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.

Submit Your Application

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.

Download the Checklist

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 ProfessionalRound 2: IMC Professional
Application DeadlineApril 28, 2025July 28, 2025
Decision NotificationMay 19, 2025August 1, 2025
Deposit DateJune 9, 2025August 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.

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.

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

Kayelyn Smith:
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.

Admissions Deadlines
Apr
28
Application Deadline
Fall 2025 Quarter
Sep
16
First Day of Class
Fall 2025 Quarter