Academic Advising

To declare a communication major, you must complete a “Declaration of Major College of Arts and Sciences” electronic form on the MySanDiego portal. The declaration of major form is located under the Academic Forms tab within MyAcademics on the portal. Once completed, the electronic form will be sent to the department chair for approval, at which time the chair will also assign you an advisor. The system will notify you by email when the form has been approved by the chair. You should also receive an email from your new advisor shortly thereafter.

You use the Declaration of Major electronic form to add, change, or drop a major or minor at any time. Simply list the desired major(s) and minor(s) on the form and resubmit on the MySanDiego portal. The from will be sent electronically to department chairs for approval in the same fashion as your original major declaration. Any majors or minors not listed on the most current form will be dropped.

The department chair will assign you an advisor on the Declaration of Major electronic form. If you would like, you may request a specific advisor or indicate a specific area of interest by emailing the department chair before submitting your electronic declaration. Your advisor’s name will always be listed on the top left-hand corner of your DegreeWorks.

Yes. You change your advisor by emailing the department chair.

You can find the course requirements for the communication major in the course catalog.

You can find the course requirements for the communication major in the course catalog.

Yes. Many students who major in communication declare a minor. Most minors require 18 credit hours to complete the minor. This is manageable with a communication major. See your advisor to work out a plan of study with your minor.

Communication does not have a math requirement, but you do need a mathematical reasoning course to fulfill core requirements. See the course catalog for options. If you plan to major or minor in the School of Business, do realize that you will need to take MATH 130 or MATH 150 as a prerequisite for upper-division courses in the School of Business.

Yes. If you are double majoring in COMM and PSYC you can take the psychology research methods course (PSYC 230) and have it count for your communication studies research methods course as well (COMM 265). However, COMM 265 fulfills the quantitative reasoning requirement in the core curriculum; PSYC 230 does not. So if you replace COMM 265 with PSYC 230, you will need another course to fulfill the quantitative reasoning core requirement.

You can find a list of all course descriptions in the course catalog. Remember that not all courses listed in the course catalog are offered each semester. To see what courses are being offered next semester, log into the MySanDiego portal, click My Academics, then under Registration Tools, click Look Up Classes. Course offerings and available seats can change up to the add/drop date two weeks into the semester, so check the schedule frequently.

To see what courses are being offered next semester, log into the MySanDiego portal, click My Academics, then under Registration Tools, click Look Up Classes. Course offerings and available seats can change up to the add/drop date two weeks into the semester, so check the schedule frequently.

You can register for 300- and 400-level courses in the College of Arts and Sciences when you have 45 units (including in progress units).

Yes. Courses can count for both core requirements and major requirements.

Courses that fulfill a core requirement, preparation for the major, or major requirement must be taken for a letter grade unless the class is only offered as pass/fail. Refer to the course catalog for more information.

The department chair that oversees the discipline of the course you are trying to transfer will make that determination. For example, an algebra course must be approved by the chair of the Department of Mathematics, and a public speaking course must be approved by the chair of the Department of Communication Studies. You should submit the online Petition to Transfer Credit form and get approval for the course before you take it. After you complete an approved course, you must send your official transcript with a grade to USD in order to receive credit at USD. Instructions can be found in the My Academics tab under Transfer Articulation. 

Note: Junior college courses cannot transfer as upper-division (300- or 400-level) courses at USD. The only way to transfer a course as an upper-division is to take the course at a four-year bachelor-degree granting institution.

Earning a D in lower-division courses that are considered preparation for the major (i.e., COMM 101, 130, 203, 220, and 265) will count toward the major. You must earn a C- or better in upper-division courses for them to count toward the major. Earning a D in an upper-division course will count toward your overall units, but will not count toward specific major requirements. 

Yes. You can enroll in COMM 498: Internship in Communication. COMM 498 can be taken for 2 or 3 units depending on the amount of time you spend at the internship (each unit corresponds to 40 hours spent in your placement). Enrollment requires the authorization of the internship coordinator, Dr. Gregory Ghio (gghio@sandiego.edu).

Contact the communication internship coordinator, Dr. Gregory Ghio (gghio@sandiego.edu). He maintains relationships with community partners and databases of potential opportunities. He is also there to help you brainstorm possibilities. It also helps to follow USD Communication Studies on Instagram (@USDComm), Twitter (@USDComm), and Facebook (/USDComm), as internship opportunities are often posted there.

The Department of Communication Studies consistently offers COMM 492: Integration Experience to fulfill the advanced integration requirement in the core. This course is a one-credit workshop that requires students to articulate the interdisciplinarity of their communication studies education. Other opportunities are available that may fulfill this requirement as well. See the course catalog for options.

You need 124 total units to graduate, 48 of which have to be upper division (300- or 400-level courses). Core requirements, preparation for the major, and communication major requirements do not add up to 124 units. The communication studies major requirements only fulfill 24 of the 48 required upper-division units. You will need to take additional electives to graduate.

You should petition to graduate when you have completed 90 units. A senior tab will appear in your MySanDiego portal. You can find the petition to graduate there.