Media Studies BA

About this programme

The Media Studies major integrates perspectives from liberal arts, social sciences, and humanities and offers an interdisciplinary framework to understand the essential role that media plays in economic, social, political, and cultural life. It weds traditions from communication, history, anthropology, sociology, political science and more with critical theories and cultural studies to analyze the role and meaning of media in our societies. Our emphasis in this major is historical and theoretical, examining media systems, institutions, technologies, policies, and practices. We offer students the analytical tools available to investigate media—old and new, local and global—across the diverse media landscape. The Media Studies major offers three areas of concentration: Digital Studies, Global Cultural Studies, or Media Law and Policy. Declaring the Major Students must complete four prerequisites to declare the Media Studies major. To be eligible to declare, they must have 1) a C or better in each of the four prerequisites and 2) a GPA of 2.0 in the prerequisites and any course that applies to the major course requirements. Students also need to verify that they will be able to complete UC, UC Berkeley, L&S, and Media Studies requirements per the L&S Unit Ceiling and Semester Limits . All courses for the major, including prerequisites, must be taken for a letter grade. Visit Major Requirements for a list of prerequisites. Students are encouraged to declare as soon as they are eligible during specific application periods. Visit the Media Studies website , including the Applying: Overview Page , for more information about declaring to the major.