Journalism & Mass Communications Sports Media & Communication

College Requirements

College Admission

The entrance requirements for the College of Journalism and Mass Communications are the same as the admission requirements for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

These include:

• English (4 units)
• Mathematics (4 units)
• Social studies (3 units)
• Natural sciences (3 units)
• Foreign language (2 units)

One unit equals one year of high school credit. Students with one deficiency, two deficiencies but not in the same category, or two deficiencies in a foreign language who receive a Deferred Admission or Admission by Review, may be considered for admission to the college. Students who are admitted through the Admission by Review process with core course deficiencies will have certain conditions attached to their enrollment at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. These conditions are explained under Admission to the University, Removal of Deficiencies. High school deficiencies must be removed during the first 30 credit hours of enrollment at Nebraska (60 hours for foreign language) or the first calendar year, whichever takes longer.

Admission Deficiencies/Removal of Deficiencies

You must remove entrance deficiencies in foreign language before you can graduate from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Removing Foreign Language Deficiencies

A student will need to complete the second semester of the first-year language sequence to clear the deficiency and the second semester of the second-year language sequence to complete the college graduation requirement in language.

Admission GPA

Any student transferring into the college must have at least a 2.0 GPA. A student with 12 or more hours of college credit must have at least a 2.0 GPA to be admitted or readmitted to the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Readmission

A student who left the University not in good standing (below a 2.0 grade point average) may be readmitted in the Explore Center. Such a student would be eligible to reenter the College of Journalism and Mass Communications upon attaining a 2.0 cumulative GPA.

Other Admission Requirements

Students from other Colleges

College of Journalism and Mass Communications courses will be restricted to College of Journalism and Mass Communications majors except where stipulated differently. Students from colleges and departments with a written agreement with the College of Journalism and Mass Communications will be exempt from this policy. Permission may be granted by an associate dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications in special circumstances following the directives provided by the faculty in these matters. Details about agreements with programs outside the College of Journalism and Mass Communications are listed on the college’s website.

ESL Students

Applicants who speak English as a second language must present a TOEFL score of 70 or higher, which includes a subscore of at least 20 on the writing test. Additionally, broadcasting majors must present a score of at least 45 on the Test of Spoken English.
 

College Degree Requirements

College General Education Requirements

To graduate with a bachelor of journalism degree, students must complete requirements from the following areas:

• the University ACE requirements
• the requirements for a major offered by the college
• the non-major requirements that are specific to the college

College Non-Major Requirements

The college non-major requirements (NMR) are designed to further the purposes of liberal education by encouraging study in several different areas. Courses satisfying these requirements may impart specialized knowledge or broadly connect the subject matter to other areas of knowledge.

Group 1—Achievement-Centered Education (ACE)

All College of Journalism and Mass Communication students must complete the University ACE requirements. The CoJMC requires all ACE courses be completed outside the college except ACE 10. Courses within the college are those with the following prefixes: ADPR, BRDC, JOMC, JOUR, SPMC. For the ACE 3 requirement, students must complete a statistics course from the following options: STAT 218 or CRIM 300 or ECON 215 or EDPS 459 or SOCI 206.

Group 2—Courses Outside of the College (60 hours)

Candidates for the bachelor of journalism degree must abide by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication accrediting guidelines, receiving a well-rounded liberal arts and science education. The CoJMC requires 60 semester hours be completed outside the college. Courses within the college are those with the following prefixes: ADPR, BRDC, JOMC, JOUR, SPMC. The same course restrictions and exclusions are noted on the College of Journalism and Mass Communications catalog page.

Group 3—Minor Outside of the College

CoJMC majors must complete one minor or an approved University of Nebraska–Lincoln undergraduate certificate of 12 of more credit hours outside the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Students may complete more than one minor or certificate if they wish.

Generally, CoJMC courses will not count toward a minor or certificate outside the college unless the course is approved as part of the minor, certificate or the department offering the minor approves the substitution. The CoJMC course that was substituted cannot be a required course in the CoJMC major and cannot count toward the total number of hours in the CoJMC major. 

Students have the option to complete an inter-college major in the College of Arts and Sciences or dual matriculation with any other University of Nebraska-Lincoln college in lieu of a minor or certificate. Students who dual matriculate must fully complete all degree requirements of both colleges.

Group 4—Languages–Classical and Modern: 0-6 or 10 hours

A student who has completed the fourth-year level of one foreign language in high school is exempt from the languages requirement. All foreign language courses, as well as American Sign Language courses, will also count in Group 2.
 

Options for completion of language requirement:

1. Regular four-semester sequence: 101, 102, 201, and 202 (5, 5, 3, 3 hours for a total of 16)
2. Three-semester sequence: 101, 102, and 210 (5, 5, 6 hours for a total of 16)
3. Students who have completed at least two years of one foreign language in high school may satisfy the college’s foreign language requirement by completing 101 and 102 in a different foreign language.
4. Students who have not taken four years of the same foreign language in high school but who complete the Modern Language Placement Exam and are placed into 203 (or higher) of that language are exempt from the foreign language requirement without credit toward the degree.

Students who have taken three years or fewer of a foreign language in high school should contact the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures for recommended placement.

A student who achieves a specified scaled score in the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) subject exam in French, German and Spanish, Levels 1 and 2, may be exempted from the language requirement and may also receive credit for the fourth semester course in the language. Students who want to exercise this option must receive permission from an associate dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

A student who has demonstrated acceptable proficiency in a language other than English is exempt from the foreign language requirement without credit toward the degree (for example, international students who completed high school outside the United States). The student’s academic advisor will determine whether a placement exam administered by the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures is necessary.

Group 5

At least 30 of the 120 semester hours of credit must be in courses numbered above 299 and 15 of the 30 hours required above 299 must be University of Nebraska–Lincoln hours/completed in residence.

Minimum Hours Required for Graduation

A minimum of 120 semester hours of credit is required for graduation from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Grade Rules

C- and D Grades

The college will accept no more than 15 semester hours of grades less than a C from any program outside the University of Nebraska system. No grades less than a C will count toward a CoJMC major. The college will honor minimum grade requirements stipulated by departments offering minors outside the college.

Pass/No Pass

The college will accept up to 24 hours of Pass/No Pass courses toward a bachelor of journalism degree, subject to the limits stated below.

All courses in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications must be taken for grade only unless otherwise specified. This applies to both majors and non-majors.

The Pass/No Pass (P/N) option is designed to be used by students seeking to expand their intellectual horizons by taking courses outside the college in areas where they may have minimum preparation without adversely affecting a student’s grade point average.

1. Neither a P (pass) nor an N (no pass) contributes to a student’s GPA.
2. P is interpreted to mean a grade of C or better. A student who earns a C- or lower will receive a grade of N.
3. The 24-hour college limit does not include courses offered on a Pass/No Pass only basis or AP credit. This limit does apply to transfer courses from UNO, UNK, UNMC, and other institutions.
4. P/N hours can count toward fulfillment of group requirements up to the 24-credit hour maximum (if the course is eligible as a P/N course).
5. Students may change from graded to P/N or vice versa only until halfway through the course. In either case, they must speak with an advisor before doing so.

Residency

Students must complete at least 30 of the 120 total hours for their degree at Nebraska. Students must complete at least half of their major coursework including 6 hours above 299 in their major, and 15 of the 30 hours required above 299 in residence. Students transferring hours into the advertising and public relations, broadcasting, journalism, or sports media and communication majors must meet additional requirements, which are described under Transfer Credit Rules. To encourage participation in international study, the college accepts all prior-approved education abroad credits as hours in residence.

Transfer Credit Rules

The goal of the following policy is to ensure that students from other campuses meet the same standards required of students who take all their courses at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

The college will accept up to 6 hours in journalism and mass communications courses taken at institutions that do not have an ACEJMC-accredited journalism and mass communications program. Students must take the remainder of the required hours in their ADPR, BRDC, JOMC, JOUR, or SPMC majors from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. All students must complete the college’s capstone course designated for their major. At the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, students from ACEJMC-accredited programs may request equivalency reviews of the required courses at those schools. Degree candidates must accumulate 60 credit hours of non-journalism and mass communications classes. These are to be selected from ACE courses outside of journalism and mass communications courses or courses in disciplines listed as Liberal Education/Liberal Arts, which includes non-vocational ALEC courses, College of Business courses and College of Fine and Performing Arts courses.

Credit for courses taken at foreign universities and colleges will be transferred only after evaluation by the associate dean. This evaluation may include examination of the student over subject matter studied at the foreign institution.
 

ACE Requirements

All students must fulfill the Achievement-Centered Education (ACE) requirements. Information about the ACE program may be viewed at ace.unl.edu.
 

Catalog Rule

Students who left the university in good standing may be readmitted to the College of Journalism and Mass Communications and they may choose the catalog under which they wish to graduate according to the following guidelines:

1. Students must fulfill the requirements stated in the Undergraduate Catalog for the year they enter the College of Journalism and Mass Communications or in any subsequent catalog published while they are enrolled in the college.
2. No returning student may use a catalog that is 10 years old or older. In addition, any student seeking graduation credit for a College of Journalism and Mass Communications course taken more than 10 years prior to graduation must demonstrate mastery of the material currently included in that course at the proficiency level satisfactory to the associate dean and one or more faculty members qualified to teach the course in question. Students unable to demonstrate satisfactory mastery of the course material will be required to repeat the original course or a corresponding contemporary course designated by the college’s advisory committee, if the original course is no longer offered.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of sports media and communication will be able to:

1. Understand and apply the principles and laws of freedom of speech and press as well as receive instruction in and understand the range of systems of freedom of expression around the world, including the right to dissent, to monitor and criticize power, and to assemble and petition for redress of grievances.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the multicultural history and role of professionals and institutions in shaping communications.
3. Demonstrate culturally proficient communication that empowers those traditionally disenfranchised in society, especially as grounded in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and ability, domestically and globally, across communication and media contexts.
4. Present images and information effectively and creatively, using appropriate tools and technologies.
5. Write correctly and clearly in forms and styles appropriate for the communications professions, audiences and purposes they serve.
6. Demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and diversity.
7. Apply critical thinking skills in conducting research and evaluating information by methods appropriate to the communications professions in which they work.
8. Effectively and correctly apply basic numerical and statistical concepts.
9. Critically evaluate their own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style and grammatical correctness.
10. Apply tools and technologies appropriate for the communications professions in which they work.