Chances for Jounralism Grad school with two Bachelor's (one with low gpa)

Applying to College
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I first enrolled at Hofstra 7 years ago. I was not prepared for college. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I majored in Business. I performed poorly as I could not grasp nor understand the core basics of business and mathematics. At one point my gpa fell so low I was placed on academic probation. I graduated with a BBA in Business Management with an unexceptional gpa of 2.56 and no internship experience.

I shortly after graduation I worked at Walt Disney World for a year selling balloons, I saw no opportunities to move up so I left and moved back home. The following year I worked at Amazon, Target, and Macy’s simultaneously as a warehouse / sales associate. At Amazon I was promoted to a slightly higher supervision role. I realized I wanted to become a journalist after being interviewed by a student journalist doing a project for his school. So at 24 I decided to go back to school. I applied to four CUNY schools to major in Media Studies and was accepted to all of them, choosing Hunter College.

Right now I am 25 and just completed my first year of my second degree at Hunter College my gpa so far is a 3.87, I am an active student (writing for the school paper, school radio reporter and even thinking of starting my own club.) I am currently awaiting an internship at CBS news this fall and will be applying for a spring internship with MSNBC in the spring of 2021. I am expected to graduate by fall of 2021 after having my previous credits transfer from Hofstra (most of which were C’s). I am only taking 90 credits and I go to school part-time.

Currently I am thinking about furthering my studies at an elite Journalism Grad School.
I am looking at Northwestern, Columbia, USC, Georgetown, American U for grad school I know it may seem farfetched…but do I have a shot of any of these schools? I took an unconventional route to get to this point but what are some tips to be considered by schools of that caliber when I have a low gpa from before? Let me know what you think.

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If your second BA continues as it is going, I think that you have a very good chance. Grad schools aren’t looking for reasons to reject applicants, they are looking to see whether their students will succeed.

I think that, if the rest of your second BA continues the way you have been going so far, you will be competitive for really good grad schools.

BTW, I hope that you realize that U Missouri has one of the best journalism schools in the country. So does UMD, Syracuse, UNC Chapel Hill, and Arizona State.

Forget about undergraduate rankings, and whatever you have heard about “prestige”. When it comes to grad school, the rankings are different. In real journalism, Mizzu outranks USC by a lot. Neither Georgetown nor USC are in the same rank as Mizzu or UMD for journalism.

Your list should definitely include Mizzu, ASU, UNC CH, Syracuse, and perhaps Penn State and/or Ohio University. From your list, only Columbia, Northwestern, and American U are in the top journalism grad schools.

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CUNY has an excellent grad school of journalism, btw.

Anyway, I’m a journalist. You don’t have to go to J-school to be a journalist. The ONLY thing that matters is your clips. Clips, clips, and more clips. Write and publish as much as you possibly can. Be the EIC of your campus paper. Internships, internships, internships.

I see graduate J-school more for people who have no experience and want to learn how to do it and break into the field.

But if you do decide to go, go to CUNY. Journalists don’t make a lot of money. How would you pay for Northwestern or American?

BTW, CONGRATS on realizing what you want to do and going for it!! You will find career fulfillment and you have a story to write about to boot!