Please describe your aptitude and motivation for graduate study in journalism, including your journalistic preparation, what specific skills you hope to learn through the Berkeley Journalism curriculum, and your future career goals. Please also include specific reasons you would like to attend Berkeley Journalism at this point in your career.

No more than 500 words.

The Statement of Purpose is required for all applicants.

Please note: the Statement of Purpose should not duplicate the Personal History Statement.

No more than 500 words.

Make sure to address the following two topics in your Personal History Statement:

1. At the Graduate School of Journalism, we recognize the intrinsic relationship between diversity and excellence in all our endeavors. Diversity refers to the variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, academic and professional backgrounds, political beliefs, and geographic region, to name a few. Given this description of diversity, describe how you would add to the diversity of the Graduate School of Journalism community.
2. Describe how your personal background and experiences shaped your decision to pursue a journalism graduate degree, and how they have motivated you to become a reporter. Include any relevant information on how you overcame barriers to access higher education, or to achieve your journalistic goals.

The Personal History Statement is required for all applicants.

Please note: the Personal History Statement should not duplicate the Statement of Purpose.

1. Optional Supplemental Essay

No more than 300 words

The admissions team takes a holistic approach to application review and will consider achievements in the context of the opportunities available to an applicant. This essay is optional, and is for anyone who wishes to expand on hardships or unusual life circumstances that may have impacted their opportunities, achievements, and impact. It can be helpful to use this space to provide context for things such as a low GPA, a lack of related work experience, or any other part of the application that you feel might need some additional context.

2. Journalism Need-Based Funding Application 

All admitted students are automatically considered for merit-based departmental funding. To be considered for need-based departmental funding, you must complete this section of the application. The purpose of the financial need-based funding section is to determine relative need as compared to other applicants. Special consideration is given to applicants whose background and life experience contribute significantly to an educationally beneficial mix of students and enhance educational diversity. They may include applicants who have limited access to educational resources, who represent geographic diversity, who have preserved over economic disadvantage, who have shown exceptional fortitude by working many hours to support themselves during their education, or whose experience have brought about a perspective not widely represented within the program. Please explain your financial circumstances in the space provided, including details that will give us a more complete understanding of your financial situation and financial need. Fill out each section, including the Agreement, Essay and all other numerical questions. Incomplete applications will unfortunately not be considered (maximum 300 words) Please declare all amounts over $10.00 USD. If you have no funds in a category, please indicate $0.00 (zero). Be prepared to provide documentation, if requested, to verify the numbers that you submit.

For UC Berkeley Journalism, as only two letters of recommendation are required, for the 3rd recommender entry, you can put a placeholder of journalism_admissions@berkeley.edu and enter UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Important note: Your recommender will receive an email that the recommendation letter is due by our Round 2 deadline as the system allows auto populates the final admission deadline. However, it will be due by the Round deadline you intend to apply by.

It will be your responsibility to separately email your recommenders to let them know to complete it by the Round 1 deadline (priority consideration for scholarships). 

Appropriate recommenders are any non-family individual who can assess your academic, personal, or professional achievements and speak to your journalistic potential and ability to perform top graduate level work. Your recommenders may include, for example, professors, editors, employers, or community leaders. Students coming right out of their undergraduate studies may decide to lean more heavily on academic letters. If an applicant is further away from their undergrad degree, then that applicant can lean more heavily on more professional letters.

Requests for letters of recommendation are sent automatically through the online application. Recommenders will respond to this request and submit their letters directly to your online file. You will be able to view the status of the receipt of your recommendations through your online account, but you will not be able to see the content of the letters.

We require a minimum of two, and a maximum of three work samples. 

One sample must be a non-fiction writing sample, such as published or unpublished reporting, academic papers, or another kind of non-fiction writing.

Writing samples should be a maximum of five pages. We understand that you may have longer work samples. In that case, please submit your full paper but only highlight the five pages you would like the admissions committee to review that you believe best demonstrates your journalistic skill set. 

In addition to your non-fiction writing sample, we require up to two additional samples in any medium. This can include written pieces, audio pieces, photo essays, multimedia pieces, online projects like data-driven stories, in-depth interactive graphics or interactive documentaries; or other abstract new media forms, such as VR, apps, or similar projects.

We have a preference for journalistic work, but it's not mandatory. We understand that some people applying to the program will not have a background in journalism. Ideally your work samples will highlight your ability as a writer and/or storyteller. As a reminder, work samples can be published or unpublished.

All work samples must be in English, have English-language captions, or be accompanied by an English-language transcript. Please make sure to ensure the grammatical accuracy of the English translated version of your published works as well. You are welcome to include the link to the article too but please make sure your submission is in English or include English translations for the admissions committee.

Please upload work samples that are images or audio files on the Audio/Visual Uploads page and put a note in the work sample section saying "Please reference my other work samples in the audio/visual upload portion". 

Applicants should have a B.A. or B.S. from an accredited institution. Applicants must submit transcripts for ALL college-level course work. Applicants must submit transcripts for ALL college-level course work. Please submit separate transcripts for community college courses and study abroad courses. Transcripts can be unofficial but must show degree conferred (if any), the institution’s name, and the applicant’s full name. Transcripts must be uploaded into the online application as PDFs and must be legible. Hard copies will be required if admission is offered.

The University requires a minimum 3.0 GPA or its equivalent for all coursework after the first two years, (typically the first 60 semester units or 90 quarter units) of undergraduate study, for US citizens. For international students, the University requires a minimum 3.0 GPA or its equivalent for all undergraduate coursework.

Special Instructions on Calculating your GPA:
Please complete the three required GPA calculations on the application page.

1. Cumulative undergraduate GPA: This will be listed on your transcript.
2. Advanced GPA: You will most likely have to calculate this yourself. Calculate your GPA for all grades received after the first two years of college-level coursework. You can use this Application GPA Worksheet to help you.
3. Major GPA: This may be calculated on your transcript. If not, calculate your GPA for all courses taken in your master field of study.

Upload a one-page PDF of your current resume. Include links in your resume to highlight additional work.

Why do you want to be a journalist? Please upload a personal video to let us know about your professional background, your areas of interest, and why Berkeley Journalism. What do you hope to achieve during this program and beyond? The video can be up to 4 minutes long in length.   

Any format in which this video is composed will be acceptable. 

The video can be submitted as a video file in the Audio/Visual Uploads section of the application. Please label your submission as Your Full Name - Personal Video.

1. We do not require the GRE.

2. All applicants from countries/regions in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. 

For Berkeley Journalism, the suggested minimum TOEFL score is 105 and suggested minimum IELTS score is 7.5. However, all completed applications are reviewed even if you score below the minimum. The University is accepting the TOEFL ibt At Home exam. But the University is NOT accepting the ITP, the TOEFL ITP Plus for Mainland China, or the My Best Scores.

Review the information on the Graduate Admissions website for more information on how to apply for a TOEFL/IELTS exemption.

After submitting your application, you may be asked to complete a virtual interview.

Interviews are conducted up until the end of the application review process. The admissions department will not be able to tell you any information about your application status until final decisions are emailed out some time between late February and middle of March.

We interview more students than are ultimately offered admission, so the offer of an interview should not be seen as an indicator of admission.

Merit-Based Funding

All admitted students are automatically considered for merit-based departmental funding through a holistic review like we practice for admissions. Please note: the Round 1 application deadline is priority consideration for limited Berkeley Journalism departmental funding. 

Need-Based Funding

To be considered for need-based departmental funding you must complete the Need-Based Funding essay in the application. The purpose of the essay is to determine relative need as compared to other applicants.

Application Fee Waivers

Financial Hardship University Application Fee Waiver

The University's Graduate Admissions department oversees financial hardship fee waivers. Please refer to the UC Berkeley Graduate Division fee waiver page to request a financial hardship application fee waiver. The form to request a fee waiver is included in the payment section of the online application. To be considered, applicants need to select the waiver payment option and upload any required supporting documents before submitting the online application. 

Federal Student Aid & Outside Funding

Visit the Cost and Financial Aid page for more information about federal grants, loans, and work-study qualification. We strongly recommend that applicants start applying to outside funding as early as possible, as some deadlines are early.

International students, please read over the Financial Aid for International Students webpage.