Bachelor in Speech Communication and Rhetoric (Bachelor's)

CUNY Graduate School and University Center brings together graduate education, research, and public scholarship within the City University of New York system. Its faculty, students, and alumni have received Nobel and Pulitzer prizes as well as Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships. Graduate Center students also teach more than 4,600 CUNY classes each year, reaching an enrollment of more than 120,000 students.

Academic options include nearly 50 master’s and doctoral programs and certificate programs across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Areas of study range from anthropology, biology, computer science, and economics to international migration studies, digital humanities, astrophysics, data science, and urban education. Programs describe their own degree requirements, curricula, resources, deadlines, and application materials, so applicants need to assess requirements at the program level.

The Graduate Center is located in midtown Manhattan, with access to CUNY campuses across New York City and to the city’s academic and cultural institutions. Students can use connections with affiliated academic institutions for courses and research opportunities on multiple campuses. More than 25% of doctoral students are international, representing 40 countries. International applicants should allow for the Graduate Center’s additional application steps and prepare transcripts, statements, recommendations, and any materials required by their chosen program.

Students study human communication scientifically, humanistically, and critically across many formats, media, and contexts. They learn interpersonal, group, organizational, professional, and intercultural communication, plus speaking, listening, and verbal and nonverbal interaction.

The field also covers rhetorical theory and criticism, performance studies, argumentation, persuasion, technologically mediated communication, and popular culture. These ideas are applied in communication settings across many contexts.

For international students, tuition is well below the median for US programmes. The institution admits about 39% of applicants.