<p>Yeah, I know what you mean…even though it’s guaranteed, I was still nervous for some reason. Don’t worry though…as long as you have fulfilled all of the requirements then you are in! </p>
<p>What college was your top choice? I got into Muir but I just realized that the communications building is located in Marshall…hope that’s not an issue haha. Are you looking into living in the new transfer housing or off campus? I live in SD now but I would really like to live closer to campus.</p>
<p>I believe my top college choice is Marshall. I just randomly ranked them because honestly i didnt know what the differences were. Lol! </p>
<p>Hmmm i would prefer living on campus since it’s easier to meet friends that way, right? How about you?</p>
<p>I would like to live on campus…but it is way too expensive! I will hopefully meet people and maybe room with them 2nd quarter or something.</p>
<p>Hi everyone, </p>
<p>I am finishing up my second semester at Cal as a Media Studies major. I applied to UCB, UCLA (as a History major), UCSB, UCSD, and USC. I was rejected by USC and was accepted to all of the others. I chose Cal because I wanted to get out of LA and live somewhere else for a while. I was also under the impression that the Media Studies major was a lot different than it actually is. </p>
<p>For those of you that are considering Cal as a MS major, you need to be aware that the major is 100% theory. You will not be writing news articles, writing press releases, making films, etc. You will be writing essays on things like psychoanalysis of film and trying to connect the theories of various philosophers and sociologists to the field of media. Sound strange? Well, it kind of is. </p>
<p>That said, I do like Cal and I <em>love</em> living in Berkeley, but there are times when I want to scream from the rooftops that the MS major needs an overhaul in a MAJOR way. The department is very small and the class offerings are slim to none. If you want that pretty little diploma to say UC Berkeley on it, choose Berkeley. If you want to gain some experience in the field of media and entertainment, choose another school.</p>
<p>If I had to do it all over again, I would strongly consider UCSD. They are the only UC that actually offers some practical courses in their Communication Studies department. UCLA is all theory too, but at least they have the Film department to take supplementary courses to gain some experience. Do as much research as humanly possible before you make your decision.</p>
<p>^^ so you wouldnt recomment CAL at all for MS? I was kind of hoping on going to CAL because i have higher chances of getting in there as compared to UCLA.</p>
<p>Were you a transfer student
too? If you dont mind me asking, what was your stats when you were applying as a transfer? I’ve also applied to USC and i’m also thinking of going there…</p>
<p>Yes, I was a transfer student. When I applied, I had a 3.83 GPA and when I transferred in, I had a 3.7. My last semester at CC was rough, so my GPA suffered a tiny bit. I did TAG w/ UCSD and UCSB and TAP at Berkeley. I think I was rejected by USC because I had quite a few Ws and I heard that they really frown on that. I don’t think I would have gone to USC even if I had been accepted because I couldn’t afford it and, like I said above, I wanted to get out of LA. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t NOT recommend Cal, I’m just saying to proceed with caution. I think that a lot of MS majors come in with the assumption that since Cal is such a great school, that all of the programs they offer are automatically the best out there and the professors are automatically the best of the best and that’s not necessarily true. I also think that a lot of MS majors are aware that it is a highly theoretical major, but don’t fully understand what that means. A lot of people assume (including myself) that even in their theory classes, they will be going over things that are relevant to the things that they will see in their potential careers and that is not the case in most of the MS courses. There are days when I sit there with my classmates and we look at each other and say, “What does this have to do with ANYTHING?”</p>
<p>I realize that it may sound like I’m hating on Cal, but I honestly am not. Cal is an excellent school and there are so many amazing opportunities available to the people that take advantage of those opportunities. Living in the bay area is also pretty damn awesome, if I do say so myself. I just wish that I had been a little more informed about what I was getting myself into because, when I posted on this board last year, there really weren’t any MS majors that came on to share their experiences in the major. </p>
<p>I hope that I didn’t discourage you from the major and certainly not from Cal. If you want to come to Cal, I highly urge you to. The MS major is only about 30 units and you will have the opportunity to expand your horizons and take classes in departments that may also be of interest to you. This summer, I am taking marketing and integrated marketing communication (aka advertising) through Haas, which I am very excited about.</p>
<p>So if not CAL then which UC do you think has the best Communications program? Like i said, i am considering USC because of Annenberg’s great program for Comm. </p>
<p>If i get in Berkeley, is it possible to switch majors? </p>
<p>Wow, is it really that bad. I was thinking MS would consist of writing press/news releases, public relations, interpersonal communications and all things media. Guess I was wrong…</p>
<p>Ok now i’m confused on where to go. Lol</p>
<p>^^oops sorry, i didnt read about the part when you recommended UCSD. Dont mind my first question :)</p>
<p>Hey kc_sunshine101, thanks for posting about your experience at Cal MS- I was a bit concerned about the coursework and its relevancy to the field and needed some input like yours. I’m hoping to get into the entertainment distribution/management biz, but from what you’ve stated, it looks like I won’t be learning much in terms of direct application. What do you think about the internship opportunities near Cal? It’s good to know that you can take classes from Haas like marketing- is the MS program flexible enough to take more business courses, possibly enough to get a minor?</p>
<p>No, absolutely not. You will not be doing any of those things. I have not done anything even remotely close to any of that since I started at Cal. If you want to do those things, you will have to get an internship (or several). Here’s a brief description of what I’ve been doing in my classes this semester:</p>
<p>MS 103-Understanding Journalism: Basically a history of journalism class. 2 midterms, quizzes almost everyday, writing a profile on a journalist, final.
MS 104-First Amendment and the Press: My favorite class at Cal, by FAR. Studying supreme court cases in relation to the media and the first amendment. 1 test, a take home midterm, a paper and a final.
MS 101-Visual Communication: I hate this class with a passion. You’d think this was basically an advertising class, right? Wrong. It’s all about Marx, Althusser, Freud, etc. Basically taking the theories of dead guys who didn’t give a crap about media and trying to make their theories about media. 2 papers, midterm, final.
Soc 167-Virtual Communities/Social Media: We basically watch youtube videos all day. Midterm, group work, final.</p>
<p>My point is that if you like theory, Cal is for you. If you don’t, be aware of what the program consists of. Out of the UCs, I think that UCSD has a program worth checking out. When I read their catalog, I saw that they offered some practical courses in addition to their theory courses.</p>
<p>Dango–you may still want to consider Cal. You can take classes related to what you want to do through Haas. My friends that have already taken marketing say that it’s pretty awesome. There are also a ton of management classes that you can take (obviously). Haas doesn’t offer a minor. As far as the internship opportunities are concerned, there are quite a few of them and they are directly related to MS. Obviously there aren’t as many Film/TV opportunities as there are in LA, but that’s pretty obvious. There are a lot of marketing/advertising/PR internships available.</p>
<p>And yes, you can switch majors, but you need to give yourself enough time to get the pre-reqs done and you may have a problem when you go to register if you aren’t able to declare your major right away. It’s not a big deal, but you’ll have to waitlist most (if not all) of your courses. If you try to switch colleges (L&S to Hass, for example) you’ll have a very hard time. As long as you stay within L&S, you shouldn’t have a problem. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that if it’s theory you are trying to escape by switching majors, you’ll get it in pretty much every major w/ in L&S. Just know that Cal isn’t a vocational school, so the practial application is pretty much non-existant in the vast majority of majors.</p>
<p>does anyone know the stats/basic requirements to get into ucla for communications? what are the stats for people who have been able to transfer into ucla as a comm student?</p>
<p>i got accepted today. who else got in?</p>
<p>@dwight ave. admit gpa for comm is 3.93</p>
<p>@lakers - nope, not me. Boo :(</p>
<p>yay!!! ** Lakersforever24 ftw.**</p>
<p>hahaha congrats old friend.</p>
<p>@celtics what were your stats if you dont mind my asking</p>
<p>I got accepted today too. Any word on Regents?</p>
<p>thanks jane</p>
<p>dwight: 4.0, TAP, all prereqs done besides the 2 thats not offered, not much ECs, terrible essays for UCLA (since i wrote about how i want to go to haas/berkeley), surprised i got in bc of that</p>
<p>martin: where to we check to see we got regents?</p>
<p>There’s another thread that says we find out in like a week or so. Damnit.</p>
<p>^its already out. check myFAO. i didn’t get it but my friend did. he said its under gift aid for $2000 if u got it</p>