5-Year Master's Program

The Basics:

The Journalism 5-Year Master’s Program is designed to enable eligible UA journalism majors to take graduate hours during their undergraduate studies, be admitted to the Graduate School immediately after graduation, and complete much of their remaining coursework for the Master’s in a fifth year.

 

Eligibility:

  • Applicant must be a UA journalism major working on a bachelor’s degree.
  • Applicant must be in the first semester of the junior year.
  • Applicant must have an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher in all semesters at the UA.
  • Applicant must take all senior year and graduate coursework at the UA.

 

The Structure:

A qualifying student can apply to the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication in the first semester of his/her junior year for admission into the 5-Year BA/MA program. When accepted, the student is immediately appointed an adviser to help in course planning.

Once the student becomes a senior, he or she may take up to 12 hours of graduate work that will be counted toward the Master’s degree. Note that up to 6 hours of this graduate work can be double counted toward the undergraduate degree if the student has an overall undergrad GPA of 3.5 or above for all semesters. To receive graduate credit, the classes must be 5000-level coursework taken in the final 12 months before receiving the undergraduate degree.

The Journalism MA Program requires 24 hours of coursework and 6 hours of registration for thesis. Of the 24 hours, 18 are taken in journalism. An additional 6 hours may be in journalism, or from another field (e.g., history, English, communication, marketing).

Therefore, in the senior year, the student pursuing the 5-Year Program can potentially take up to half of the coursework required for the Master’s. This may involve some summer school courses as the student must also continue to take courses to complete the 120 hours required for the bachelor’s degree. This schedule sets up the student to take the remaining 12 or more hours of graduate coursework in the “fifth year.” A typical graduate student load is 9 hours a semester. The thesis can be developed while the student takes graduate courses or after coursework is completed. Some honors students who have entered the graduate program have satisfied the thesis requirement by expanding work on their honors thesis.

 

How To Apply

Application is handled through the School of Journalism and Strategic Media.

  • Notify the journalism graduate director, Dr. Jee Young Chung (jychung@uark.edu), that you are applying.
  • Send Dr. Chung two items: a current resume and a one-page statement about your area of interest and what you would like to study in graduate work.
  • The Journalism Graduate Committee will consider your materials and notify you about your acceptance.
  • The graduate director will inform the Graduate School that journalism has accepted you as a student pursuing the 5-Year BA/MA degree.
  • You will be appointed to a journalism faculty member who will be your adviser on planning your remaining undergraduate courses and your graduate work.
  • You have to apply to Graduate School separately. Do this in your final semester of your undergraduate term (March for Spring graduates; October for Fall graduates).
  • Submit your application to the Graduate School for formal acceptance. 
  • Graduate School applicants must meet all admission requirements for a regular MA program.

For more information contact Dr. Jee Young Chung (jychung@uark.edu)


Members of the Journalism Graduate Committee:
Dr. Brandon Bouchillon (bcbouchi@uark.edu)
Dr. Jee Young Chung (jychung@uark.edu)
Professor Larry Foley (lfoley@uark.edu)
Dr. Bobbie Foster (bjf001@uark.edu)
Assistant Professor Rowena Pedrena (rpedrena@uark.edu)

Note:
Students in the 5-Year program and who are Arkansas residents are eligible to apply for the Pearson Fellowship which is generously funded by the Pearson Foundation. This scholarship is from $10,000 to $15,000 and is awarded for one academic year (fall and spring semesters), usually during the fifth year.

Applicants submit a five-page paper on some aspect of journalism ethics; the winner is selected by the members of the Journalism Graduate Committee and approved by the Pearson Foundation Board.

Students in the 5-Year program are eligible also to apply for all other journalism scholarships. Deadlines for applications for the Pearson and other journalism scholarships are in January and February each year.