Media Studies, M.S.

Matriculation Requirements

Applicants must offer a well-rounded undergraduate record of at least a 3.00 GPA that suggests promise of success in the program. Each applicant’s record is considered individually in this respect. Applicants must submit an essay about contemporary media and society, which can be an original essay written to accompany the application, or a five- to 10-page scholarly paper that was written as an undergraduate. General matriculation and admission requirements of graduate studies are in the section “Admission.” International applicants are required to pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a score of at least 580 on the paper-based test or 237 on the computer-based test or 92 on the internet-based test, before being considered for admission.

Keep in mind: We are assessing your institutional fit—how you will benefit from our program and how and what you will contribute to our learning community. We strongly suggest that you review the descriptions of our program, curriculum, and faculty, and encourage you to use this content in your writing statements. The strongest statements of purpose will integrate the answers to the questions below into a well-written coherent personal essay (rather than treating them like a questionnaire).

Program Requirements (30 Credits)

Thirty credits are required for the degree. Other than required courses, credits required for the degree must be in courses chosen in consultation with the graduate deputy chair or program adviser. The program of study must be approved by the department. Courses in the Television, Radio & Emerging Media Department offered toward the degree must be 7000-level courses. Students must complete 30 credits, at least 24 credits of which must be taken in the Television, Radio & Emerging Media Department.

Students may choose one of two possible tracks of study in the program. The first track is the M.S. in Media Studies, and the second track is the M.S. in Media Studies, Media Literacy Concentration.

Every student shall be required to successfully complete the following six core graduate courses:

• Television, Radio & Emerging Media 7701X, 7710X, 7712X, 7713X, 7714X, and 7945.

Students in the M.S. in Media Studies, Media Literacy concentration are required to take, in addition to the six core graduate courses, the following:

• Television, Radio & Emerging Media 7716X and 7769X.

Students in both tracks are encouraged to take the following:

• Television, Radio & Emerging Media 7716X, 7772X, 7726X, and 7728X.

Students are also eligible to take as electives the following two television production courses: Television, Radio & Emerging Media 7730X and 7740G. Television, Radio & Emerging Media 7769X and 7796X will be available each semester. Students may take each of these courses only once during their program of study. Up to six credits may be taken outside the department with the approval of the graduate deputy chair or program adviser.

Students must pass a written comprehensive examination. The examination will consist of questions in areas in which the student has taken courses during his/her course of study. Information about the comprehensive examination is in the section “Academic Regulations and Procedures.”

Student Learning Outcomes

• Recognize, articulate, and practice ethical principles of mediated communication, creation, and critique.
• Demonstrate fluency in major theories, approaches and seminal thinkers within the various paradigms of media studies, through analyses of media messages, technologies, industries, and everyday practices.
• Propose, design, and execute research projects using qualitative or quantitative methodologies.
• Explain and evaluate how cultural, legal, historical, and socio‐political contexts for media content, forms, and practices intersect as mediated environments through the creation of media texts, metatexts, or interventions.
• Use professional norms for academic research to write scholarly papers in the areas of media and society in the United States and the world using methods of professional and academic research.

Admissions Requirements

• Fall Application Deadline: April 1, rolling admissions
• Spring Application Deadline: November 1, rolling admission

Supporting Documents for Matriculation

Submit the following documents to the Office of Graduate Admissions:

• Transcripts from all colleges and universities attended. Applicants who earned a bachelor’s degree outside the United States need to submit a course-by-course international transcript evaluation. See Graduate Admissions for more information.
• Résumé or CV
• Two letters of recommendation
• Statement of purpose addressing the following two questions (1,000–1,200 words): 1) How will the M.S. in media studies further your personal, professional, and intellectual goals?; 2) What unique experiences, interests, and enthusiasms will you bring to our program?
• Writing sample. Please supply one or more of the following:
  • Academic paper. If your undergraduate degree is in media studies or a related field and is no more than three years old, you may submit a media-related academic paper from your undergraduate work as a writing sample. Include a cover sheet on which you indicate your name, the title of the course for which the paper was written (including course number), the professor for whom you wrote the paper, and the term in which you took the course.
  • Write a 1,500–2,000-word essay using a minimum of five outside sources that should be cited correctly according to MLA, APA, or Chicago style. Write in the third person and in a formal academic voice. Respond to one of the following issues:
    • The digital age has created challenges for all media industries—requiring traditional media industries such as music, journalism, film, television, video games, and radio to revise their business models and activities and creating new media platforms and industries that were previously unimagined, such as social, mobile, apps, drones, and 360/VR. Select one traditional or new media industry or sector of a media industry, and, using research, describe its current state and articulate and analyze the challenges it faces. End by suggesting some possible solutions to these challenges.
    • Media representation is a very important area of study for many media scholars. Choose a specific and particular issue or topic receiving media attention today (gender, race, ethnicity, health, politics, international conflict, education, etc.) and address how it is being covered in the current news media or represented in contemporary scripted shows. The best responses will focus on specific subtopics or issues (e.g., instead of addressing “race in television dramas,” look at representations of a particular racial identity in today’s scripted shows; instead of “politics,” look at coverage of a particular political issue, party, or situation in news.

E-mail MJ Robinson with questions.

Required Tests

• F-1 or J-1 international students must submit English Proficiency Exam. TOEFL—79, IELTS—6.5, PTE—58–63, Duolingo—105–160.
• TOEFL (paper, computer, Internet): 582, 267, 92

Nondegree Applicants

This program accepts nondegree applicants. Applicants must submit all of the same materials as degree-seeking students, but the letters of recommendation are waived.

More Information

Refer to the instructions at Graduate Admissions.

Contact

Katherine Fry, Graduate Deputy

303b Whitehead Hall
E: katfry@brooklyn.cuny.edu
P: 718.951.5555

Or contact:

Office of Graduate Admissions

222 West Quad Center
2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210
E: grads@brooklyn.cuny.edu
P: 718.951.4536

Office Hours

Mondays–Fridays, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

To make an appointment with a graduate admissions counselor, visit:

BC Admissions Appointment Tool