FAQs

Applications to the Master of Media in Journalism and Communication program open on October 1st. The deadline to apply is February 1st. Applications must be submitted within this time frame in order to be considered.

During the application process you will be asked to submit the names and contact information (including email address) of two academic referees. Within 24 hours of submitting this information, each referee will receive a request and a link via email to complete an electronic recommendation form. You will receive a confirmation email when the referees have submitted their forms.

If several years have passed since you attended university, references from supervisors in professional employment may be substituted.

Acceptance notifications are sent out by email in early April.

Applicants are not required to have any journalism or communications experience before applying to the program. If available, include samples of published journalism-related and communications-related work. You can also share evidence of personal or professional media activities such as blogs, audio work, video work, design work, social media, and anything related to using media to tell a story.

Our teaching approach is based on a mix of practical skills, hands-on experience and theory to shape students into critical thinkers and professionally ready media practitioners. Required and elective courses contain a mix of production, theory and critical thinking skills, giving our graduates a step up compared to purely production-oriented programs.

By completing your class assignments and projects you will gain practical experience in researching, writing and sharing stories through a variety of mediums. Hands-on training and practice with video cameras, editing software and design software will allow you to enter the professional world already experienced in using a variety of industry-standard technologies. You will also deepen your critical thinking skills, learn about the complex array of social institutions such as law and the political economy of media that affect professional practice, and develop and appreciate the importance of ethical awareness.

Students are required to take the course “Doing Democracy Right or Doing Right by Democracy?” which will provide you with theoretical frameworks borrowed from ethics, cultural studies and the political economy of media to explore what role story-telling practices can fill in democracies. A second course in Media Law introduces students to the rights and legal responsibilities of journalists and communicators. Students will spend time examining concepts such as privacy, copyright and freedom of expression.

The majority of evaluations in the MMJC program are project-based. Students will work on a variety of practical assignments that build their writing, storytelling, editing and communication skills. Projects may include creating marketing plans, writing press releases and scripts, producing videos and podcasts, building websites, and more. Some courses are more academically focused and will include writing papers and doing presentations.

In the first semester, students will take classes that teach both journalism and communication skills. In the second semester, students can select their electives and choose to take more journalism-related courses or communication-related courses. If students have an interest in both fields, they can take both journalism and communication courses in the second term.

Students apply for internships during the first and second semesters. Graduate Student Services staff will provide a list of current internship opportunities, but students are also able to independently find and apply for other internship opportunities within the journalism or communications industries. Graduate Students Services staff and MMJC faculty have many existing relationships with potential internship providers and will be available to help students apply and succeed in their internship placements.

A few notable placements include Bell Media, CTV Toronto, CBC London, ET Canada, Sportsnet, Canada Life, London Humane Society, London Police Services and Lashbrook Marketing and PR. Students may also complete an international internship if a suitable opportunity is available.

Today's journalists and communications professionals need advanced media skills, as well as the ability to anticipate which new tools and digital platforms will help them tell their stories best. Both fields rely on common skills such as storytelling, professional writing, interviewing, research, data analytics and metrics, multimedia and social networking fluency. Our grads work across many industries: news organizations, marketing and PR agencies, government ministries, hospitals, NGOs, technology businesses, banks, organizations and corporations—large and small.

If you’re interested in a career in communications, PR or marketing, the MMJC program is a great option for you. The first semester of the program introduces students to the fundamentals of both the journalism and communications industries. However, the second semester allows students to be more selective with their courses, and you can choose to take courses that are more geared toward communications and marketing. Many of the skills learned in the MMJC program apply to both journalism and communication, but elective course selection allows students to zero in on the area they are more interested in pursuing.

You do not need to have any experience in journalism or communication to be considered for the program. Some students do, and others do not. We start teaching MMJC students with the assumption that they have no experience in journalism and communication.

While the workload is heavy in this fast-paced, accelerated one-year program, some MMJC students have successfully worked part-time jobs while studying in the program. Please note that class attendance is a requirement of the MMJC program which means that students must prioritize their academic commitments if they are also working. 

There are a number of scholarships available to MMJC students each year. Some entrance scholarships are automatically awarded to students without the need to apply. These students are notified about the scholarship when they receive their offer of admission. Other entrance scholarships require an application and students will be notified when applications are open in July or August. There are also scholarships that become available throughout the year which are highlighted by staff from Graduate Student Services. Each scholarship comes with an application procedure and list of criteria or requirements, all of which will be available when the scholarship opens for applicants.