Journalism Academic Advising
The Journalism major is fairly straightforward, but there are some things you should know to graduate on time.
The most important consideration is timing. Certain courses have prerequisites, so they must be taken in order. Others are offered only once each year. While you won’t need to worry about these issues your first year, you should start to plot out your path to graduation in your second and third years.
None of this replaces your advisor. Bring a plan to your faculty advisor, then let them find the holes in it.
Here we cover what to plan for so you can spend your final year building a portfolio of excellent work rather than chasing permission numbers.
If you started under quarters: Cal Poly moved to semesters in fall 2026, and every journalism course now has a new four-digit number and a new unit value. Bring your degree plan to your advisor before you register.
Second Year: Looking Ahead
Step 1: Review Second Year Info Slides
Click here to view the department's on-demand resource for second-year advising. From declaring your concentration to studying abroad and graduating on time, you will find the answers to your questions!
Choosing a Concentration
Students who started as freshmen should declare their concentration path in fall of their second year. Use this form to begin the process.
You should start taking concentration path classes in spring semester. Check out these flowcharts for year-by-year suggested plans of study based on the different concentrations.
Studying Abroad
With planning, you can complete a major and a minor and still study abroad for a semester without pushing back your graduation date. That planning, however, must start now.
We partner with CIEE Global Institutes and SIT programs, with journalism options in London, Rome, Berlin, Paris, South Africa, Morocco, Nicaragua, Serbia and Bosnia. Start at the Cal Poly International Center, then bring what you find to your advisor.
Student Media Leadership
You can apply for a leadership position in Mustang Media whatever year you are in. If you are selected, you take JOUR 4455, Media Management Laboratory, alongside the role. These positions turn over every year as seniors graduate, so applying in your second year is not too early.
Media Technology Electives
You will choose two of these. They are the courses that decide what you can actually build by the time you graduate, so pick for the skills you want rather than for the schedule that looks easiest.
| Course | What you will do |
|---|---|
| JOUR 3303 Video Storytelling |
Bring video, still images and audio online, from inception through production to publication. |
| JOUR 3310 Advanced Digital Journalism |
Build and publish digital content, working with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. |
| JOUR 3315 Public Relations and Advertising Production |
Learn the technical and aesthetic fundamentals of video communication for public service and advertising work. |
| JOUR 3338 Podcasting |
Write, produce, edit, distribute, market and monetize a podcast. Lab work includes a pilot and full episodes. |
| JOUR 3350 Data Journalism |
Find stories inside data sets and present them through interactive online displays. |
| JOUR 3378 Advanced Sportscasting |
Report and write sports for broadcast, web and social, including play-by-play, plus the sports journalism job search. |
| JOUR 3390 Visual Communication for the Mass Media |
Apply visual communication across digital, broadcast and print, working in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and WordPress. |
Third Year: Setting up your Final Year
Step 1: Review Third Year Info Slides
Click here to view the department's on-demand resource for third-year advising. From senior project, to internships to graduation, you will find the answers to your questions!
Your Internship
You will complete JOUR 4444, Media Internship, before you graduate. Your prerequisite is JOUR 3352, JOUR 3353, JOUR 3313 or JOUR 3385, plus consent of instructor. Took the quarter version? JOUR 352, JOUR 353, JOUR 385 and JOUR 413 still count.
Line this up early. The proposal has to be approved before you can register, which means the search starts a term or two ahead of the internship itself.
Start Planning your Internship
Your Senior Project
You will complete one of these. Talk to your advisor about which fits the work you want to leave with.
Full Senior Project information
| Course | What it is |
|---|---|
| JOUR 4460 Senior Project |
For those driven to do a specialized research project. You work on an individual research paper or project with a faculty advisor. We accept about five students per year, so talk to faculty early. |
| JOUR 4462 Senior Project: Media Practicum |
For News and Media Innovation students. You do team-based storytelling (researching, writing, producing multimedia, creating audience engagement strategies, etc.) for publication. You first need to take either JOUR 3352 or JOUR 3353 or JOUR 3354. |
| JOUR 4464 Senior Project: Public Relations Practicum |
For Public Relations students. You practice advanced public relations with real clients through MNPR. You will need JOUR 3313 first. |
Your practicum requirement
All of the senior project courses have prerequisites, which means you can’t take them at the same time. Plan ahead, by taking the relevant prerequisite during your third year.
Graduation Requirements
These apply no matter which year you are in, and the earlier you know them the better.
- 120 semester units, of which 40 must be upper division. 60 will be from the journalism major and the statistics support course, 37 are GE units, and 23 are free electives.
- A 2.0 GPA or better, both overall and in the major.
- The Graduation Writing Requirement. It’s best to complete it well before your final year.
- A meeting with your CLA advisor at least one semester before your planned graduation date.
Once you reach roughly 75% completion, your graduation date is set for you, and you are entered for commencement automatically. The deadline arrives whether or not you have been tracking it, so check your plan against this list every year.
Questions
Talk to your journalism advisor or your concentration coordinator, and ask any questions early. You can solve almost any scheduling problem in this major if you plan ahead.