Media Studies
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
COLLEGE OF LETTERS & SCIENCE
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Media Studies

Transfers

Welcome to UC Berkeley! Congratulations on being admitted to the College of Letters & Science!

We are delighted you are interested in the Media Studies major and look forward to advising you. This page is intended to help new incoming junior transfer students prepare for transitioning to UC Berkeley and the Media Studies major.

We look forward to meeting you. Go Bears!

Laura Demir and Chelsea Prieto
Media Studies Student Academic Advisors

Direct Admission vs. Declaring

Beginning in Fall 2026, new transfer students who intended Media Studies on their UC Berkeley application are automatically declared and do not need to take any other action to join the major.

Transfer students who did not intend or select Media Studies on their UC Berkeley application will still need to become eligible and then declare the Media Studies major.

Transfer students who started at UC Berkeley before Fall 2026 will still need to follow Media Studies declaration steps and requirements.

To confirm whether you’ve been declared in the Media Studies major, start by logging in to your UC Berkeley CalCentral. Select the “My Academics” tab at the top of screen and you’ll be taken to your Academic Profile.

If you see “Media Studies” as your major, then you are already declared in the major (see image below). If you do not see a concentration name underneath “Media Studies”, please get in touch with us at mediastudies_advising@berkeley.edu to have this added.

If you see “ Letters & Sci Undeclared” or another program as your major, then you are not currently declared in Media Studies (see image below).

Students who are already declared in Media Studies do not need to take any other action to join the major. However, any remaining prerequisite courses that are not completed prior to transferring must be completed in order to graduate. This includes Media Studies 10, which must be completed at UC Berkeley.

Double check your CalCentral and make sure you have a concentration listed with your Media Studies major. If you do not see a concentration listed, please get in touch with us at mediastudies_advising@berkeley.edu to have this added.

Transfer students who did not intend Media Studies on their UC Berkeley application or are adding Media Studies as a second major will still need to follow the steps to declare the Media Studies major. 

To become eligible to declare the Media Studies major, students must complete all four prerequisite courses, earn a C or better in each, and must maintain at least a 2.0 major GPA at the time of declaration. If eligible for declaration, students must then submit the Media Studies Major Declaration Form during an open declaration period. Applications outside of these dates are not accepted.

For more information including eligibility requirements, declaration period dates, and steps to declare, please visit Declaring.

Information For All Transfer Students

Below are important dates and details related to Media Studies, Golden Bear Advising (GBA), and Golden Bear Orientation (GBO):

  • Golden Bear Advising (GBA) is from June 16-June 30.
  • Visit Berkeley Golden Bear Orientation (GBO) and see Berkeley GBO: Dates and Deadlines.
  • Media Studies 10 is offered during Summer Sessions 2026 and begins on June 23. If interested in enrolling during the summer and seats are available, visit Summer Session and Transfer Edge.
  • Fall 2026 enrollment for new junior transfer students begins on Tuesday, July 15. Check your specific Phase I enrollment time in CalCentral. Go to “My Academics” and your Enrollment Times are listed in the top right column.
  • On June 24, the Media Studies Academic Advisors will start sending announcements to incoming transfer students through L&S Golden Bear Advising FL26 in bCourses/Canvas. This is how we will communicate with you as a group during GBA and beyond.
  • New junior transfer students who intended Media Studies on their application to UC Berkeley, will automatically be added to the Media Studies GBA Group.
  • New junior transfer students who did not intend Media Studies on their application to UC Berkeley, should email mediastudies_advising@berkeley.edu to request to be added to the group.

 

Below are the first steps incoming junior transfer students should take in preparation to participate in Golden Bear Advising (GBA), which is from June 24 through July 8, and enroll in classes on Tuesday, July 15:

  1. Plan ahead. Read through this page and block off time on your calendar to prepare for GBA and do the tasks required during GBA. How much time a student needs will differ from student to student. Make adjustments to your time blocks as needed. What you need to know to plan a successful fall semester can not be learned in a last minute rush. The time you devote to preparing for your first fall semester will serve you well and can improve the quality of your future semesters and overall undergraduate academic experience.
  2. Get to know us. Read through the Media Studies website, paying particular attention to the Declared Fall 2021 or Later Curriculum on Requirements page as well as the Declaring: Overview and Declaring: Prerequisites pages.
  3. Complete Golden Bear Advising (GBA), including all four GBA modules, one focused on L&S, by the end of GBA, which is July 8. Watch for bCourses announcements and emails from the Media Studies Program.
  4. Identify the Media Studies prerequisites you’ve already completed and make a plan for completing the remaining prerequisites for the major in fall 2025. See below, Section A.
  5. Decide which concentration–Digital Studies, Global Cultural Studies, or Media Law & Policy – you want to pursue. See below, Section B.
  6. Plan your first semester courses and enroll. See below, Section C.
  7. Check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). See below, Section D.

Identify the Media Studies prerequisites you have already completed and make a plan to take the remaining prerequisites in fall 2025. All four prerequisites must be completed before declaring the major which is best done in fall 2025 or spring 2026 to meet L&S’s Unit Ceiling and Semester Limit requirements. Transfer students should start off by reviewing the Declaring: Overview and Declaring: Prerequisites pages.

Identify your Media Studies transfer coursework

If you attended a California community college, look up your community college, UC Berkeley, and Media Studies on assist.org. If a course is on Assist, it has been approved as a Media Studies prerequisite. For courses not on assist.org, you will need to submit the course description and syllabus for approval using the Intended Majors Media Studies Course Substitution Form for our faculty to review. We encourage you to do this during GBA. The decision will be emailed to you. Do not assume you have met a course requirement without going through this course review.
Notes:
1) It is important that you check assist.org for yourself now.
2) If two community college courses are required to equal one Media Studies prerequisite, make sure you have taken both community college courses; otherwise, you have not satisfied the prerequisite requirement. This can happen with History 7B and Economics 1 equivalents. It could happen with others.
3) If you satisfied IGETC requirements, it does not mean you satisfied major prerequisite requirements. IGETC and major requirements are different sets of requirements.
4) California community college course equivalent approvals differ from school to school, even in the same district. You must check assist.org for the specific school(s) you attended.
If you attended another school, four-year college, or out-of-state school that is not on assist.org, compare the list of Media Studies prerequisites to your other school’s transcript. If you think you have a course that may satisfy any of these prerequisite requirements, you will need to submit a course description and syllabus for review using the Intended Majors Media Studies Course Substitution Form. We encourage you to do this during GBA. The decision will be emailed to you. Do not assume you have met a course requirement without going through this course review.
Note: If you attended a four-year university and think you may have satisfied a Media Studies elective requirement with a course you took there, you may also submit it for review using the same form. The course would need to be letter-graded and upper-division (junior or senior level) per UC Berkeley’s Central Evaluation Unit in addition to Media Studies faculty approved to satisfy the requirement.)

Plan to apply to the Media Studies Major in your first or second semester at Cal

After you have reviewed the major prerequisites and have identified the prerequisites you have already satisfied via your transfer coursework, you have got the information you need to determine what prerequisites you need to take to be eligible to declare the Media Studies major and when you will be able to apply. It is important that you complete the four prerequisites you need to be eligible to declare to the Media Studies major during your first (fall 2025) or second (spring 2026) semester at Cal. The Media Studies declaration form and declaration periods are on Declaring: Overview.

Media Studies 10: Introduction to Media Studies must be taken at UC Berkeley.* If you are interested in taking this course during the summer before fall 2025, visit Media Studies 10 – Summer 2025, Summer Sessions 2025, and Transfer Edge. If you are not able to take Media Studies 10 during Summer 2025, prioritize enrolling in Media Studies 10 – Fall 2025.

* Requiring Media Studies 10 to be taken at UC Berkeley began in fall 2020. If you took an approved Media Studies 10 equivalent at a California community college summer 2020 or before per assist.org, it may satisfy this requirement.

Media Studies offers the following three areas of concentration in its curriculum:

  • Digital Studies
  • Global Cultural Studies
  • Media Law & Policy

 

Familiarize yourself with the concentrations and decide which one would be best for your academic interests. Students select their area of concentration when they declare the major, and may begin taking concentration area electives before declaring, so it’s good to determine which concentration you’d like to pursue early on. These electives will be part of your major declaration GPA, along with your prerequisites, if you complete them before you declare the major. Your major declaration GPA needs to be above a 2.0.

General Information/Tips

Read Courses: Course Enrollment Information on the Media Studies website.
Review Courses: Courses by Term on the Media Studies website. This page includes term-specific courses being offered.
Look up course descriptions and class meeting information on the UC Berkeley Class Schedule.
Plan to take between 13 to 16 units. We recommend taking 13 units*, the minimum required by the College of Letters and Science, your first semester. It is important to be kind to yourself as you adjust to a new school, new academic community, and new classes. We want you to set yourself up to have a successful first semester and application to Media Studies.
All courses taken for the Media Studies major must be taken for a letter grade**.
Make a list of the courses you need and would like to take your first semester. It is important to have an alternate course plan in case you end up on any wait list. If you add yourself to the waitlist for a course, have an alternate course plan and attend both classes. You are not guaranteed a seat in a waitlisted course.
* Students are required to take a minimum of 13 units each semester. Read L&S Unit Minimum and Maximum in a Semester if you have questions about course loads and requesting a reduced course load.
** Due to COVID-19, P grades were allowed for spring 2020 at all schools.
What courses do we recommend you take if you are not eligible to apply to the major your first semester at Cal?

Media Studies has four prerequisites.  All four prerequisites must be completed with a letter grade of C or better before you declare the major. Prerequisites not completed before fall 2025 begins, whether at another school or UC Berkeley Summer Sessions 2025, will need to be taken in fall 2025 for you to be eligible to declare Media Studies in spring 2026.

Below are some possible courses to consider:

PRIORITY: Media Studies 10: Introduction to Media Studies – This course is a must if you have not taken an approved equivalent at your other school before fall 2020 or are not taking Media Studies 10 at UC Berkeley during Summer Sessions 2025.
PRIORITY: Remaining prerequisites needed to declare Media Studies in spring 2026.
A major elective–an approved concentration elective or upper-division elective (numbered 100 – 199) from any of the three concentrations. See Courses: Courses by Term.
A course for an alternate* or intended double major or minor.
A course of interest to balance out the semester.
Do not plan on enrolling in or wait-listing for core courses (Media Studies 111B, 112 or 113) offered by Media Studies. You will need to wait until the semester you are eligible to apply to the major to waitlist or enroll in core courses offered by Media Studies.
Note: The Media Studies declaration GPA will include the prerequisites and any course that applies to the major completed before the declaration form is submitted.
* If you are concerned you will not meet the grade requirements to declare Media Studies or want to consider a different major, you could consider enrolling in another major’s prerequisite course. Visit Explore Majors and Minors on the L&S Advising website.

 

What courses do we recommend you take if you are eligible to apply to the major your first semester at Cal?

Media Studies has four prerequisites. Being eligible to declare the major in fall 2025 means you have completed all four prerequisites with grades of C or better in each before fall 2025 begins and you must have a major declaration GPA of 2.0 or above. This GPA includes the major prerequisites and any other courses you have taken to satisfy other Media Studies course requirements. Your grades for all four prerequisites need to be available to declare. Visit Applying: Overview for declaration requirements, declaration periods, declaration form, and other information.

We encourage you to take two courses for the major and one or two other courses to satisfy non-major degree requirements. Below are some possible courses to consider when selecting the two courses to take related to the major:

A core course (Media Studies 111B, 112, or 113) if space is available. See Courses: Courses by Term.
A major elective–an approved concentration elective or upper-division elective (numbered 100 – 199) from any of the three concentrations. You could take two if a core course is not available. See Courses: Courses by Term.
A course for an alternate* or intended double major or minor.
A course of interest to balance out the semester.
** If you are concerned you will not meet the grade requirements to declare Media Studies or want to consider a different major, you could consider enrolling in another major’s prerequisite course. Visit Explore Majors and Minors on the Berkeley L&S Advising website.

 

What other courses do we recommend beyond the ones listed above to help you reach between 13 – 16 units?

LS 198: Transitioning to Cal: An Introduction to the Research University for Transfers
L&S 1: First Year Discovery Course
L&S 104: Openness to Opposing View (asynchronous)
A DeCal class – student created and facilitated courses
Berkeley Connect – an academic mentoring course
A course that could satisfy your American Cultures (AC) requirement if you know for certain you have not taken one at your other school. If you are not sure you need one, you could wait and take this course in a future term. It could possibly be a course that satisfies both a Media Studies major and AC course requirement.

Q: Where do you go for advice about non-major degree requirements in the College of Letters and Science?
A: Visit the L&S Office of Undergraduate Advising on Berkeley L&S Advising and get to know this website well. Review Degree Requirements. If you cannot find your answer, ask an L&S College Adviser.
Q: Where do you go if you have questions not answered on the Media Studies website?
A: If you have a specific question or two, email mediastudies_advising@berkeley.edu and include your student ID# in the email. If you have multiple or complex questions, schedule an appointment or come to drop-in advising with a Media Studies Student Academic Advisor, Laura Demir and Chelsea Prieto. Our advising pages include instructions for both meeting options.
Q: Is there any other information I should review beyond this page?
A: Yes! Your GBA L&S Modules in bCourses are a must now and will be a valuable resource to refer back to in the future. Read your UC Berkeley emails too. A lot of important information and updates are shared that way from various campus offices. We also recommend reading through the Golden Bear Orientation (GBO), reviewing the Academic Progress and Planning pages on the Berkeley L&S Advising, as well as taking some time to familiarize yourself with CalCentral. The Office of the Registrar and Cal Student Central websites can be helpful too. These pages are worth bookmarking.