<p>I am sending in my deposit tomorrow and am not sure where it's going. I have narrowed down my choices between Williams and UNC honors. I was all set for Williams, but upon looking at their English courses, I noticed that there are no Journalism/Media Law/News Writing courses offered. In fact, when I emailed the head of William's English Department, he told me that Williams was a liberal arts school, not a pre-professional school like UNC so I should not expect any courses like that except for the rare winter study course. </p>
<p>To make matters more difficult, UNC sent me a tempting offer of being one of 20 freshman to get into a sophmore level of a news writing course. </p>
<p>I know you don't need a journalism major to become a journalist, but I am disappointed that Williams does not offer one media course. Is there anyone here who pursued journalism after a degree at Williams?</p>
<p>No Journalism major at Williams, but many good writers. (Check out the Williams Record online - <a href=“http://www.williamsrecord.com%5B/url%5D”>www.williamsrecord.com</a></p>
<p>The philosophy of a liberal arts college is to train the mind in thinking, writing, and analyzing, believing that the specific skills needed in professions are all based on these core abilities.</p>
<p>The courses you are talking about are “how to” courses that don’t necessarily add to your knowledge base, not to say they’re bad. It’s just a different philosophy.</p>
<p>My dad, a big shot in business, said he always hired English majors because they could write. He insisted that everything else can be learned on the job.</p>
<p>However, it sounds like you are more excited at the prospect of jumping into news writing and your vocational goals. That’s okay. </p>
<p>Another example of Williams English alum who’s sucess as writer–Bethany McLean, who co-authored The Smartest Guys in the Room, best-selling book about Enron, while a staff writer for Forbes, and is now contributing editor to Vanity Fair–Michael Lewis, who was art history, not English, from Princeton, not Williams is another succcess as writer–Moneyball was best seller–without journalism degree.
Look at most journalism heavyweights of last half century–some journalism grads, but not many</p>
<p>hmm, thanks for all the advice, but in the end, I chose Williams. There were many things I loved about UNC, but overall, Williams had the right learning environment for me. At 17, it seemed to hard to base my decision just on one program -no matter how great-, when my interest and passion could so easily change by the time I graduate. </p>