Pre-Major Requirements

[FALL 2009 curriculum]

How to become a "Pre-Journalism" major
Incoming freshmen and transfer students select "pre-journalism" as their major on their UO admission application. For incoming students, there is no formal application process to become a pre-major in the School of Journalism and Communication. Current UO students who wish to add "pre-journalism" as a major must apply for premajor status. These students must have a cumulative 2.00 UO GPA to be accepted as a pre-journalism major.

The Lower Division Core
All pre-journalism majors are required to take three "lower division core" courses before applying for full major status:

• J100 Media Professions
• J101 Grammar for Communicators
• J201 Media and Society

These courses must be taken graded. If taken before Fall 2011, J100 and J201 must be passed with a C- or better; J101 with a C or better. If taken Fall 2011 or later, all three courses must be passed with a C or better. Your admission as a full major depends largely upon your performance in these three courses. Freshmen are advised to spread the premajor core courses over the freshman year. Transfer students and second bachelor's students who have completed a mass media and society course at another school should consult a journalism adviser about counting that course toward the premajor core. These students may be advised to register for more than one core course per term; they will be reminded that premajor core grades are a major factor in the upper-division admission process.

Full major admission also requires the completion of the University's writing composition requirement. (Clark Honors College students are exempt from this.)

Upon admission to the school, students begin their full major courses with the Gateway to Media series. The school’s policy is to make all required upper-division courses available to students within two academic years after they have completed the Gateway to Media series. Transfer students, second bachelor’s degree students, and students who become pre-journalism majors as juniors or seniors should consider this when planning their schedules.