Media Studies Major Declaration
Exciting News! Beginning fall 2024, Media Studies is no longer a high-demand major and the requirements to declare have changed. The prerequisite courses will remain the same. Read further to review the new declaration eligibility requirements and procedure.
Requirements for Major Declaration
The requirements to declare the Media Studies major beginning fall 2024*:
- Complete all four prerequisites before declaring, which are listed on Applying: Prerequisites;
- Earn a C or better in each of the four prerequisites;
- Have a GPA of 2.0 in the prerequisites and any course that applies to the major course requirements, which are listed on Requirements pages and Courses by Term.
When to Declare
Students are strongly encouraged to declare the major as soon as they are eligible, and during the first declaration period of each semester. Requests for declaration are only accepted during the listed declaration periods listed below.
Freshmen must declare the major no later than the declaration periods in the term* before their seventh semester.
Junior Transfer Students must declare the major no later than the declaration periods in the term* before their third semester.
* Term refers to fall, spring, and summer.
Students need to verify that they will be able to complete UC, UC Berkeley, and L&S requirements per the L&S Unit Ceiling and Semester Limits.
The 2025 declaration periods* are as follows:
Spring: January 14 to January 31 (Recommended)
February 17 to February 21
March 17 to March 21
Summer: June 2 to June 13
Fall: August 20 to September 5 (Recommended)
September 22 to September 26
October 13 to October 17
* Declarations must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on the final day of the declaration period.
How to Declare
Eligible students may submit the Media Studies Major Declaration Form. We do not accept declaration forms outside the declaration periods.
For students who have completed prerequisites outside of UC Berkeley:
Students who have completed prerequisites at institutions outside of UC Berkeley should confirm that the classes have been transferred to UC Berkeley via their Transfer Credit Report (accessible via CalCentral). If these classes have not yet been added, students can submit unofficial transcripts to mediastudies_advising@berkeley.edu to verify that the prerequisite(s) has been satisfied for the purposes of Media Studies declaration. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the classes have been formally transferred to UC Berkeley even after they have been declared in Media Studies.
See FAQ below for important questions regarding applying options.
Declaration and Application FAQs
Yes. As soon as you are eligible to apply, submit your declaration form to Media Studies during one of our declaration periods. We have a list of who intended the Media Studies major and will be able to verify whether you are eligible to follow the requirements specific to your UC Berkeley admissions agreement.
Eligible students may complete and submit the Media Studies Major Declaration Form.
No. Media Studies will be off the L&S high-demand major list effective fall 2024. That means you do not need to go through the comprehensive review. Instead, you declare the major per the new instructions listed at the top of this page.
Eligible students may complete and submit the Media Studies Major Declaration Form.
Students may no longer apply to declare the Media Studies major via the Standard or Appeal Application. All students must now follow the new requirements and process for declaration (listed at the top of the page).
The final application period for students who intended to apply to the major based on the old application requirements for a STANDARD or APPEAL application was August 21 to September 6.
No. The last opportunity for students to submit a standard or appeal application based on the old high demand major criteria is fall 2024. All students will be expected to adhere to the new declaration process beginning spring 2025.
Review the Media Studies Declaration requirements at the top of this page.
You can use a GPA calculator. We recommend the Berkeley Residential Life GPA Calculator.
Quarter units, transferred from another institution, need to be converted to semester units before calculating your major application GPA. You do this by multiplying the units by two-thirds. For instance, 5 quarter units = 3.33 and 4 quarter units = 2.66.
New declaration periods for the next year will be published in December of each year. We will have declaration periods in the fall, spring, and summer. We do not accept declarations outside the declaration periods. When applying in the fall or spring, we encourage students to apply during the first application period.
Students may retake any prerequisite course once, and that new grade will replace the first grade on the Media Studies declaration form.
