Community College to UC Communication:Prerequisites by Campus

For a community college transfer to UC in communication, major names and admission methods differ widely across campuses. The UC communication transfer pathway covers only four campuses. Related majors at other campuses have different names, such as Media Studies at UC Berkeley. UCLA sets a minimum GPA of 3.7 for communication, while UC Santa Barbara first admits students as pre-majors. The main difficulty of this major is that the rules are not uniform across campuses. The data section below lists transfer admission figures for this major at each campus.

Common Prerequisites

This section explains the communication prerequisites listed in the UC Transfer Pathway. UC Transfer Pathways are prerequisite lists that UC has compiled for popular majors. UC states that completing the courses on the list satisfies all transfer coursework requirements for the participating majors. The communication pathway applies to the communication majors at UC Davis, UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara.

Course type	Courses	Notes
Statistics	1
Introduction to Communication Studies	1 to 2	Covers mass communication and interpersonal communication; the number of courses depends on the college
Symbolic logic, introduction to computing, introduction to cultural studies	Choose 1
Public speaking, linguistics, introduction to psychology, introduction to sociology	Choose 3

Community colleges offer an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) in communication studies. UC notes that the main difference between some ADTs and the pathway is the statistics course. Verify the local course number for each course by following the ASSIST guide.

Campus-by-Campus Differences

This section compares the requirements of the four pathway campuses and three similar majors. The table below lists only what each campus admissions office or department states on its website.

Campus and major	Screening	Minimum GPA	Prerequisites and notes
UC Davis communication	Not on the selective major list	Admission minimum 2.80	Admissions office lists no additional prerequisites
UCLA communication	Highly competitive; direct admission required	3.7	At least 4 major preparation courses completed by the end of the fall term of the year before transfer
UC San Diego communication	Not on the screening major list	No major minimum listed	The department also offers a Media Industries and Communication major
UC Santa Barbara communication	Pre-major first	Pre-major course GPA of 3.00 after enrollment	Complete 4 pre-major courses after enrollment, then apply to the full major
UC Berkeley Media Studies	Admitted by the College of Letters and Science	3.0	Introduction to Media Studies must be taken at UC Berkeley
UC Merced communication and media	Major requirements must be completed	2.4; 2.8 for nonresidents	Two communication or related courses with grades of B or better
UC Riverside Media and Cultural Studies	Not listed in the admissions office guide	2.4	Prepare according to ASSIST

UCLA preparation courses include introduction to interpersonal and mass communication, public speaking, one course in linguistics or cultural communication, statistics, and three social science courses. The social science courses can be chosen from introduction to psychology, American government, introduction to sociology and microeconomics. If ASSIST lists two courses as the equivalent of UCLA introductory communication, both must be completed at the same college. The UCLA transfer profile shows that Communication had 964 applicants in fall 2025, with an admit rate of 13%. The UC San Diego Department of Communication states that its two majors require only 13 and 16 courses, respectively, so transfer students can complete them within two years. Starting in fall 2027, the UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science admits transfer students directly into their chosen major. The Media Studies FAQ page still states that students apply to the major separately after enrollment, so how the two fit together should follow the latest guidance from the college.

TAG Availability

This section explains whether TAG applies to communication. TAG is the Transfer Admission Guarantee. UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego do not participate in TAG. The table below is based on the June 9, 2026 version of the TAG matrix and applies to fall 2027 admission.

Campus	TAG minimum GPA	Status of communication-related majors
UC Davis	3.2 (College of Letters and Science)	Communication is not on the selective major list
UC Santa Barbara	3.4	Communication has a pre-major; TAG guarantees only pre-major status
UC Merced	2.8 (School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts)	Communication and media requires minimum major prerequisites
UC Riverside	2.8 (College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences)	Media and Cultural Studies is not on the TAG major preparation list
UC Irvine	3.4	The communication pathway does not list a major at this campus
UC Santa Cruz	3.0	The communication pathway does not list a major at this campus

The list of majors newly excluded from TAG at UC Irvine starting in fall 2028 contains no communication-related majors. The full rules are in Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG).

Sample Two-Year Course Plan

This section gives a sample plan for a community college on the semester system. Following the UCLA timeline, the sample completes 4 preparation courses by the end of the second fall term.

Term	Major prerequisites	General education and core courses
First-year fall	Introduction to communication; introduction to psychology	English composition
First-year spring	Public speaking; introduction to sociology	Second English composition course; mathematics
Second-year fall	Statistics; linguistics	One humanities course
Second-year spring	Symbolic logic or introduction to cultural studies	Remaining general education courses

A community college on the quarter system has three regular quarters per academic year, so the courses above can be spread over six quarters. Most communication prerequisites are social science courses, which readily overlap with general education courses. The UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science does not require Cal-GETC but strongly recommends completing it as well. UC Merced recommends that students in social science and humanities majors complete Cal-GETC. The UC Riverside College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences requires completion of Cal-GETC or the college’s own general education.

EDUBUS advice: UCLA requires a GPA of 3.7 and completion of 4 preparation courses by the end of the fall term of the year before transfer. Students targeting UCLA should complete introductory communication and public speaking in the first academic year. The transferable GPA should stay above 3.7 whenever possible. TAG at UC Santa Barbara guarantees only pre-major status, and students must still reach a pre-major course GPA of 3.00 after enrollment. Students who need TAG can compare UC Davis, where the College of Letters and Science threshold is 3.2. For GPA calculation, see How the Transfer GPA Is Calculated; for application essays, see Personal Insight Questions (PIQ).