<p>My son just graduated from college. Midway through his final year, after a lot of soul searching, he realized that what he really wanted to do was become a writer, most likely of long form non-fiction. He majored in a foreign language, with somewhat of an emphasis on philosophical works. At my urging, he finally took a "creative writing" class focusing on biography in his last term, and did extremely well, earning an honor his school calls a"citation" from the professor, who is himself a fairly well-known published writer of non-fiction. I only wish he had discovered this avenue earlier, so that he could have taken more classes that would have given him valuable, structured feedback and guidance in this form of writing </p>
<p>This year is he spending at a university in Europe, on an exchange program sponsored by his college. Before that opportunity arose, he was applying for internships with public radio and TV, and looking for similar opportunities. His idea was to spend a year doing that, then apply to J-school. </p>
<p>I think that it is likely that he would get a tremendous amount out of journalism school, but the thought of paying $70-80K for a single year program and likely incurring a huge debt really fills me with doubt.</p>
<p>What I'm wondering is this: is there any way that he could get more of the same development as a writer that he got in his undergraduate class without making the commitment to j-school? Is there any way to do this that would also provide some access to professional jobs, or credentials that would be valuable? How would a master's level creative writing program with a non-fiction emphasis be regarded in the profession? He does not have any desire to be a "reporter," per se. (And no, before someone suggests it, taking a few courses at our local CC is NOT going to do the trick. They simply don't operate on that level.)</p>