Graduate Program

Bachelor's/Master's Pathway

The Bachelor’s/Master’s Pathway allows highly qualified undergraduate students to complete a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in a shorter duration to completion of both degrees, graduating sooner than in traditional programs. Once approved, students complete a portion of the required graduate coursework while classified as an undergraduate student and have it count towards both degrees. More details are available in the graduate catalog.

The Zimmerman School offers two pathway options to the M.A. in Mass Communications from the following undergraduate programs:

• B.A. in Mass Communications
• B.S. in Integrated Public Relations in Advertising & Public Relations

The Zimmerman School offers three pathway options to the M.S. in Advertising from the following undergraduate programs:

• B.A. in Mass Communications
• B.S. in Integrated Public Relations in Advertising & Public Relations
• B.S. in Business Advertising (from the Muma College of Business)

Minimum pathway requirements include the following:

• 3.33 GPA overall and a 3.50 GPA in the undergraduate major.
• Minimum of 15 hours in the undergraduate major to be completed before a student may apply for consideration. Students typically apply at the end of the junior year.
• Require a “B” (3.00) in each graduate course taken as part of the shared credits applied to both undergraduate and graduate majors. Students who receive lower than a “B” (3.00) in a graduate course may be required to re-take the course to obtain a minimum grade of “B” for it to apply to the graduate degree requirements if the overall graduate GPA is less than a 3.00 or if the major requires a “B” in that course.
• Meet admission requirements for the graduate major to progress to the graduate level.
• Students pay graduate tuition when taking graduate courses.

Contact the Director of Graduate Programs and Research for more information.