I am a rising HS senior. I am looking to find a top school within a 500 mile radius from Boston, MA that offers a communications major to which I can ED. I am interested in journalism, but I want to major in communications as to have more options in the future.
Please let me know which colleges fit this criteria! Or if you have any other suggestions for me! Thank you!
Syracuse
north eastern
etc
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If you are interested in political journalism/communications, American University has a highly regarded program. They are just inside your 500 mile radius. They love their ED applicants.
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Why ED and why communications. Neither journalism nor communications is a good major but focusing on journalism will be more impactful to journalism…if that makes sense. What type of journalism ? Print? Electronic media ? Other ?
Why 500 miles ? It’s 8 hours. Can fly.
What’s your back up major. Most schools require a dual or at least a minor because journalism is so unlikely as a career. At least one where you can earn a living.
If you ED, you are bound and can’t chase merit and you don’t want to spend for a low paying major.
I’d figure out what you want in a school, where you’d fit and go from there. There may be no reason to ED…in fact it could cost you money.
I encourage you to visit schools of different sizes and geographies, study curriculums as they’ll be different and don’t rush in.
Find a program that meets your need and you can afford.
Good luck.
Syracuse, Ithaca, BU, Elon, American, Hofstra, W&L (maybe a bit far), Maryland, Rutgers, Umass, Emerson, UConn, Quinnipiac. Really so many.
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Price limit, and have you been checking net price calculators on college web sites?
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I think other posters have suggested that combining journalism or comms with a traditional academic subject is better: econ, poli sci, data, math, stats, history, etc. Psychology can also be a good combo with comms for in house corporate comms roles. Learning about data and how to write are crucial.
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affordability is key as most entry level roles after college are not well paid, lots of underpaid/no pay internships needed etc
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look for good on campus/ near to campus opportunities: student paper/s, student PR agency (e.g. Alabama’s Capstone Agency), TV & radio etc, etc
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look for options to include videography, editing, production, as well. Often journalists are required to do everything to get a piece ready for broadcast - a lot of roles have been combined into one.
Good luck
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Can you share some more of your stats with us? That will help with ED and general suggestions.
For your interests, I love Northeastern U for the co-op options, but you can work that in with other college options as well.
NYC is usually a big draw for those majors - and lots of internship opportunities. NYU, Fordham, Manhattan College, etc…
Look at the programs and departments online. Review the course catalogs and offerings. There are diverse offerings out there and you may end up going beyond the 500 miles to find something you love that is pushing the boundaries of what these majors look like in the 21st century- some examples -
Love this major at SCAD -
https://www.scad.edu/academics/programs/social-strategy-and-management
The Media School at IU Bloomington looks fabulous - https://mediaschool.indiana.edu/
Rollins offers some interesting minors to combine with a communications major or their Critical Media and Cultural Studies major - (and they offer some great scholarships)
Do not feel the pressure to ED unless you have a real reason that it is the one, but EA everywhere you can.
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I have a journalism degree (minor in political science). I’ve worked as a website producer, content producer, script writer, copywriter, creative director, marketing manager and in-house communications and editorial director. Never as a journalist for a major media outlet. But I’ve always been employed, I’m well-compensated and I enjoy my work. I’ve also hired quite a few journalists looking to get out of media/journalism. It can be a tough field, but a very exciting one for a young person. Rest assured, other jobs will await you if you tire of pursuing journalism. Good writing is good thinking. Learn how to tell the story and you can twist that skill in many directions to suit the task at hand.
My degree is from a big state school in CA—but if I were EDing now, I’d look at Northwestern (maybe outside of your geography), BU, American, Syracuse. Are you looking at any LACs? Bc I think you can get great exposure to writing programs and pursue student and local papers for bylines at places like Hamilton, Tufts, Kenyon, Middlebury.
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This. any suggestions without knowing this info…a shot in the dark.
And any cost considerations.
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Thank you for your advice! I’m certainly applying to other schools that don’t offer journalism/communications, so in that case, my backup is likely political science or English. Of course the cost is an important factor and ED limits the opportunities there, but I was simply interested in utilizing ED as an opportunity to increase my chances at my top choice college. Thank you again for your thorough response and well wishes!
If cost is a factor, then knowing your chance of admission is an even more significant factor in ED. You need a college where you can afford an acceptance. So…either you need to qualify for significant merit aid (without your stats, no help here), or you need to be a competitive applicant for schools that meet full need for all (are you), and your family needs to be able to afford their family contribution as calculations by the colleges (can they).
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Thank you for your advice! For stats, I have a 3.94 GPA and a 1530 SAT (though I am awaiting the release of the June scores with bated breath). There are some universities that I love, like Northwestern and WashU, that are just a little too far from home for me, but as you said, I don’t want to rule anything out. Thank you for sharing those examples from SCAD and IU Bloomington as well!
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What IS your top college choice and what are your stats.
Thank you very much for your reply, it’s really great to hear your advice as someone in the field! While I frame it that I want to be a “journalist”, it sounds like the career you lead is exactly what I’d be interested in. I’m actually more drawn to LACs socially and will definitely apply to Amherst and Williams at the least, but they usually do not offer journalism/communications as majors. In that case, I would probably major in Political Science (which I would double major/minor in either way). Thanks again!
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Are you low income with great grades? If so…you might want to read about Questbridge.
And again I ask…are you a competitive applicant for these top colleges?
She answered part in the response above -
Sure! I felt a little bad that some folks were discouraging the major, so I wanted you to know that there are plenty of ways to make a fulfilling career out of a journalism major.
My daughter has similar interests. Right now she’s planning to double major in Political Science and Communications at UCLA. (She’s an incoming freshman, so can’t declare a major there yet). She also may pursue law school, but we’ll see.
Her stats were similar to yours (slightly lower SAT), exact same GPA. She had a number of ECs that aligned with her interests (school newspaper editor, theater, served on our county’s youth commission, started anti-racism club, etc.)
She chose to ED at UPenn. I’d also take a look there. She was rejected, but it’s all a lottery ticket at this point. The Annenberg School is there, Kelly Writer’s house seems amazing. Ultimately, she is happy she didn’t get in. It was too preprofessional for her. I’d think about vibe carefully. Some places are dominated by a particular kind of culture (at UPenn, Wharton tends to set the pace, despite the many other colleges/majors outside of business).
As for LACs without communications majors—that is true. But many of them have creative writing majors or English degrees with an emphasis on writing. The LACs I mentioned (Hamilton, Middlebury, Kenyon) all have stellar reputations for their writing programs. Amherst is great—a former colleague of mine had a BA in creative writing there. Barnard may be a fantastic choice if you identify as female. LACs make it super easy to get involved in the student paper or participate in other writing opportunities (vs UCLA, where the Daily Bruin is competitive)
Definitely run the Net Price calculators at these places. And explore QB, too.
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Even though it is from several years ago, this article always stuck out to me.
I manage a digital and traditional sales and marketing team of around 25 people. In hiring entry-level, I looked for communications, English, and Education degrees over business degrees. A communications degree with a business minor can be a solid combination to consider.
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You can get involved at any school in their newspaper, radio, tv - other communication methods. But LACs won’t have journalism. But if you get the experience, then the academics matter less. In fact, many journalists, pundits, bloggers - whatever - come from all sorts of fields.
I wasn’t saying you need an alternative major/minor. I was saying that at many schools that offer journalism/communications, because of the job prospects and narrowness of the field, they often require a minor/2nd major in combo. So I had a dual History / Broadcast - I couldn’t get a degree in broadcast without a second major. I’m not diminishing the major as someone suggested but simply pointing out the outcomes and difficulty and why so many schools require the extra academics in another area. That’s still true today!!
It’s a different world today though - anyone with an iphone can be a journalist, etc. Lots of blog and other freelance opportunities - as well as corporate opportunities others listed.
With your stats (without knowing the entire picture, you’ve got the ability to reasonably apply to most every school in the country.
If cost were a factor, I’d look at schools with excellent programs - Cronkite at Arizona State, Alabama has a top PR program, Ohio U, Mizzou are both cheap and strong for journalism - your state flagship too. For an LAC and Journalism - Washington & Lee is a home run - one of the top schools for journalism in the country and they have the Johnson Scholarship to get cost down!!
As for distance - I understand wanting to be close to home - but you said 500 miles. That’s a 7 hour minimum drive. If you’re willing to do that, distance shouldn’t matter - because you can fly anywhere in that amount of time as well.
Good luck.
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If you want to be a journalist go to journalism school. It’s a better choice for a career in journalism than majoring Communications. Communications can be great for PR, etc, though, but if you want to be a journalist go to J-school either as an undergrad or grad.
UNC Chapel Hill has one of the top journalism schools in the country. UNC won the Hearst National Championship again this year.
Syracuse is another excellent J-school.
If money is not a problem check out Emerson.
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