<p>I just started my freshman year at FIU and have already decided I want to leave. The school doesn't really offer my major, Creative Writing, and I've heard good things about writing programs at UF and FSU. I don't want to turn this in to an FSU vs. UF thread, because I do not care about sports, prestige, etc. All I care about is my major. I've tried to look this up myself but I keep hearing different things, and I'm curious to see what you guys say since I know a lot of UF/FSU grads read these boards.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider: I am also very interested in journalism, and plan to work in the field after graduating. I'm an aspiring writer and working for a paper would be great until I get a book deal. Even if I don't ever make it as a novelist I'd still love to work for The New York Times or Washington Post some day.</p>
<p>So... should I choose the university that has a slightly better creative writing program (FSU from what I hear, not too sure about undergrad though) or the one with a decent creative writing program and a great journalism program (considering that you can't teach talent, but can teach effective reporting that might pay the bills)?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance. Again, I'm not interested in any other aspects of the schools just the those relevant to my situation. I'm originally from the north east and never got in to the whole rivalry, though I did graduate from a FL high school.</p>
<p>I mean, it depends if you intend to take journalism classes or not. If so, then it makes sense to where-ever has the best of both worlds. Obviously another thing to consider is which program has the best funnel into real journalism, as in do grads from one school get jobs more frequently then grads from another?</p>
<p>I dont’ know the answer to that question, but it’s something to look into. I know that journalism is an incredibly competitive industry, since there isn’t a lot of growth in traditional journalism.</p>
<p>I’ve been reading a lot of great things about UF’s newspaper, so it would at least add to my portfolio of clippings. I’m leaning more towards UF at this point, since it has a journalism program as you said. Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>The creative writing courses at FIU are offered in the English Dept. While there isn’t a separate CW major, the English Dept. offers a fair number of CW and other writing courses and you’d have sufficient number of electives to take these as an English major. Many universities offer their CW courses within the English major. Besides, an English major might have some relevance to an aspiring novelist, if that hasn’t occurred to you. Though FIU also has a journalism program, for an aspiring writer or journalist, there’s a lot to be said for a broad liberal arts education. Look at the backgrounds of journalists for the NYT or Wapo (or, national cable news providers, for that matter) and see how many were not journalism majors. </p>
<p>Though I’ll grant you that FU and FSU are probably better universities overall, I wonder whether there might be other reasons you wish to transfer so soon after starting FIU?</p>
<p>I know that FIU offers creative writing courses too, I guess I shouldn’t have said my major is not offered. The other two schools have better programs without a doubt. I know a lot of journalists weren’t English or Communications majors but I’d still like to take journalism classes and write for a paper (UF’s is #8 in the nation if I remember right).</p>
<p>FIU is fairly inexpensive so I’m doing my general ed stuff there (my parents wouldn’t let me go to community college, though I would have liked to), but have always planned to get in to my major courses somewhere else.</p>