Ivy League for Journalism?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>While looking for schools that offer journalism, I have been told that some Ivys might have journalism programs. I have searched to see if this is true, and it looks like it's false. I know that Columbia has a Journalism Grad program, but that is all that I could find.</p>

<p>Does anybody know if any of the Ivy's perhaps do have journalism programs, or a way to learn it (besides englich classes and things such as that)?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for any help that can be given.</p>

2

<p>Go to Northwestern!</p>

3

<p>Yah, I know that Northwestern is one of the best schools for journalism. I would love to attend that school, but is farther away than my parents would like me to go.</p>

4

<p>Northwestern is the nation’s top school for undergraduate and graduate Journalism. However, the reason why Ivies don’t offer undergraduate Journalism is because graduate is good enough.</p>

<p>I don’t know if the “undergraduate Law” -> “graduate Law” example translates into Journalism, but I’m pretty sure undergraduate Journalism isn’t necessary. But if you’re completely certain you want to be a Journalist, then by all means, attend Northwestern undergraduate Journalism school.</p>

5

<p>Why be a journalist? There’s NO money involved at all…</p>

6

<p>That’s what you think.</p>

<p>It depends on what type you want to become.</p>

7

<p>Wasn’t Rory Gilmore a Journalism major at Princeton? ;)</p>

<p>And, Mr. Prince, some people are independently wealthy and don’t need money. ;)</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>Because once you have money, your purpose in life is suddenly fulfilled, right?
Not only that, what you just said is completely incorrect.</p>

9

<p>While none of the Ivies offer an undergrad major in journalism, several of them offer relevant coursework and other opportunities in journalism:</p>

<p>Yale has the Yale Journalism Initiative:
[Yale</a> Journalism Initiative | writing.yalecollege.yale.edu](<a href=“http://writing.yalecollege.yale.edu/yale-journalism-initiative]Yale”>http://writing.yalecollege.yale.edu/yale-journalism-initiative)
Princeton offers journalism seminars through its Council on the Humanities:
[Princeton</a> University Council of the Humanities](<a href=“http://humanities.princeton.edu/courses/spring2011/jrn]Princeton”>http://humanities.princeton.edu/courses/spring2011/jrn)
Harvard students can cross-register for courses at MIT, which has majors in science communication and in digital media:
[Writing</a> and Humanistic Studies](<a href=“http://writing.mit.edu%5DWriting”>http://writing.mit.edu)
Both U Penn and Cornell offer majors in communication:
[The</a> Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.asc.upenn.edu/Students/Undergraduate/Program/Default.aspx]The”>http://www.asc.upenn.edu/Students/Undergraduate/Program/Default.aspx)
[Cornell</a> University :: Department of Communication](<a href=“http://comm.cornell.edu%5DCornell”>http://comm.cornell.edu)
Penn also offers a concentration on literature, journalism & print culture in its English major:
[Undergraduate</a> Major Concentrations Literature, Journalism and Print Culture | University of Pennsylvania | Department of English](<a href=“http://www.english.upenn.edu/Undergrad/major/concentrations/ljp]Undergraduate”>Literature, Journalism and Print Culture | Department of English)</p>

<p>All of the Ivies offer writing courses and extracurricular opportunities in journalism.</p>

10

<p>^^^
What suprises me is that Princeton has journalism programs for teens and even a few journalists but no classes on journalism.</p>

<p>and Rory was, but I though the TV show had her attending Yale. I should re-check that then.</p>

<p>^
Thank you. Those are things I noticed and I guess that those may be the things that people were thinking about when they told my Ivy’s had journalism.</p>

11

<p>Brown has a Modern Culture and Media major that might interest you.
[Focal</a> Point | Dean of the College | Brown University](<a href=“http://www.brown.edu/Administration/focal-point/concentrations/Modern-Culture-and-Media]Focal”>http://www.brown.edu/Administration/focal-point/concentrations/Modern-Culture-and-Media)</p>

12

<p>Thank you
^__^</p>

13

<p>You might want to investigate and think more about why so few of the most selective colleges and universities offer journalism or communications majors. If you look through the alumni wikis of the Ivies and other top schools that don’t offer journalism majors, you’ll find the names of many famous journalists, talking heads, etc. Examples:</p>

<p>Yale
Bob Woodward, Gary Trudeau, Anne Applebaum, Anderson Cooper</p>

<p>Harvard
Susan Faludi, E.J. Dionne, Lou Dobbs, Michael Kinsley, William Kristol, Soledad O’Brien, Frank Rich</p>

<p>Chicago
David Broder, David Brooks, Katherine Graham, Roger Ebert, Seymour Hersch, Ana Marie Cox</p>

<p>Others
Anna Quindlen (Barnard), Jon Stewart (Wm & Mary), Garrick Utley (Carleton), Cynthia McFadden (Bowdoin), Carla Anne Robbins (Wellesley), Bob Drogin (Oberlin), Doyle McManus (Stanford), …</p>

14

<p>^
Some of those places where they are accepted do not have a great need for real journalists. It is more like who is the best in a field. I can understand that for like a job at the Boston Globe.
But I want to do Broadcast, you will not find many people who do not have a journalism degree in that area of journalism.</p>

15

<p>Meh, I guess if you already have money, might as well do something you’re interested in. And yeah, Rory Gilmore ;)</p>

16

<p>^^^
Some of the people you listed have journalism degrees. Just not from the top schools they went to.</p>

<p>They are speacilists in a field. I plan to do more than just journalism (deciding between law, poli-sci, education but I will do Asian studies for sure)</p>

17

<p>

</p>

<p>Walter Cronkite (UT-Austin drop-out after 2 years)
Peter Jennings (HS drop-out)
Tom Brokaw (University of South Dakota - Vermillion, B.A. in Political Science)
Diane Sawyer (Wellesley, B.A. in English)
Wolf Blitzer (University of Buffalo, B.A. in History; JHU/SAIS, M.A. in IR)
Anderson Cooper (Yale, B.A. in Political Science/IR)
Soledad O’Brien (Harvard, B.A. in English & American Literature)
Katie Couric (UVa, B.A. in English)
Lou Dobbs (Harvard, B.A. in Economics)
Charles Gibson (Princeton, B.A. in History)
Britt Hume (UVa, B.A. in English)
Rachel Maddow (Stanford, B.A. in Public Policy; Oxford, D.Phil. in Politics)
Judy Woodruff (Duke, B.A. in Political Science)</p>

<p>All of the above are (or were) broadcast journalists. As far as I can tell, they all have an undergraduate liberal arts degree, no journalism degree, and no graduate degree of any kind (with the exception of Wolf Blitzer and Rachel Maddow, as noted). Now, these are all celebrities. Maybe among the rank and file of broadcast journalists, a journalism degree is in fact common.</p>

18

<p>Here’s a tip that no one ever really tells you about the ivies and journalism. And really it applies to most professions and the ivies.</p>

<p>Get into a good school, like Yale for example, then just major in whatever you feel like and do side projects. Go to Yale, go write for the Yale Daily News, get an editor position, maybe head editor. Forget about your grades or your schooling, you really only need to do enough to graduate. Just make a name for yourself and write knockout pieces. The connections are all you really need from the school. Upon graduation, with that on your resume, and with the contacts you should have made over the course of 4 years, you’re probably set for a job right out of college.</p>

19

<p>Roger Ebert at Chicago…does he get out of Chicago the city, is the real question? LOL.</p>

20

<p>I want to be a journalist too, but I’m planning on doing an undergraduate course that’s completely unrelated- Earth Science at Columbia or Urban Studies at UPenn or Media Resources at MIT.
I think having a broad sense of the world and varied experiences is what makes a writer, and the job scope of a journalist could probably do with field based learning rather than a whole undergrad course. Just my take on it:)</p>