Admission Requirements
The Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications Professional program starts in the fall and winter quarters of each academic year. Consult the academic calendar below to see our upcoming priority deadlines, final deadlines and start dates.
Download an Application Checklist
Our application checklist is a brief, one-page takeaway that will help you successfully complete your application to the MS in IMC Professional program at Northwestern.
The admissions application to start the Integrated Marketing Communications Professional master’s program in the Fall of 2025 opens on January 12, 2024.
Round 1: IMC Professional | Round 2: IMC Professional | |
Application Deadline | April 28, 2025 | July 28, 2025 |
Decision Notification | May 19, 2025 | August 1, 2025 |
Deposit Date | June 9, 2025 | August 15, 2025 |
Please apply in the Round that fits your schedule. The same application review process is applied during each Round.
Each deadline has a corresponding decision notification date. Decisions are not released on a rolling basis; instead, applicants who have submitted completed applications by the deadline can expect a decision by the notification date above. A completed application means that all transcripts, test scores, letters of recommendation and required essays have been received by our office. Applicants can view whether their application is complete by checking their application portal. Applications that are submitted but missing required documents, such as a letter of recommendation, will not be reviewed until all materials have been received. As a result, applications that are incomplete are not guaranteed a decision by their corresponding notification date.
If you have any questions, please schedule a call with an Admissions Outreach Advisor.
Application Requirements
Reviewing the academic requirements for Northwestern University's IMC Professional Master's program is essential to ensure you're well-prepared for the admissions process. If you have any questions about the process, program, or waiver options, please contact IMCprofessional@northwestern.edu.
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Academic Transcripts
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Admission Interview
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GRE or GMAT Test Scores
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Resume
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Professional Statement
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Letters of Recommendation
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Application Fee
You must have a bachelor's degree.
When you apply, you must submit academic transcripts from all colleges and universities you have attended. You are not required to submit a transcript for non-degree coursework for certificates or MOOCs. Please list non-degree coursework on your resume. If you have transfer credit for three or more courses, you must submit a transcript from the original grade-granting institution even if the transfer credit appears on your home institution transcript.
For application review, you can submit either official or unofficial transcripts. You can upload unofficial transcripts in the "Academic Experience" section of the application. Please make sure that uploaded unofficial transcripts are complete and legible; if they are not, the processing of your application could be delayed. If the size of your unofficial transcript file is too large to upload directly into the system, please email your transcript to the email address provided below.
You can also send official transcripts via secure e-transcript provider to IMCprofessional@northwestern.edu or via mail directly from the institution to:
Medill Office of Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid
Northwestern University
1845 Sheridan Road
Suite 104
Evanston, IL 60208-2101
If you are admitted, you will be required to submit official and final copies of all of your transcripts 30 days prior to enrollment (start of classes), including your final undergraduate transcript with proof of your degree and the date it was conferred. Medill reserves the right to withdraw an admission offer if we do not receive these official transcripts by this deadline. It is your responsibility to request an official transcript from the registrar of each institution and to ensure transcripts are sent to Medill.
Applicants with international transcripts must also submit an independent course-by-course credential evaluation and degree verification from a NACES provider (see NACES' website for a list) and an official English translation of the transcript (if they were not originally issued in English).
Please note: The Northwestern University Medill Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid Office is a separate office from Northwestern University’s The Graduate School (TGS) Admissions Office. Transcripts must be routed directly to the Medill Office of Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid.
The Office of Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid may require applicants to sit for an admissions interview to supplement their completed application and provide more information about their interest in the MS in IMC Professional program. Interviews are conducted virtually via Zoom. Applicants will be contacted directly if an interview is required.
GRE/GMAT scores are not currently required for admission. If you would like to strengthen your application by submitting these scores, you are welcome to, but they are not compulsory at this time.
Submit your current resume, which should highlight your professional and academic experiences, including non-degree course work and MOOCs. Three years of work experience are required. Career changers are welcome to apply.
In your essay, describe your interest in Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communications Professional program in 1,500 words or fewer. Be sure to address the following questions:
- What professional experiences have led you to pursue an IMC degree? What professional experiences and/or opportunities informed your decision to apply to the program at this time?
- How will the IMC program help you achieve your professional goals?
Additional Information (optional): If there is anything in your application that you would like to address (e.g., GRE or GMAT scores, GPA, lack of marketing or other work experience) or any additional information you would like to include, please do so.
Video Tutorial: Crafting a Strong Professional Statement
Follow Admissions Outreach Advisor Kayelyn Smith as she navigates through the IMC Professional Program application process at Northwestern University. From finding essay prompts to outlining essential elements, Kayelyn's tips ensure applicants craft strong professional statements. This concise guide aims to streamline the application journey for prospective students.
Video Transcript
All righty. Hello, my name is Kayelyn. I am an admissions outreach advisor, on behalf of the IMC Professional Program at Northwestern University. Thanks for joining. I'll be walking you through how to use this application system Campus Nexus when applying to the IMC Professional program through the Medill School. The page that you see here on the website is for the online application system that's called Campus Nexus. This page can be found on the IMC Professional Program website, I've actually got that open here as well. You can press the Apply Now button, [chuckle] You might have also received this link from an admissions advisor. And in order to start your application, you'll first need to create an account by clicking on this button here. That will prompt you to enter in your name and your email address and a password, which you will then be prompted to activate your account.
You'll receive an email with a link that allows you to activate, which I've just done. So I'm gonna go ahead and log in. Part in the long time, the long wait time here. But this will pop up with the main portal page. You can click on the apply now button or the review application button, or you can go to recommenders. I'm starting a new application, so I'm gonna click on Apply Now.
All right, so I was invited to start my application and I selected the IMC professional program. There was a dropdown menu, that showed both the full-time integrated marketing communications program, alongside also the Master's of Science in journalism, neither of those would be the correct option, it would be the IMC Professional program. I've clicked on that, and then it brought me to the program information page where I will click on Integrated Marketing Communications and I'll be applying for the fall term, then we'll press save and continue.
All right, so now we're on the applicant information page. This is where you'll be adding in your personal information. You need to do your name, your first name, and your last name, your date of birth. You'll add in your contact information here, your address. And then if you scroll down to the bottom, there's a couple of other questions here about your background. I'm gonna fill this information in and move on to the next page, and I'll be right back.
All righty. The next page is your previous education. You need to input all of the schools or institutions that you attended for a degree. This includes bachelor's degrees associates, as well as previous master's degrees that you might have completed as well. You need to input every single school or institution that you've attended. So if you have transfer credits or if you did community college for a few years, and then finish your bachelor's, make sure you are including all of your schools.
I'm gonna take a moment here to enter in my information and then I'll progress to the next page, the application documentation. Okay, so we've made it to the application documentation page. This is where you're required to submit your three documents, which are your personal statement, it's the essay, your resume, and your transcripts from your bachelor's degree, and any other university or institutions that you've attended. In order to upload your documents, you'll click on this upload button here, takes a second to load. And for example, this upload button is for the personal statement, you can see here under the description the two essay prompts for the essay. You need to answer both of these prompts, throughout the course of your writing. Okay. When you're ready to upload your essay, you'll click on this upload attachment button and then browse. You'll upload your document, you'll press the save document button, which locks it in there, and then you'll submit it, which officially uploads it into the system.
So I'll show you again with the resume. You'll click this upload button here, upload attachment, excuse me, browse, save document, and then submit. All right. And then we'll do that one more time. Upload, upload attachment, browse, save document, submit. There you go. You'll need to do that for all three of your documents here. Now please note, I just used the same document just as a placeholder for now, but you should not do that when you, [chuckle] submit your application. But because I've uploaded everything here and you can see that it has been received, you can also view that document at any time by clicking on this view button. And if for some reason you need to switch out this document for a different one, you would click on this button here to remove it. But that's what you need to do for all three.
And then once you've done that, I'll be able to click on this save and continue button, and then we'll move on to this next page for your recommenders. This is where you need to add in your two recommenders. I've just added in some, [chuckle] some fake recommenders here and you can see by clicking on the edit button, you can make changes to the information that you've added. You can say their title if you want, which I've left blank, their first name, their last name, and then the email as well. And if at any time you need to resend this email, you can. But after inputting their information, it automatically sends an email to them inviting them to upload their letter for you. And they will receive a link to upload their letter.
All right, so once you've added in both of your recommenders, you can click on this save and continue button. You do have to have at least two before, you'll be able to move on. And then this brings you to the final page, which is the additional information, you need to add in your previous work experience here. So you'll be adding in your, the name of your employer, your job title, the start date and the end date and whether or not this is your current employer. You need to add in at least one, you can add in two or three if you want. And then down here is the internship experience. This is not relevant for the professional program, please feel free to ignore it. And then finally, down at the bottom, there's two questions here, the first is, if you would like, you can write in the other schools or institutions that you're applying to. And then finally down here at the bottom, there's an additional information essay section.
This is optional, it's not required. But sometimes students write a little blurb maybe about their undergraduate GPA or about their previous work experience. Anything that the student would like to kind of emphasize or discuss directly with the admissions committee, you can write a paragraph or two as an additional information to essay section, you can upload it here. I'm gonna go ahead and press save and continue and move on. And then finally, you'll be prompted to pay the application fee for this program, the application fee is $100. And you would pay the amount by clicking on this pay button here, which will then prompt you to add in your credit card information. Once you've added that information in, you'll be able to submit your application.
So this is it. This is the entire application system. I hope it's been clear. If you have any questions, of course, please don't hesitate to reach out to the admissions team, either your admissions advisor or anybody else, we're here to help you, and we look forward to seeing your application soon. Good luck and bye, bye.
Medill requires two letters of recommendation for applicants to our graduate programs. You may submit a third recommendation if you wish. Recommendations should be from someone who can assess your academic and professional abilities (e.g., employers, supervisors, current or former professors). Recommendations from family members or from friends who do not have direct experience with your professional or academic work will not be accepted. Enter your recommenders' contact information in the online application. The system will then email your recommenders instructions on how to submit their letters online. You are responsible for reminding recommenders to submit their letters through the online system by the deadline. If your recommender has trouble submitting their letter, please contact IMCprofessional@northwestern.edu.
Please note: We cannot accept letters of recommendation submitted by applicants; they must come directly from the recommender.
There is a $100 non-refundable application fee. You may pay this online by credit card or indicate that you will be paying by check. If paying by check, please include the payment voucher that you can print from your online application and mail your payment to:
Medill Office of Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid
Northwestern University
1845 Sheridan Road
Suite 104
Evanston, IL 60208-2101
If you are a current or former member of the U.S. Armed Forces, AmeriCorps, Teach for America or the Peace Corps, you may request a fee waiver by sending an email to IMCprofessional@northwestern.edu prior to submitting your application.
We also offer a limited number of application fee waivers based on financial need; requests of this nature must be requested in writing prior to submitting your application. Send your request to IMCprofessional@northwestern.edu.
Video Tutorial: Step-By-Step Application Walkthrough
Join Admissions Outreach Advisor Kayelyn Smith as she walks viewers through using the Campus Nexus application system and covers account creation, document submission, recommender addition and fee payment. This step-by-step guide to applying for the IMC Professional program at Northwestern University aims to facilitate a seamless application process.
Video Transcript
Alrighty. Welcome everybody, thanks for joining. My name is Kayelyn, I am an admissions outreach advisor on behalf of the IMC Professionals Program at Northwestern University. I'm gonna be reviewing some tips and tricks for writing your professional statement in your application to the program. The professional statement is also called the personal statement, it's also called an essay. When writing your essay or any of the above, you will be addressing two prompts in your writing, so to start this video, I'd like to show you where you can find both of these prompts. There's actually two places where you can find them, one is on the website and one is inside the application system. So on the website, which I have pulled up here, please navigate to the menu button in the top right corner, up here with three lines. The third option down is the admissions page, so please click on Admissions, and once you're on the admissions page, you'll scroll down and you'll see some deadlines here, a little bit more information, then about halfway down the page, you'll see the application requirements with a bunch of tabs on the left side. So if you scroll down, the third from the bottom is the professional statement tab, go ahead and click on that. And this shows you the two prompts for the essay, which I have highlighted right here. Please note, for the essay, you do have to answer both of these prompts throughout the course of your writing. Alright.
Now, the second place that you can find both of these prompts outside of the website is within the application system. To navigate to the application, you can click on this link up here, you might have received this link from an advisor already. I already have my application pulled up and I've logged in already. So that's what you can see here, and I'm gonna click on the review application button to get inside my application, just takes a second to load and then it shows continue to application. So please click on the continue to application button. Now, if this is your first time, you would have to select these programs and these options, I've already done that. So within the system here, you can see that I am starting to work on my application already. Now, I've already answered the program information, the applicant information and the previous education, so I'm gonna skip forward to the application documentation. All right.
So I made it to the application documentation page, and you can see the three required documents that you need to upload, which is your personal statement, that's the essay, your resume, and the transcripts. Next to the personal statement, you'll see this upload button, and if you click on the upload button, you'll be able to read the description of the professional statement, which includes both of the essay prompts that we just saw on the website, so there they are again, right there. Please note that your essay must be less than 1500 words total, and like I said earlier, it must answer both of the prompts. It's really important in your essay that you outline your long-term career goals and then clearly explain how the IMC program at Medill will help you to achieve those goals. Once you get started on writing your essay, and I should say first, I would recommend that you start your draft in a Word document, 'cause that's a good place to start. And then once you finish your first draft, send it to a friend, send it to a colleague, it's always helpful to get feedback on your writing before you submit it for review.
If you have any questions about your essay or about the application as a whole, please don't hesitate to reach out to the admissions team, we're here to help you, and we'd like to support you through the process. But most of all, good luck, you've got this, and we look forward to seeing your application soon.
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 IMCprofessional@northwestern.edu.
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.