All applications to the Department of Cinema and Media Studies PhD program must be submitted through the Division of the Humanities Admissions website by December 15 for admission the following fall quarter. Please know that we cannot consider late applications.
The application window for Fall 2019 admission to the PhD program is currently open. Applicants can apply from September 17 through December 15 2018.
Once you submit your application to the Division it will be forwarded to our Department. Each year we have a limited number of slots for which we are able to offer admission, and our faculty carefully review each application in order to select the applicants which we will recommend to the Division of the Humanities for admission. Final admission decisions are made by the faculty as a whole rather than by individual faculty members.
Master of Arts Degree
Our department does not offer a stand-alone MA program. Instead, the Division of the Humanities has a one-year Master of Arts Program in the Humanities - MAPH provides students with strong pedagogical support, including a core course in interpretive theory and master's thesis workshops. Students in the MAPH program can choose to concentrate in cinema and media studies and complete an MA thesis supervised by a faculty member.
Joint Degrees
Students in the PhD program may wish to pursue joint PhD degrees with another department or programs. To do so, students can either petition to do a 'standing' joint-degree (Theater and Performance Studies - TAPS) during the admissions process or, once they have already matriculated, create an 'ad-hoc' joint-degree (e.g., Art History, East Asian Languages and Civilizations). Students may also petition to do a joint-degree with another department or program once they have completed at least one year of study in the PhD program.
Before deciding to undertake a joint PhD degree, students should consult with the Directors of Graduate Studies in both departments (thier home department and the department they wish to join). Anyone interested in petitioning for a joint-degree should consult the guidelines provided by the Humanities Division. It is possible to do a joint-degree with a department or program in another division, such as Anthropology.
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- Transcripts from all previous colleges and universities.
- At least three letters of recommendation submitted by persons able to describe your academic achievements and promise.
- A statement of purpose which describes the intellectual issues you hope to explore at the University of Chicago.
- A writing sample of approximately 20 pages in length; this could be an undergraduate thesis, research paper, or a section of your MA thesis that best demonstrates your critical thinking and scholarly writing.
- GRE scores that are less than five years old. The admissions committee does not stipulate a minimum score.
- The GRE code for the University of Chicago is 1832.
- TOEFL or IELTS scores that are no more than two years old (for non-native English speakers only). The minimum required TOEFL score is 104, with scores of 26 on each subsection. The minimum IELTS score is 7.0, with 7.0 on each subsection.
- To see if you qualify for an exemption, please consult the Office of International Affairs.
All admissions decisions are sent by the admissions office through the online application system in mid-February. No decision information can be given by phone or email from the department. Unless you are contacted by the department, please direct all questions about your application directly to humanitiesadmissions@uchicago.edu.
Prospective or admitted graduate students may join a tour of campus. Tours are offered by the UChicagoGRAD Office and led by current graduate students. For additional questions or special accommodations, please contact UChicagoGRAD.
For questions about the status application materials and other general questions about the admissions process, please contact the Office of Admissions of the Humanities Division at humanitiesadmissions@uchicago.edu or 773-702-1552.