A minor for a Journalism major?

College Majors Journalism Major
1

<p>Hello there,</p>

<p>I recently was given the great news, that I was accepted into the Magazine Journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. I am thrilled beyond belief, seeing that I repeatedly keep hearing that Newhouse is harder to get into Columbia. I consider myself extremely lucky, but that is neither here nor there, my question is not in regards as to what are my chances of being accepted.</p>

<p>Journalism is a perfect fit for me, and Newhouse is essentially my dream school; so my major is all set. However, I am on the other hand, a bit stuck about what to do for a minor. </p>

<p>All the information says that many Newhouse students also enroll at the School of Arts and Sciences. So, I am thinking I will go that route. I have lowered down my selection to a few choices; and I was wondering if anybody could tell me anything that might help me make my decision a little easier?</p>

<p>Political Science: It seems as if it would be highly correlated with the subject, with a bit of overlap. Not to mention the program description says it prepares students for careers in Journalism. Although, I am worried that the subject may turn out to be on the boring side, seeing that while I am not overly bored by politics, they don't exactly excite me either.</p>

<p>Anthropology: I believe that depending on which classes I sign up for, that this subject will be incredibly relevant. That is mostly speculation though, and I am not positive.</p>

<p>English and Textual Studies: My English 104 teacher told me I ought to consider studying literature professionally. It seems as if it would probably be helpful, as reading and writing go hand in hand.</p>

<p>Communications and Rhetorical studies: I have no doubt about it that this would be a great fit, except I think they only except a limited number of students, and there isn't going to be any room left by this point.</p>

<p>Fine Arts: I adored, and I do mean adored Art History; except I fear that this is one of those fluffy subjects, which really isn't going to do much for me, in terms of career advancement and opportunities. If that is the case, I would be taking this purely for my own enjoyment.</p>

<p>Philosophy: This bears a similar problem to Art History, only it might be a bit more beneficial, in that it could aide in my argumentative, critical thinking, and analytical skills.</p>

<p>I know I just supplied a whole bunch of information there; but I would greatly appreciate any sort of comments and/or feedback!</p>

2

<p>A Journalism major with a poly sci minor is not uncommon, and they all probably enjoy poly sci more than you, so I would steer away from that. </p>

<p>What do you enjoy writing about? If it’s book critiques, go for the textual studies degree. you would also learn a lot about what makes different style of writing good and your writing would benefit. </p>

<p>But if you enjoy philosophy and art history, pick one of those. You will write better about subjects you enjoy.</p>

3

<p>I have a BA in Journalism and most of my classmates had a minor in Political Science. It all depends on what you’re personally interested in and what you like writing about. I’ve taken a lot of classes in the subjects you listed and I have experience at a newspaper, so I’ll give you my input:</p>

<p>Political Science: very relevant and helps when you’re writing. I took comparative politics and learned a lot (still helps to this day). However, I can’t imagine minoring in it, really boring.</p>

<p>Anthropology: it’s really interesting to learn about ancient civilizations, but I can’t imagine it helping with Journalism (unless you’re going to focus on some sort of Anthroplogy). If you were interested in science writing, this might be something to minor in but I wouldn’t reccommend it unless it’s a personal interest.</p>

<p>English: I took enough classes to be considered an English minor, but it’s not that different from Journalism. A lot of the curriculum overlapped. Unless you’re interested in literature or book reviews or something along those lines, I don’t know if it would be beneficial to you.</p>

<p>Fine Arts: A dear friend of mine did journalism and art history, I was so jealous! Unfortunately she has yet to find a job (as the case with most journalism majors now a days). I think you could do a lot with this if you meet/ talk to the right people. Most people the minor in this end up doing layout/design.</p>

<p>Philosophy: a few of my friends at the paper minored in this and it seemed to help them. But me personally, I didn’t like my philosophy classes, very boring.</p>

<p>(the communications dept at my school worked so closely with the journalism dept, that I can’t give any feedback on that one).</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>If you really want to stand out, do a minor in some sort of science - environmental studies, bio etc. Scientifically literate journalists are always in demand!</p>

5

<p>A political science degree fits with the major and sometimes in a journalism program a poltical science course ie required anyways, as it is at my university. I did find the course I took a bit boring though and wasn’t too interested in it. If you want to do this see if you have some options in the courses you can take so you can study some interesting topics.</p>

<p>English is also a good major as there is a lot of writing in both fields. I’m an English minor and enjoy the different style of writing I get to do. It helps if a writing assignment I get in a future job is a certain way then I have experience is different types of writing to do the job.</p>

<p>Communication overlaps the most I think, as my journalism program is a track in our Communication Studies department. I would say if you want to do this you can but it is kind of the same thing you are doing in journalism. it heps and may be nice to have but it may be better to diversify. If anything just see if you can take some communication classes for that program for extra experience.</p>

<p>Also Art History is fun, but if you find the requirements for the monir see if they seem “fluffy” to you. I’m a Fine Arts minor as well actually enjoy the ARt History courses I am required to take.</p>

6

<p>Disclaimer: This is just an opinion from an incoming high school senior who is considering majoring in journalism
I would personally minor in language so you could broaden your job options and communicate to different parts of the world</p>