Skip to Main Content

Application Requirements

Selecting a Specialization

When you apply, you must choose one program specialization on your admissions application.

For Medill Investigative Lab applicants: Given limited spots in the Medill Investigative Lab (MIL) specialization, you may be admitted to the MSJ program but not MIL. In this case, you would be admitted to Medill Investigative Program Chicago.

Applications by Current Northwestern Undergraduates

If you are a current Northwestern undergraduate who is not a Medill student, you do not need to pay the application fee.

If you are a current Medill undergraduate:

  • You do not need to pay the application fee;
  • One of your letters of recommendation must be from a Medill faculty member whose course you have completed;
  • You should submit a published clip or article written for a Medill journalism class for your writing sample;
  • If you are interested in applying to the Accelerated Master’s Program (AMP), you should schedule an appointment to meet with your undergraduate academic adviser to ensure you are on track to confer your undergraduate degree prior to your start date in the MSJ program. All AMP students will start the MSJ program in the winter quarter and finish in the summer quarter. This means your undergraduate degree must be conferred by fall (or earlier).

Financial Aid and Scholarships

All admitted students, including international students, are considered for merit-based scholarships. There is no separate application for applicants to be considered for scholarships; merit-based scholarships are awarded based on the content of your admissions application.

The only Medill scholarships that require an additional essay are the Comer scholarship (offered to students applying to the Health, Environment and Sciences specialization) and the Simmons Family Scholarship for Sports Journalism (offered to students applying for the Sports Media specialization). Please submit those essays in the Optional Information section of the application.

If you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and would like to apply for federal financial aid, you may do so after you are admitted. Instructions for how to apply for federal financial aid will be sent directly to admitted students.

Mailing your application materials

Send materials that cannot be uploaded or entered into your online application account to:

Medill Office of Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid
Northwestern University
1845 Sheridan Road
Suite 104
Evanston, IL 60208-2101

Please note that application materials become property of Northwestern University and will not be returned. Remember to retain a personal copy of your application. You can also email materials to Medill Graduate Admissions.

Medill reserves the right to revoke admission if new information is obtained that would warrant such action.

In exceptional circumstances, Medill reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to waive any documentation normally required for admission. Medill also reserves the right to admit or deny admission whenever it believes that it has sufficient evidence to do so.

 

Northwestern University reserves the right to change without notice any statement in this application or instructions concerning, but not limited to, rules, policies, tuition, fees, curricula, and courses.

Northwestern University does not discriminate or permit discrimination by any member of its community against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, parental status, marital status, age, disability, citizenship status, veteran status, genetic information or any other classification protected by law in matters of admissions, employment, housing or services or in the educational programs or activities it operates.

Harassment, whether verbal, physical, or visual, that is based on any of these characteristics is a form of discrimination. This includes harassing conduct affecting tangible job benefits, interfering unreasonably with an individual's academic or work performance, or creating what a reasonable person would sense is an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.

Any form of cheating, including improper use of content generated by artificial intelligence, constitutes a violation of Northwestern’s academic integrity policy. Turnitin, which is already in use at Northwestern, is expanding its system to include artificial intelligence detection

For advice or assistance regarding this policy, Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance - Northwestern University.

Any form of cheating, including improper use of content generated by artificial intelligence, constitutes a violation of Northwestern’s academic integrity policy. Turnitin, which is already in use at Northwestern, is expanding its system to include artificial intelligence detection.

Office of the Provost, Principles Regarding Academic Integrity

©2023 Northwestern University. All rights reserved.

In the spirit of healing, Medill acknowledges and honor the Potawatomi, Odawa and Ojibwe Tribes, the original people of the land upon which Northwestern University stands.