Important Information for Foreign Students
We have accepted international students into our program in the past and have had several international students complete the degree successfully. Thus, we encourage international students to apply to our program. However, it is important for any student applying to our program to realize that our ability to award assistantships is limited: we typically have 4-6 openings each year. Furthermore, the amount of our assistantships, currently $15,123 each year for a maximum of two years, is not enough to cover the full cost of tuition, books, and living expenses. International students applying to our program must be able to demonstrate that they have adequate financial resources to attend graduate school at UW-Stevens Point. Foreign students with a graduate assistantship must demonstrate that they have a minimum of $7,750 per year to cover additional expenses. A foreign student without a graduate assistantship must demonstrate that they have a minimum of $22,872 per year (including $1000 spending money).
Out-of-state tuition for a full-time graduate student in our program is approximately $8,600 per semester/$17,200 per year. A person with a graduate assistantship and an out-of-state tuition waiver would pay tuition of approximately $6,600 per year. Also, as part of our admission process each student applying to the program, whether accepted or denied admission to our graduate program in Communication, must submit a $60.00 application fee. Please consider carefully your financial status, the limited space in our program, and our limited ability to offer graduate assistantships, before applying to our program.
It is equally important to understand that, especially at the graduate level, we expect our students to have an excellent command of the English language (both oral and written). For example, we expect that a student’s writing will have no grammatical or syntactical mistakes. Thus, we pay close attention to a person's writing skills, rely on references to address an international student's ability to write and speak English well, and rely on a minimal TOEFL score of 575 to help assure us that language will not be a barrier to a person successfully completing our degree.
As important, we expect international students (and U.S. students) to have coursework in the area of communication or a related field (i.e. business, psychology, sociology) to help ensure a smooth transition to our program and to also help ensure their successful completion of the degree. Having a degree in English without coursework/expertise in Communication or related areas is not sufficient background to be considered for our M.A. in Communication. It is reasonable to say that a majority of the international students that have not been accepted into our program have been denied for two main reasons: problems with writing/speaking skills in English and lack of adequate academic preparation in the field of communication. All students applying to this program must be fully prepared at the undergraduate level in an area related to Communication. A degree in areas such as English, computer science, and international/intercultural areas are not adequate preparation to be considered for acceptance into our program. The study of Communication is a specific study of human interaction in specific contexts based on specific theories and research findings specific to the field of communication. A person wishing to pursue a master’s degree must be familiar with those theories and research at an undergraduate level before exploring those issues at a deeper level as a graduate student. (Please note that we do not offer any coursework in journalism or advertising.)
The above paragraphs are not meant to discourage international students from applying to our program. However, it is important for any student applying to our program to realistically assess their qualifications for the study of Communication at the graduate level. We have many requests for information about our program each year from international students and have valued the foreign students accepted into our program. However, it is often the case that students accepted into the program cannot afford to attend the university once accepted. We have greatly appreciated the international students who have been a part of our program. We have learned from them and them from us. However, applying to graduate programs is a time consuming and often expensive process---and thus it is important that you choose programs wisely.
For the application process, we require that you submit your TOEFL scores (we require a score of 575 or higher). We also require that you submit GRE scores, two letters of recommendation, university transcripts, a sample of your writing, a critical response to an essay which we provide, and a purpose statement. The complete application packet will outline additional information concerning financial guidelines concerning international students. An important note: all application materials must be submitted by February 27, 2009 for full consideration for admission into the program for the fall semester. We only accept students into our program during the fall semester.
If you have any questions relating to our program, please e-mail Chris Sadler csadler@uwsp.edu or call 715.346.3898.