<p>The May 1st deadline is just a couple weeks away and I'm completely torn between the University of Maryland and Syracuse. I was admitted to the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse and the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at Maryland (and also the Scholars program there). I know Syracuse is extremely cold but it has a great journalism program. On the other hand, Maryland is just around the corner from Washington DC.</p>
<p>Please provide opinions/pros and cons. Any insight is appreciated!!</p>
<p>I was also admitted to both Newhouse and Merrill last year (I chose Maryland). While I think Newhouse is regarded higher, Merrill is an excellent journalism program as well, so I didn’t see a huge difference there. Plus we just got a brand new, state-of-the-art Journalism building last year. It’s great…Location played a factor, because like you said, Maryland is right near D.C., which is great for internships and just for visiting. And Syracuse is…upstate NY…where it’s really cold, while Maryland will feature much nicer weather longer. </p>
<p>If the only thing holding you back from Maryland is the strength of Syracuse’s Journalism school, I don’t think that’s enough of a reason to go there since Maryland has a great one too. But if you have several other factors that you like Syracuse better for, then you need to sit down and compare everything in terms of what you’re looking for.</p>
<p>I will say, after almost one year I’m extremely happy with Maryland as both a general student and as a Journalism student.</p>
<p>I was hoping you would see this post, Bornin92!</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, Bornin92! Also, what types of internship opportunities are available for UMD journalism students, both in DC and in other cities?</p>
<p>And could you identify any significant downsides to UMD that I should consider?</p>
<p>Well for internships, you can look at pretty much all the news outlets in the D.C./College Park area. There’s a Journalism career fair every October where they bring in over 35 employers and students can go up and talk to representatives. It’s a great way to try and get an internship or to network. This past October places like the Washington Post, USA Today, the Baltimore Sun, NBC, and the Associated Press were there, among many others. </p>
<p>Merrill also has a faculty member that assists students with getting internships and jobs, and sends out listings every month or so. There’s definitely tons of internship opportunities. One of the requirements for the Journalism school is to complete at least one internship.</p>
<p>In addition, students can apply for something called Capital News Service, which if accepted they do in their senior year for credit. It has bureaus in Annapolis, College Park, and D.C., and students get real newsroom experience and get to go out and be actual reporters or work on production. </p>
<p>As for downsides, the only semi-significant one to me is that I’m from Long Island, NY, so I really don’t get to go home when it’s not a break. But it hasn’t really been that big of a deal, and if I need to get home I can always go on Amtrak. I don’t know where you’re from, so this might not be a downside for you.</p>
<p>I should add that in your first semester you’ll take a class called JOUR150 (they just changed it for next year, it used to be JOUR100) where you’ll listen to several journalists talk about their experiences and get a lot of information about Merrill and the opportunities that you have. You’ll even hear from students from the various campus publications/radio/tv and how to get involved in them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! I am from New Jersey, but I’m not really worried about getting back home when I need to. I’ll definitely take everything into consideration-- hoping to make a decision soon but at the moment I’m still torn!</p>