go to https://usc.liaisoncas.com to access the application.

Assemble the following documents and program materials which must be uploaded to your application:

  • CV or Résumé
  • Personal Statement
  • Writing Sample
  • Copy of Official Transcript(s)

All program materials must be in English and uploaded to the online application. Note: Once your application has been submitted, you may not edit or change any document or program material. Also, all submitted documents and program materials become the property of USC and will not be returned.

Official Transcripts

Copies of official transcripts (with registrar’s signature, stamp, or seal) from all colleges and universities attended (including USC) must be uploaded to your application in the Academic History section. If you do not possess copies of your official transcripts, request to have official transcripts with legend or grading scale emailed to you from your previous colleges/universities. 

After submitting your online application, request to have e-transcripts sent from your degree conferring institutions to USC Graduate Admission at etrans@usc.edu.

Note:

  • International transcripts must include the original language and the English translation as one document.
  • Transcripts from your institution’s student portal are not acceptable. 

Recommendations

Create online profiles in the Program Materials section of the application by providing the names and email addresses of your recommenders. Instructions and forms will be emailed to your recommenders. Only recommendations submitted through the online process are accepted. 

Graduate Admission Testing

GRE scores are not required for admission to fall 2025. 

TOEFL, IELTS or PTE scores are required from international student applicants unless waived; see below for the exception. English-proficiency scores must be dated within 2 years (24 months) of the date you submit your graduate application. To be considered official, USC must receive scores electronically from the testing service. Photocopies or paper copies of scores are unacceptable. 

  • For TOEFL, request to have your scores sent to USC institution code 4852. 
  • For IELTS or PTE, select “University of Southern California” from the list of available institutions when you register for the test. Alternatively, provide this information to your testing center after you have taken the test. 

Exception:

  • If you completed your entire bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in the United States or another Anglophone country where English is both the language of instruction and the only official language of the country, English proficiency scores are waived.

Application Fee

Pay the $90 non-refundable application fee with a credit card or request an application fee waiver prior to submitting an application. 

Fee Waiver

Review the fee waiver requirements at USC Graduate Admission website: https://gradadm.usc.edu/tools-resources/fee-waivers/. Applicants seeking a fee waiver must start the online application and then wait for the fee waiver approval before submitting the application.