For Journalism and Creative Writing? NU vs. NYU vs. BU?

<p>I always hear such great things about NU's journalism program. Is it as good as it sounds, and does NU also offer a good creative writing minor? How does NU compare to BU and NYU? I live on the east coast and I'm kind of hesitant to go to a school so far away, but it seems so nice....convince me ;-)</p>

<p>NYU and BU are good schools, but NU is simply at another level. It is an absolutely superb university, at the top tier of US universities (with schools like Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Chicago, JHU, etc.), while NYU and BU are not.
The Medill School of Journalism is generally regarded as the premier undergrad journalism school. The English Dept is great, and it offers both majors and 2 different minors in writing (see [English</a> Department - Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences: Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.english.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/writing-major/about/about-sequence.html]English”>http://www.english.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/writing-major/about/about-sequence.html) and [English</a> Department - Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences: Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.english.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/writing-major/about/about-cross-genre.html]English”>http://www.english.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/writing-major/about/about-cross-genre.html)).
We are also from the east coast, and my daughter has had 4 fabulous years at NU (graduating in a couple of weeks). Chicago has so many flights to most east coast cities, that travel has not been a problem (although Thanksgiving can be quite hectic).
If someone were given a choice between the 3 schools you list, I couldn’t imagine them going anywhere but NU.</p>

<p>I’m a bit confused - have you been admitted to all three from waitlists and now need to decide? If not, then you’ve got it backwards; you need to first convince these schools to admit you and then they will convince you they are the best.</p>

<p>But I agree with what WCASParent said.</p>

<p>I think the minors in creative writing are really good. You should refer to the website to make sure, but I think you have to apply to get into a sequence-based writing minor (for which you choose between fiction, poetry, and nonfiction), but not for the cross-genre minor. I think the sequence-based minors are fairly competitive, so the cross-genre minor is good in case someone doesn’t get into a sequence-based minor but still really wants to minor in creative writing. Of course, it’s also good if someone doesn’t want to pick just one of the three choices to focus on.</p>

<p>I myself am looking into the fiction-focused sequence minor. I’ve heard that over the course of three quarters, you work on a novella, so by the end of it, you have something you can take to a publisher. Sounds really cool to me.</p>

<p>As for Medill, I’m not a journalism major, so I can’t tell you much beyond what I have heard, but I think Medill is one of the best journalism schools in the country. I have lots of friends in journalism and I know it’s really intense and they work really hard, so you must learn a lot in the program. And then, of course, Chicago’s right next door, so there’re lots of intership opportunities and such.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>My son is a Journalism major at NU and I can attest to the fact that it is an intense program. Freshman year you take one journ course each quarter. Two of the courses meet for 3 hours, twice per week and require an unbelievable amount of work. They help you decide if you love your major or hate it. The program also covers all media - you learn to research, interview, write, audio record, photograph and video for your stories. (and you need the equipment to do so.) I am really impressed with the variety and depth of work my son has produced as a freshman.</p>