Educational Planning

Educational Plan for Completing the Communication Major

Four Year Plan

You must maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA each semester in order to meet the required checkpoints for the four-year plan for the Communication Studies major. If your overall GPA falls below a 2.5 at any point, your four-year plan will become void. Students should plan at least four semesters to complete the requirements of the degree.

In order to meet the department’s checkpoints for the four-year plan, you must complete Core Concepts & Studying Communication in the semester after earning 30 semester hours or by the end of your sixth semester. You must also meet all the responsibilities as outlined on your signed four-year plan agreement including, but not limited to, meeting with the Educational Advisor each semester and should do so several weeks before early registration begin. You must register for classes during early registration and monitor your own academic and degree progress by reviewing your degree evaluation that’s available on ISIS.

*Note: It is advisable to have your general education requirements including the foreign language requirement met prior to your final semester at Iowa. Any and all transcripts should also be sent to The University before the published deadlines for graduation.

Freshmen

When you arrive at Iowa you are eligible to take a few of our courses right away! You can take one class from each pair without any prerequisites. (You do not want to take both in the pair since only one of the two counts towards the Communication Studies degree).

36:012/COMM 1012 - Interpersonal Communication OR

36:070/COMM 1070 - Communication and Everyday Life

36:017/COMM 1017 - Theory and Practice of Argument OR

30:030/COMM 1030 - The Art of Persuading Others

36:074/COMM 1074 - Media and Society OR

36:068/COMM 1068 - Media, Music and Culture

The following Foundations classes will count as both Foundations courses and General Education requirements:

036:070 - Communication and Everyday Life is a Social Science

036:017 - Theory & Practice of Argument - Quantitative & Formal Reasoning

036:074 - Media and Society - Social Science or Values Society & Diversity

After you have earned 30 credit hours, or Sophmore standing, and at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA you will be able to enroll in other classes in the major. If you do not maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA each semester you will be administratively dropped from Communications courses where a 2.5 is a pre-requisite, which could delay your graduation. If this occurs you will need to adjust your educational plans accordingly and you may need to spend additional semesters or summer sessions at The University of Iowa to finish your major and/or degree requirements.

Sophomores

Provided you started the Communication Studies major your freshman year, upon completing 30 semester hours and meeting the 2.5 cumulative GPA pre-requisite, you should plan to take 36:001/COMM 2001: Core Concepts and 36:005/COMM 2005: Studying Communication.

During the second semester sophomore year you will begin the Intermediate Coursework. You must complete at least two courses from the Intermediate section before you take any Capstone courses. From this point in you must take 2 courses that satisfy major requirements during each subsequent semester in conjunction with your other courses for another major, minor or certificate.

If you do not maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA each semester you will be administratively dropped from Communications courses where a 2.5 is a pre-requisite, If this occurs you will need to adjust your educational plans accordingly and you may need to spend additional semesters or summer sessions at The University of Iowa to finish your major and/or degree requirements

Educational Plan for Completing the Major – transfer students

Transfer Students with signed 2+2 Agreement

To meet The University of Iowa’s 2+2 transfer agreement checkpoints, you must have earned your A.A. degree, have an overall GPA of 2.5 and have your foreign language requirement completed before you transfer to Iowa. In addition, you should have taken specific courses for the major. Specific course information for participating community colleges is available on the 2+2 Transfer Agreement web site. Transfer students who have signed this agreement should meet with the Educational Advisor during early registration and each subsequent semester for course planning

Transfer students without and A.A. degree/ transfer agreement

Provided you started the Communication Studies major your first semester at The University of Iowa you should plan to take two (2) Foundations courses and one (1) additional course.

During the second semester at Iowa you will finish up your last Foundations courses. From this point on you must take 3 courses that satisfy major requirements during each subsequent semester in conjunction with your other courses for another major, minor or certificate.

During the third semester at Iowa you will begin the Intermediate Coursework. You must complete at least two courses from the Intermediate section before you take any Capstone courses. From this point on you must take 3 courses that satisfy major requirements during each subsequent semester in conjunction with your other courses for another major, minor or certificate.

If you do not maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA each semester you will be administratively dropped from Communications courses where a 2.5 is a pre-requisite. If this occurs, you will need to adjust your educational plans accordingly and you may need to spend additional semesters or summer sessions at The University of Iowa to finish your major and/or degree requirements.

Minor Requirements

Requirements for the Communication Studies Minor

Students who would like to complete the Communication Studies minor are required to complete six classes in the Communication Studies degree as outlined here:

You must take one class from each pair. (You do not want to take both in the pair since only one of the two counts towards the Communication Studies degree).