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Major Requirements

communication department

Class of 2014

Class of 2015 and beyond

For the Class of 2013 and prior Classes

Eleven courses are required for the major, consisting of the following four common requirements, four distributed requirements, and three electives.

Four Common Requirements (four courses)

  • CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition
    This course, and/or CO 020, should be taken before any other course in the major.
  • CO 020 - Survey of Mass Communication
    This course, and/or CO 010, should be taken before any other course in the major.
  • CO 030 - Public Speaking
  • One of CO 330 Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural*
    *Please note for Classes of 2013 and 2014 - CO 330, CO 340, or CO 350 can fulfill the major research methods requirement. CO 350 will be replaced by CO 330/340 beginning Fall 2012.

Four Distributed Requirements (four courses)

One of the Cluster Courses:
  • CO 040 - Interpersonal Communication (formerly numbered CO 253)
  • CO 249 - Communication Law
  • CO 250 - Mass Communication Ethics
  • CO 251 - Gender and Media
  • CO 255 - Media Aesthetics
  • CO 260 - American Public Address
  • CO 263 - Media, Law and Society
  • CO 268 - Business of Electronic Media
One of the Theory Courses:
  • Any course numbered between CO 360 and CO 380
  • Theory courses should not be taken until after a student has completed
    CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition, CO 020 - Survey of Mass Communication, CO 030 - Public Speaking, and one of CO 330 Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural.
Two Writing-Intensive Seminars:
  • Any two courses numbered between CO 425 and CO 475
  • These are upper-level courses and should not be taken until after a student has completed CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition, CO020 - Survey of Mass Communication, CO 030 - Public Speaking, and one of CO 330 Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural. Freshmen and sophomores should never register for writing-intensive seminars.

Three Electives (three courses)

  • May be chosen from available courses in the department
  • Note: Any three-hour class offered by the department can be counted as an elective, including CO 589 - Senior Internship Seminar and CO 592 - Honors Thesis. A limit of one three-credit internship (Senior Internship Seminar) may be taken as an elective.

 

For the Class of 2014

Thirty-three credits are required for the major, consisting of the following four common requirements, four distributed requirements, and three electives.

Four Common Requirements (12 credits)

  • CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition
    This course, and/or CO 020, should be taken before any other course in the major.
  • CO 020 - Survey of Mass Communication
    This course, and/or CO 010, should be taken before any other course in the major.
  • CO 030 - Public Speaking
  • One of CO 330 Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural*
    *Please note for Classes of 2013 and 2014 - CO 330, CO 340, or CO 350 can fulfill the major research methods requirement. CO 350 will be replaced by CO 330/340 beginning Fall 2012.

Four Distributed Requirements (12 credits)

One of the Cluster Courses:
  • CO 040 - Interpersonal Communication (formerly numbered CO 253)
  • CO 249 - Communication Law
  • CO 250 - Mass Communication Ethics
  • CO 251 - Gender and Media
  • CO 255 - Media Aesthetics
  • CO 260 - American Public Address
  • CO 263 - Media, Law and Society
  • CO 268 - Business of Electronic Media
One of the Theory Courses:
  • Any course numbered between CO 360 and CO 380
  • Theory courses should not be taken until after a student has completed CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition, CO 020 - Survey of Mass Communication, CO 030 - Public Speaking, and one of CO 330 Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural.
Two Writing-Intensive Seminars:
  • Any two courses numbered between CO 425 and CO 475
  • These are upper-level courses and should not be taken until after a student has completed CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition, CO020 - Survey of Mass Communication, CO 030 - Public Speaking, and one of CO 330 Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural. Freshmen and sophomores should never register for writing-intensive seminars.

Three Electives (nine credits)

  • May be chosen from available courses in the department.
  • Note: Any three-hour class offered by the department can be counted as an elective, including CO 589 - Senior Internship Seminar and CO 592 - Honors Thesis. A limit of one three-credit internship (Senior Internship Seminar) may be taken as an elective.

For the Class of 2015 and beyond

Thirty-three credits are required for the major, consisting of the following five common requirements, three distributed requirements, and three electives.

Five Common Requirements (15 credits)

  • CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition
    This course, and/or CO 020 and CO 040, should be taken before any other course in the major.
  • CO 020 - Survey of Mass Communication
    This course, and/or CO 010 and CO 040, should be taken before any other course in the major.
  • CO 030 - Public Speaking
  • CO 040 - Interpersonal Communication
    This course, and/or CO 010 and CO 020, should be taken before any other course in the major.
  • One of CO 330 - Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 - Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural. CO 330 and CO 340 will be offered beginning Fall 2012.

Three Distributed Requirements (Nine credits)

One of the Theory Courses:

  • Any course numbered between CO 360 and CO 380
  • Theory courses should not be taken until after a student has completed CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition, CO 020 - Survey of Mass Communication, CO 030 - Public Speaking, CO 040 - Interpersonal Communication and one of CO 330 - Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 - Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural.

Two Writing-Intensive Seminars:

  • Any two courses numbered between CO 425 and CO 475
  • These are upper-level courses and should not be taken until after a student has completed CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition, CO 020 - Survey of Mass Communication, CO 030 - Public Speaking, CO 040 - Interpersonal Communication and one of CO 330 - Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 - Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural. Freshmen and sophomores should never register for writing-intensive seminars.

Three Electives (Nine credits)

May be chosen from any three hour classes offered by the department. Please note the following: 1) a maximum of six transfer credits will be accepted by the department and 2) a limit of one three-credit internship may be taken as an elective.

Full-time communication majors in the College of Arts and Sciences can count one three-credit course from the Woods College as a communication elective. This rule does not apply to courses transferred from another institution or to students transferring from another college within Boston College.

Sequence of Courses

The three required survey courses (CO 010 - Rhetorical Tradition, CO 020 - Survey of Mass Communication, and CO 040 - Interpersonal Communication) should be taken before all other courses in the major, followed by CO 030 - Public Speaking and one of CO 330 - Communication Methods: Social Science or CO 340 - Communication Methods: Critical/Cultural.