Admission & Enrollment Policies

Requirements for Admission

Students will apply to the College of Media, Communication and Information in one of the six undergraduate majors. Students who are not eligible for admission directly into the major may be placed in a major in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Transfer Students

Students applying to transfer into the College of Media, Communication and Information from another institution must have 24 semester hours of college credit and must have completed the equivalent of the introductory courses in the specific major with a GPA of at least 3.00, both overall and in the major courses. Students without 24 hours of credit or the prerequisite courses should apply to the College of Arts and Sciences. See the Undergraduate Admission section of this catalog for transfer student admission standards.

Attendance Regulations

Students are expected to attend classes regularly and to comply with the attendance policies specified by their instructors at the beginning of each semester. A student who does not attend the equivalent of the first week’s sessions of a class during a term may be administratively dropped from the class.

Credit Policies

Pass/Fail

In addition to the university’s general policies, majors in the CMCI may not take any MAPS, core requirements, certificate or minor courses, business, additional field of study or CMCI courses pass/fail, but any other course may be taken pass/fail. Up to six hours may be taken pass/fail, except for transfer students, for whom the limit is one hour in every eight attempted at the University of Colorado, up to the maximum of six credit hours.

Transfer Credits

Credit in subjects transferred from other institutions to the University of Colorado is limited to the amount of credit given for similar work at the University of Colorado. Transfer credits in CMCI courses are limited to 12 semester credits from four-year institutions and six semester credits from two-year institutions. All transfer credit is subject to approval of the associate dean of CMCI. Work from another accredited institution of higher education that has been completed with a grade of C- (1.70) or better may be transferred to the University of Colorado. Categories of transfer course work not accepted by the university are described in the Transfer Course Work Not Accepted by the University section in Undergraduate Admission. All courses transferred from junior and community colleges carry lower-division credit. Courses transferred from four-year institutions generally carry credits at the level at which they were taught at the previous institution, but can be subject to review on a course-by-course basis.    

Residence Requirement

CMCI students must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours in University of Colorado Boulder courses. Of these 45 credits, a minimum of 30 credits must be in upper-division credit hours completed as a matriculated student in the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder and at least 15 of these upper-division hours must be in the major. A maximum of 6 credit hours taken at other University of Colorado campuses (UC Denver and CU-Colorado Springs) can be counted toward the minimum 45 credits required on the Boulder campus. Courses taken while on CU-Boulder study abroad programs, through CU-Boulder continuing education or CU-Boulder correspondence courses are considered to be in residence.

Senior Requirement

Seniors must file to graduate with both a written form and online by November 1 of the semester prior to May and August graduation and March 1 of the semester prior to December graduation. Graduation packets are available at the College of Media, Communication and Information office. All CMCI students must also meet with their advisor the semester prior to graduation to complete the graduation check-out form.

Advising

Majors are encouraged to consult an advisor each registration period. Advising is available from faculty and staff throughout the academic year, and major advising sheets are provided for each sequence. However, students are ultimately responsible for fulfilling all degree requirements.

Double-Degree/Double-Major Programs

Students may complete requirements in two fields and receive two degrees from the university. Such double-degree programs are available combining CMCI with business, engineering, music or disciplines in the College of Arts and Sciences. Students must make application for a double degree program in both CMCI and the Leeds School of Business, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences or the College of Music. Any other combined program must be arranged by consulting both programs. All double degrees shall consist of a degree within CMCI and a degree outside CMCI.

Students may double major within CMCI. The primary major will determine whether the degree is a BA or BS. Students may not get a double degree within CMCI.

Colorado Student Bill of Rights

In the interests of promoting timely graduation and facilitating the transfer of students among the institutions of higher education in the state of Colorado, the College of Media, Communication and Information and the University of Colorado Boulder adhere to the Student Bill of Rights as presented in Colorado Statute 23-1-125.

• 23-1-125. Commission directive - student bill of rights - degree requirements - implementation of core courses - competency test - prior learning

 (1) Student bill of rights. The general assembly hereby finds that students enrolled in public institutions of higher education shall have the following rights: 

(a) Students should be able to complete their associate of arts and associate of science degree programs in no more than sixty credit hours or their baccalaureate programs in no more than one hundred twenty credit hours unless there are additional degree requirements recognized by the commission; 

(b) A student can sign a two-year or four-year graduation agreement that formalizes a plan for that student to obtain a degree in two or four years, unless there are additional degree requirements recognized by the commission; 

(c) Students have a right to clear and concise information concerning which courses must be completed successfully to complete their degrees;

 (d) Students have a right to know which courses are transferable among the state public two-year and four-year institutions of higher education; 

(e) Students, upon completion of core general education courses, regardless of the delivery method, should have those courses satisfy the core course requirements of all Colorado public institutions of higher education; 

(f) Students have a right to know if courses from one or more public higher education institutions satisfy the students' degree requirements; 

(g) A student's credit for the completion of the core requirements and core courses shall not expire for ten years from the date of initial enrollment and shall be transferrable.

Statewide Guaranteed Transfer of General Education Courses

As of fall 2003, the two-year and four-year transfer articulation agreements among Colorado institutions of higher education were replaced by a statewide guaranteed transfer of approved general education courses taken at any Colorado public institution of higher education. Under the statewide guaranteed transfer program, up to 31–33 credits of successfully (C- or better) completed course work will automatically transfer and apply towards graduation requirements at the receiving institution. The course work must be drawn from the list of approved guaranteed transfer courses and must meet the distribution requirements of the guaranteed transfer program. Further information about the statewide transfer program, including the list of approved courses and distribution requirements, can be found at the website of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, highered.colorado.gov/Academics/Transfers/Students.html.

As of fall 2006, a student graduating with an associate of arts or an associate of science degree from a Colorado community college and entering the College of Media, Communication and Information is exempt from the written communication requirement and the lower-division component of the core curriculum, with the exception of CMCI 1010 and 1020. Note that students are still subject to the MAPS requirements. Additional information on the evaluation of transfer credit of Colorado community college course work and its application in select arts and sciences major programs can also be found at artsandsciences.colorado.edu/artssciences/prospective-students/.

Students are required to follow the graduation requirements listed in this catalog at the time of their initial entry onto the Boulder campus.

Credit Policies

Advanced Placement Program

See Undergraduate Admission and the Advanced Placement Table.

International Baccalaureate

Any student admitted to a University of Colorado campus after June 30, 2003, who has graduated from high school having successfully completed an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, program will be granted 24 semester hours of college credit. No tuition will be charged for these credits. These credits will be granted, however, only if the student receives a score of 4 or better on an examination administered as part of the IB diploma program.

In addition, college credit is granted for International Baccalaureate examinations at the higher level with a score of 4 or better. For specific equivalencies, contact the Office of Admissions at 303-492-2458 or visit www.ibo.org.

Credit/No Credit

Credit/no credit changes must occur during the schedule adjustment periods. 

Credit Taken as a Nondegree Student

Once a student has been admitted to a degree program, credits from the Division of Continuing Education such as ACCESS, Boulder evening credit courses and CU-Boulder correspondence classes may be eligible to be applied toward the degree. Students will receive initial advising during orientation once they have been accepted to a degree program in the College of Media, Communication and Information.

Cross-Listed Courses

Courses that are cross-listed in two or more departments are credited in the department in which the student has the most semester hours, irrespective of the department in which the student formally enrolled for the course.

Incomplete Grades

An I grade is given at the discretion of the course instructor only when a student has satisfactorily completed a substantial portion of a course and, for reasons beyond the student’s control, is prevented from completing all work for the course within the term. Incomplete grades must be requested by the student and should not be awarded by the instructor for non-attendance. (In the case of non-attendance, the instructor should award the student the grade(s) earned.) If an incomplete grade is given, the instructor is required to document the reasons/grounds for the awarding of the incomplete grade, the specific work and conditions for completion of the course and the time frame within which the course work must be completed. The maximum time the instructor can allow for the completion of the course work and subsequent award of a course grade is one year from the end of the term the course was taken. After one year, if no final grade is awarded, the I will change to the grade of F. A copy of the Incomplete Agreement (forms are available from the dean’s office) signed by the student and instructor and accompanied by documentation of the extenuating circumstances that resulted in the awarding of an incomplete should be filed with the Director of Advising’s Office and a copy should be given to the student.

Independent Learning

A maximum of 30 credit hours of correspondence/online learning work may count toward the degree. Arts and Sciences courses offered by the CU-Boulder Division of Continuing Education carry resident credit.

Independent Study

With departmental approval, students may register for independent study during the normal registration periods for each semester. Students may not register for more than 6 credit hours of independent study credit during any term. No more than 8 credit hours of independent study taken in a single department or program can be applied toward the total hours needed for graduation. A maximum of 16 hours of independent study may count toward the degree. The minimum expectation for each semester hour of credit is 25 hours of work.

A student may not use independent study projects to fulfill the college’s general education requirements. Some departments further restrict the use of independent study hours toward meeting major requirements.

Repetition of Courses

If a student takes a course for credit more than once, all grades are calculated into the grade point average. However, the course is only counted toward graduation once, unless a course description specifically states that it can be taken more than once for credit. 

ROTC Credit

The ROTC courses listed below have been certified as acceptable college-level course work by the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences or by other colleges and schools on the Boulder campus. These courses are counted as elective credit toward the degree. Courses not included on this list do not count toward any degree requirements. Transfer ROTC course work must be evaluated as equivalent to course work on this list to count toward degree requirements.

• AIRR 3010 and 3020 
• AIRR 4010 and 4020
• MILR 1011 and 1021
• MILR 2031 and 2041 (students may not receive credit for either course if they have credit in OPMG 3000)
• MILR 4072 and 4082
• NAVR 2020
• NAVR 3030
• NAVR 3040
• NAVR 3101
• NAVR 4010 and 4020
• NAVR 4030
• NAVR 4101

Withdrawal

See the General Information section of the catalog for specific withdrawal procedures and university wide policies.

Students in the College of Media, Communication and Information who withdraw two semesters in a row will have a dean’s stop placed on their registration. Summer session is not counted as a regular semester. They will not be permitted to return to CU-Boulder before one full academic year has elapsed (not including their semester of withdrawal). CMCI students may withdraw from all classes for a term until the last day that classes are taught by requesting withdrawal through the Office of the Registrar. Students cannot withdraw after classes have ended for a term except through the appeal process outlined in the General Information section of the catalog.

These policies also apply to CMCI students who are enrolled in continuing education courses.

Students are encouraged to participate in the Stay Connected program through the Registrar's office when their withdrawal from the university is temporary.

Readmission

CMCI students who request readmission to the college are always readmitted to their major of record at the time they last attended the university. Readmitted students who desire to pursue a major different from their major of record must follow the new college’s process for declaring a major after they have been readmitted.