Pathways through the Communication Major
Where could majoring in Communication lead you?
The formal requirements for the COMM major are detailed on the Major in Communication page. Everyone takes courses on the core fundamentals of communication, but there are many different pathways through the major allowing COMM students to pursue the program by taking clusters of classes that relate to their interests. Four popular pathways through the major include a focus on Digital Media Studies, Media Psychology, Journalism, or Political Communication. The COMM Department provides a variety of research opportunities related to these fields. Students often supplement their classroom and lab experiences with internships in their area of interest, and they may ultimately choose a job or graduate degree based on their accumulated knowledge.
Choose your own adventure: Pathways through the major
Pathway designations don't appear on your transcript, but they do offer ways to organize your electives and requirements.
Selected COMM Courses
- 1B Media, Culture, and Society
- 104W Reporting, Writing, and Understanding the News
- 116 Journalism Law
- 120W The Rise of Digital Culture
- 124 Lies, Trust, and Tech
- 125 Perspectives on American Journalism
- 135W Deliberative Democracy and its Critics
- 137W The Dialogue of Democracy
- 138: Deliberative Democracy Practicum: Applying Deliberative Polling in Local Communities
- 142W Media Economics
- 143W Communication Policy and Regulation
- 145 Personality and Digital Media
- 151 The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Press
- 153B Free Speech, Democracy and the Internet
- 154 Politics of Algorithms
- 158 Censorship and Propaganda
- 162 Campaigns, Voting, Media and Elections
- 164 Psychology of Communication about Politics in America
- 166 Virtual People
- 172 Media Psychology
- 176 Advanced Digital Media
- 177B Big Local Journalism
- 177C Health and Science Journalism
- 177D Narrative Journalism
- 177E Specialized Writing and Reporting: Telling True Stories
- 177I Becoming a Watchdog
- 177P Programming in Journalism
- 177SW Sports Journalism
- 177T Building News Applications
- 177Y Foreign Correspondence
- 184 Race and Media
- 186W Media, Technology, and the Body
- 280 Virtual Reality Journalism in the Public Sphere
- 326 Advanced Topics in Human Virtual Representation
Research Opportunities
- Center for Deliberative Democracy
- Stanford Computational Journalism Lab
- Media and Personality Lab
- Stanford Open Policing Project
- Political Communication Lab
- Peninsula Press
- Political Psychology Research Group
- Stanford Social Media Lab
- Virtual Human Interaction Lab
Learn more about Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Learn more about Internships Learn more about Post-Graduation Opportunities