<p>Alright, so I've seen quite a few threads about this topic, but most of them were geared towards engineering or business majors, neither of which describe me. I am currently trying to decide between SLO and SB, where I want to major in Journalism. Unfortunately UCSB doesn't have journalism as a major, but I heard that it's doable to major in communications with a minor or concentration in media studies (or something like that). I visited Cal Poly last weekend and absolutely fell in love with the campus and town, and I am leaving for Santa Barbara this weekend for their open house. I've yet to visit UCSB, but I've only heard good things about the school/campus/location. I know I'd be happy going to either school, which makes this decision REALLY hard. So what would be the better choice as a liberal arts/journalism student?</p>
<p>Its simple, IMHO – the school you like better is where you should go. </p>
<p>The media is flooded with apps from kids who majored in journalism or english but have little other knowledge to bring to the table (and who are frightened by math/science). If you want to look like the rest of the herd pick those majors. Some get jobs, but many struggle to find jobs in the field. You may find it worthwhile to spend a few minutes looking at what graduating students in journalism told the Career Center what they did after graduation – see <a href=“http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/content/student/gsr_report[/url]”>http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/content/student/gsr_report</a></p>
<p>What really jumps out in the job hunt is a kid with strong experience in the media (writing for the school paper, summer job at a paper, intern in television, etc) but majored in something that gives them an ability to understand the world out there. So if you have an aptitude for science or languages it would be better to major on one of those fields AND pursue journalism via the school paper and internships. Someone with a business or accounting degree has a leg up, too; open the paper and see how many articles are about business and the economy, usually written by people who’ve never taken a single class in the area who are at the mercy of the PR staffs that want to spin what is reported.</p>
<p>So the most important thing for you to know is that your future is going to depend on what you do, not whether you major in journalism. Plenty of kids from great journalism schools such as Syracuse or Missouri are going to struggle to find jobs because they didn’t spend the time laying the groundwork to be attractive to employers. To be sure, going to a top school and taking advantage of all the resources puts you in a great position. Bottom line, however, graduating with a degree in journalism won’t guarantee success, nor does going somewhere else prevent it. </p>
<p>I’m not saying go to Santa Barbara, BTW. It sounded like you could see yourself very happy at Cal Poly. If UCSB gives you an even better chill then there’s no reason not to go there, but otherwise go to Cal Poly and don’t look back.</p>
<p>My kid goes to Cal Poly and loves it. At Cal Poly you will get a hands on education and lots of opportunity to do real journalism work. By the time you graduate from Cal Poly you will BE a journalist not someone ready to be trained to be a journalist. This is the hands on learn by doing methodology. Check out the available internships: [Cal</a> Poly JOUR - Internships](<a href=“http://cla.calpoly.edu/jour_internship_page.html]Cal”>http://cla.calpoly.edu/jour_internship_page.html)</p>
<h1>2 has a good point – a journalist will be much more effective with some background knowledge of the subjects s/he writes about. If you major in journalism or otherwise aim to be a journalist, be sure to get a strong background in various other subjects including economics, business, politics, science, etc. so that you can understand what you are writing about.</h1>
<p>One downside with SLO is that the 5-year grad rate is extremely low. Thus plan on staying five years, and incurring five years of expenses. Now, if that includes a semester off in an awesome internship, it might be worth it.</p>
<p>but follow mike’s recommendations. There are literally thousands of journalism majors, and few available jobs; print media is dying.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m not a fan of vocational majors; I much prefer a more traditional arts degree.</p>
<p>Thank you for that insight, I never even thought about that! I forgot to mention that I want to get into sports journalism, and hopefully do at least a little bit of both print and broadcast, I’m still trying to figure out which one I would prefer. But either way, I don’t think I’m going to need too much math/science background. Knowing another language could definitely be useful, though. But I totally know what you guys are saying, I’ll be sure to look into that when I visit UCSB and go back to Cal Poly!</p>
<p>as a sports journalist, you may prefer to have more of an audience for your college media experience…if that is the case, UCSB does have a pretty juicy school spirit…</p>
<p>also at SLO, at least according to another site’s school review section (their best of/worst of’ topic); students in non-Engineering/Agriculture majors tend to feel overlooked somewhat…</p>
<p>either way you go, you will enjoy your decision - good luck!</p>