<p>I want to become a journalist, and initially I started only looking at schools that offered the major (which eliminated lots of options) but lately I've been wondering if it's necessary or even practical to major in Journalism, as opposed to say, Political Science or Finance and get experience in the school newspaper/TV station. </p>
<p>I don't personally know anybody in the field who could tell me how these things work, so any guidance here is welcome! Thanks</p>
<p>Also, my school's deadline to apply for regular decision is next week, so I have to decide soon</p>
<p>It is absolutely possible to major in political science or finance - and then get into journalism. In fact, many news directors welcome this kind of specific background: too many new grads, even those in journalism, don’t understand finance, or how the government works. I worked in broadcast journalism for years - with a degree in comp lit. A good friend of mine, now one of the top producers at NBC, was an English major. So yes, it’s possible. </p>
<p>That said, a good journalism school will help you get the internships you will need to land that good first job. If you decide against j-school, the onus to get internship will be on you. So I’d suggest this: study whatever interests you, write for the school paper, then try to get an internship at a “real” newspaper. (Also, don’t forget writing for the web: obviously, it’s a growing field.) With a degree from a good school, real-world experience, and contacts you made during your internship you won’t be at a disadvantage versus j-school grads as far as job-hunting is concerned.</p>
<p>The media is flooded with apps from kids who majored in journalism or english but have little other knowledge to bring to the table (and who are frightened by math/science). If you want to look like the rest of the herd pick those majors. Some get jobs, but many struggle.</p>
<p>What really jumps out is a kid with experience in the media (writing for the school paper, summer job at a paper, intern in television, etc) but majored in something that gives them an ability to understand the world out there. So if you have an aptitude for science or languages it would be better to major on one of those fields AND pursue journalism via the school paper and internships. Someone with a business or accounting degree has a leg up, too; open the paper and see how many articles are about business and the economy, usually written by people who’ve never taken a single class in the area who are at the mercy of the PR staffs that want to spin what is reported.</p>
<p>So the most important thing for you to know is that your future is going to depend on what you do, not whether you attend some “best” college for journalism. Plenty of kids from great schools such as Syracuse or Missouri are going to struggle to find jobs because they didn’t spend the time laying the groundwork to be attractive to employers. To be sure, going to a top school and taking advantage of all the resources puts you in a great position. Bottom line, however, attending a top school doesn’t guarantee success, nor does going somewhere else prevent it.</p>
<p>speaking from the field, above is all so true. the most important element in my view is going to a school where student media is open to all (not just as part of the jouranlism program) and very active. Work at student media (online, newspaper, tv, radio) is critical, in my experience – both for the next step and for finding out if you really want to do this.</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses, they are very helpful. I will defenetly get involved in the school media and try to find internships. From what I’m reading, I’m thinking the best bet would to double major if possible.</p>
<p>So if it came down to choosing between a school with a well-known journalism program vs. a school with a better reputation all around but no journalism major, would you say go for the better all around? (ex- Syracuse vs BC)</p>
<p>I’d go with which one has the better student newspaper. If BC’s newspaper is better, they’re clearly doing something right despite not having a designated journalism program. If BC’s newspaper is terrible, I would probably not choose it.</p>
<p>mandarina, consider this. Yale, Berkeley, University of Chicago and University of Virginia are all top, highly selective schools. None has an undergrad journalism major. Yet their grads write for some of the top newspapers/news outlets in the world, either through experience with school papers/internships or grad programs. So my advice would be: go to the school that offers the best overall academic experience. The rest you can make happen by yourself.</p>
<p>It is important to weigh schools against one another, but I’d be surprised if the handful of factors measured by somebody like US News and the weights they have assigned are the perfect tool for revealing what matters to you. I suggest taking into account things like the type of students that attend, how helpful faculty are to students, what the advising system is like, what the career center does for students, what the classroom experience is like for undergrads, and so on – factors at best indirectly measured in rankings.</p>
<p>I’d also mention that if you have your heart set on being a traditional journalist that’s one thing (and assumes you have enough actual experience to know you do want to do that, not just predict that you would), but if you step back a bit and view the job as communicating information to the public there are a variety of places and flavors of doing that. In a sense those working in public relations, in marketing or advertising, in a politician’s office working with constituents, to name but a few, are all doing variants of that commmunication. A lot of HS kids are not aware of the multitude of job variants out there and so focus on a small area when something else might be a better fit. The reason this bears on your decision is both that experience in some of these allied areas may prove valuable even if you are focused on traditional journalism, and that you may find more opportunities to do these types of things while in school if you are in a more urban as opposed to rural area.</p>