<p>I'm a sophomore at a small Ivy League school, sends very few people to journalism schools but has a very strong academic reputation. I want to go into economics/business journalism, so I'm majoring in Econ and just taking relevant English classes on the side. Projected GPA: 3.7 at time of graduation. </p>
<p>I write for the school newspaper and will have some good clips at the time of graduation, as well as (hopefully) a good internship or two. Letters from Econ profs will be great too, and I have research experience with them. (In terms of work/internship experience, I've got much more econ than Journalism, but I'm hoping this will change.)</p>
<p>Basically, I want to become a journalist so that I can write about economics (i.e. James Surowiecki, David Leonhardt, Steven Pearlstein). Will top journalism grad schools go for this? Should I spend a couple years getting real work experience in journalism before applying? Is the Econ major (with relevant English courses) fine or should I try and add an English minor?</p>
<p>Any advice is much appreciated!</p>
<p>No, you don’t need to go to grad school for journalism. Get all the experience you can writing for the college paper and through internships. That’s what potential employers will look for - strong clips and references. Nobody cares what your degree is in if your portfolio is sound. Lots of people get hired as journalists with no academic training in the field. An English minor might help you improve your writing style, and if the school has a basic newswriting course, take it.</p>
<p>Speaking as a recent journalism BS recipient, it is not worth going tens of thousands of dollars into debt for an MA in the field when the job market is so utterly atrocious and not likely to improve.</p>
<p>Journalism is an experiential field. Go out and do journalism for a couple years professionally. You can always go back and get a master’s if you really want one - but I wouldn’t bother.</p>
<p>Oh, and one more thing: don’t just write. Get all the multimedia experience you can. Blog, tweet, shoot Flip video… you want a diverse array of reporting skills.</p>
<p>How do you know you will have good clips or an internship? Don’t assume anything.</p>
<p>If you are set on graduate school, you’d be better off getting a degree in economics to bolster your credentials. A journalism degree won’t qualify you to write about economic matters, but a demonstrated knowledge of the field will – as long as you can write well, of course.</p>
<p>adkinsjm - well, I’m the one who is writing the clips, so I should hope they’re good 
as for the internships, I’ve already got a little under my belt, with positive feedback from my mentors and plenty of opportunities for the next couple years, so I should hope they work out too! I’m an optimist.</p>
<p>Momwaiting - I made a different thread about this, but I HATE MATH and Econ grad programs are basically Math grad programs. They also require a ton of math in undergrad. I like the more qualitative/behavioral aspects of Econ, which is why I’m majoring in it with concentrations in Public and Developmental Economics… more social justice-y stuff, you know? Hopefully I can demonstrate that I have a strong knowledge of the field with relevant work/research experience, coursework and performance. Also, I’ve found some joint/dual degree programs that incorporate economics, so hopefully those’d be perfect to qualify me for both writing and econ.</p>
<p>thanks guys! any other takers?</p>
<p>pshan730 - This is probably your best bet: [Business</a> and Economic Reporting Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University](<a href=“http://journalism.nyu.edu/graduate/courses-of-study/business-and-economic-reporting/]Business”>Business & Economic Reporting - NYU Journalism)</p>
<p>EDIT: Just looked again and found out that both Northwestern and Columbia (among the best in journalism) have some economics reporting and such programs that you should definitely look in to. Here is a link for that: <a href=“http://www.businessjournalism.org/pages/biz/academic_programs/index.html#Graduate[/url]”>http://www.businessjournalism.org/pages/biz/academic_programs/index.html#Graduate</a></p>
<p>You’re going to come out with a bunch of debt and an MA, and be competing for jobs with candidates who have spent those two years gaining on-the-ground beat writing experience at a media outlet - and getting paid for it. Your MA will not necessarily compare favorably with those experienced writers.</p>
<p>If you are dead set on grad school, I would advise you to seriously consider putting in a year or two as a beat writer, then going back for a master’s. You will be a more competitive candidate if you have real-world clips.</p>
<p>I would ignore polarscribe. Now is a better time to go to graduate journalism school than ever before. News outlets aren’t hiring “beat writers” like they did 20 years ago—in a lot of cases, they need savvy writers who can also edit video, write for the web and do a fair bit of social media, among other things. They are not going to teach you how to do those things.</p>
<p>Additionally, the best graduate j-schools provide incredible job connections and the opportunity to have work published while in school. My peers, in their first semester, have had pieces published in the New York Times. Additionally, over half of this year’s graduating class (which just graduated on December 15) already have jobs, thanks to the school’s reputation and career services.</p>
<p>(P.S. I have no debt either.)</p>
<p>You don’t need to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a graduate school to learn how to shoot video, write for the Web and use social media in a journalistic context. I developed those skills, for free, by creating my own online publication and going out and doing that sort of journalism on a daily basis.</p>
<p>Sure, you can, but it doesn’t make journalism graduate school a dumb or unnecessary thing to do, particularly if your graduate program offers you abundant real-world experiences (i.e., pitching to and publishing on national media outlets) that can’t be obtained in Topeka or Shreveport or any of the other “entry-level” media outlets.</p>
<p>In fact, I was quite adept in many of the things I mentioned in my last post (on a professional level, actually), but I’ve still learned a tremendous amount, not to mention the professional connections that I’ve made will likely lead to jobs. Perhaps it’s easy to walk into the Juneau Empire and get a job as beat reporter, but New York City doesn’t work like that. ;)</p>
<p>Back to the original post: I’m at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and we also have a Business & Economics concentration. The program is headed up by Greg David, who was the editor of Crain’s New York Business for more than 20 years. You can read more here: [CUNY</a> Graduate School of Journalism Business & Economics Reporting](<a href=“http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/academics/subject-concentrations/business-economics/]CUNY”>Business & Economics Reporting - Newmark J-School)</p>
<p>Before I start –</p>
<p>Holy crap, I would never have thought that my old account from when I was applying to colleges (Fall 2005 for Class of 2010 admission) would still be active. I’m more surprised that I remembered my login. Woo!</p>
<p>Anyway, I wanted to jump in on the conversation and suggest you look at USC’s MA in Specialized Journalism. They have a economics/business concentration, and the 9 moth degree couples journalism/research classes with academic classes in the field of your choice – in your case, econ classes.</p>
<p>I just applied for the Arts emphasis; I’m a USC alum myself, so maybe I can answer questions!</p>
<p>As someone bumped this dead thread, I might as well correct captain88’s misconception. I don’t work for the Juneau Empire - I do communications and social media for the U.S. Forest Service.</p>
<p>I wasn’t saying that you do work for them; I was simply giving an example of a small paper that may take some green kid straight from undergrad.</p>