About PhD Program,
The graduate program in performing and media arts at Cornell University offers students an interdisciplinary environment in which to pursue critical studies of various dramatic cultures, theatrical traditions, film and media productions, and expressive behavior in multilingual, intermedial, and globalizing performance contexts. The program is located within the Department of Performing and Media Arts and comprises distinguished faculty from across the humanities.
Students benefit from the unusual flexibility of Cornell’s graduate system and the ideals of freedom with responsibility on which that system is based. Our small size enables us to offer a generous funding package. A course of study is determined in consultation with a student’s faculty advisors, and the PhD may be combined with a formal minor in such areas as directing or acting pedagogy, film studies or feminist, gender and sexuality studies.
Cornell does not offer a stand-alone Master’s degree in Performing and Media Arts.
PhD Program Degree Eligibility with GPA,
There are few required courses in the PhD program. However, students are strongly encouraged to take classes that provide a general background in theatre history, dramatic literature, critical and dramatic theory, cinema and media studies, and pedagogy.
Applicants must currently have, or expect to have, at least a BA or BS (or the equivalent) in any field before matriculation. International students, please verify degree equivalency here. Applicants are not required to meet a specified GPA minimum.
PhD Funding Coverage,
All PhD degree candidates are guaranteed four years of funding (including a stipend, a full tuition fellowship, and student health insurance):
- A first-year non-teaching fellowship
- Two years of teaching assistantships
- A fourth-year non-teaching fellowship for the dissertation writing year
- Summer support for four years, including a first-year summer teaching assistantship, linked to a teachers’ training program at the Knight Institute. Summer residency in Ithaca is required.
- An optional fifth-year teaching assistantship may be available, contingent upon successful progress toward degree.
- Students have also successfully competed for Buttrick-Crippen Fellowship, Society for the Humanities Fellowships, Provost’s Diversity Fellowships, fellowships in recognition of excellence in teaching, and grants from the Graduate School to help with the cost of travel to scholarly conferences and research collections.
Application Requirement,
- Statement of Purpose
- Three Letters of Recommendation
- Transcripts
- English Language Proficiency Requirement
- Critical Writing Sample
- GRE General Test
Application Deadline,
Dec 15, 2024
Application Fee,
A nonrefundable application fee of $105 is required at the time you submit your online application. This fee covers the cost of processing your application for admission.
