Journalism student

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Here's the lowdown:</p>

<p>I'm from a suburb of Chicago and go to a large high school (3,600 students, with 900 in my grade). I'm strong in all areas but math and science (as my grades and test scores demonstrate). I take honors and AP classes in all subjects but math and science, in which I'm placed in accelerated. My school is very competitive, and it is recognized as one of the best in the state. And I will be a senior this coming year.</p>

<p>I am very interested in journalism and plan to major in that (and possibly double major with either advertising or Spanish). I want to go to a medium- or large-sized school, preferably in an urban area. Hopefully I can go to a school that's not only good in journalism, but in other areas, in case I change my mind. I am still not sure what schools I should apply to, so I am open to suggestions, but would like to hear my chances at the schools I'm interested in. My parents would like me to stay in the Midwest, but I'm open to going anywhere.</p>

<p>I don't know if it's worth mentioning but I had some pretty serious health issues through high school, which caused me to miss a fair amount of school (20 days freshman year alone), and I received surgery this past year.</p>

<p>Colleges:
-Northwestern (I have legacy--my mom and aunt went there)
-U of I (not very interested, but feel like I must apply)
-U of Wisconsin-Madison
-U of Missouri-Columbia
-Marquette
-Indiana University (not very interested)
-Boston University
-George Washington University</p>

<p>I was possibly thinking of U of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, but I'm afraid those schools would both would be too conservative (I'm very liberal) and maybe a culture shock.</p>

<p>ACT:
-Overall 31 (35 English, 34 Reading, 29 Math, 26 Science)</p>

<p>APs:
-Spanish (score still not in), American Gov't (4), Comparative Gov't (4)
-Next year I'm taking AP English (will take both English tests then), AP Psychology, and AP US History.</p>

<p>Class rank: 63/899 (weighted)
GPA: 3.75 (unweighted)/4.66 (weighted)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Youth group (frosh)
JV swim team (frosh--had to quit for health reasons)
Winter swim club (frosh)
Student council (frosh, soph)
Peaceable Schools Initiative (frosh, soph)
Literary magazine prose reader (frosh, soph, jr.)
Guitar lessons (frosh, soph, jr.)
Summer swim team (frosh, soph)
Lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons (frosh, soph, jr.)
Nat'l Spanish Honors Society (soph, jr.)
Nat'l Honors Society (jr.)
My town's youth commission (jr.)</p>

<p>The extracurricular I'm most passionate about is the school newspaper, which you cannot join till junior year. It has received awards at the state and national level. This year I was the copy editor (great for a junior), and next year I'm the news editor. To say it takes up a great deal of time is an understatement. I'm just afraid colleges won't realize how much time it did consume (I would be there until 11 on school nights several times a month).</p>

<p>Thanks--I'm interested to hear your responses.</p>

2

<p>Oh and I went to Mexico for two weeks this past school year. I studied at a school there and lived with a family. But I don't plan on writing my personal statement about that, as it's seen as somewhat cliche.</p>

3

<p>syarcuse is good for broadcast journalism if your thinking about that</p>

4

<p>I'm a copy editor too! And I love journalism threads because I actually know what I'm talking about.</p>

<p>Northwestern is great. The other schools are all good schools, but I haven't heard anything good or bad about journalism programs. If I were you, I'd save the $100 in application fees for Illinois and Indiana. Missouri is definitely a safety for you and has a fantastic program. You'd probably really enjoy Columbia. They just decriminalized marijuana, so now it's a ticket instead of jailtime. How's that for liberal?</p>

<p>Something to think about: Most journalism schools are junior-senior schools, so you start out in Liberal Arts and Sciences. This means that you could easily get into a college that is not too selective as a whole, but has a very selective and highly regarded journalism school.</p>

<p>If you want some other options to consider: U Kansas is nationally ranked. Even though Kansas is a very conservative state, Lawrence is very liberal, very racially integrated, very fun. You'd love it here! </p>

<p>You could also look into more selective state schools like Maryland, Georgia (could be too conservative) and Texas (ever been to Austin? It's amazing)--they all have great journalism programs and would probably be matches or low reaches. And as someone else mentioned, Syracuse is great too. I'd say it's probably a very reasonable reach or even a match for you.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for your advice. I've been considering Marquete more and more lately, because it is not so large, but I'm worried about the strength of the journalism program. But it is a fairly reputable school, and one I can definitely get into, plus I have legacy there, so maybe I can receive scholarships. (Which would always help.)</p>

<p>Are you thinking of journalism as a major? And if so, where? I'm always interested to hear of school choices of journalism majors.</p>

6

<p>Hey, we got the same English ACT score! </p>

<p>I'm definitely majoring in journalism, and maybe doing a second major or a minor in Classics or anthropology. Lately I've been considering magazine journalism.</p>

<p>I'm probably most likely to go to KU. I'm from Lawrence, so we do a lot of conferences and competitions up there. I love the campus, the people are great, the parties are awesome. I also get in-state tuition and guranteed admission. You could definitely get scholarship money, and you'd likely get into the honors program.</p>

<p>I'm also looking at Missouri, mostly because the program is too good to overlook and it's pretty close to home. Columbia's fun, but the sports aren't that good. I'd expect you to get scholarships at MU also. It's only a little more selective than U Kansas.</p>

<p>Other schools I'm applying to: Louisiana State, Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Arizona/Arizona State</p>

<p>Marquette's program looks solid, so if you just love the school, it's a good option. But it's definitely not a "name" school in the field. I would worry about that a little because it's such a career-oriented major. It wouldn't matter as much if you were studying poli sci or something. </p>

<p>Try this link for rankings. As far as I can tell, the most recent ranking was in 1996. <a href="http://www.theihs.org/libertyguide/subcategory.php/9.html?menuid=2%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.theihs.org/libertyguide/subcategory.php/9.html?menuid=2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

7

<p>I think I'm definitely going to concentrate on print journalism. I have so many ideas for majors/minors, but I'm still not sure.</p>

<p>KU sounds pretty intriguing. Have you visited Mizzou though? I really liked it, and they give tons of automatic scholarships. In fact, I qualify (and you probably do too) for $6,500/year since I received above a 30 on the ACT and am in the top 10 percent of my class. So it ends up being about as much as U of I would cost, since Mizzou's tuition isn't extremely expensive (well, in comparison to other schools.) And if you get above a 30 and are in the top 10 percent of your class, you are eligible for the Honors College. I talked to someone there, and it sounded great. Definitely look into it more, and if you haven't visited, do so. It's gorgeous. And the sport teams do seem somewhat big there, at least football. Plus they have a new rec center that is absolutely AMAZING! (Another thing you must see if you visit.) Another thing is if you get above a certain score on the ACT--I think it's a 29--you qualify to enter the J-School as a freshman, which is major.</p>

<p>All your other schools sound great as well. Have you ever considered U of I or U of Wisconsin-Madison? Both are excellent, excellent schools, and I loved Madison. (It's VERY liberal.)</p>

8

<p>My stats aren't as good as yours--especially gpa and class rank. My plan for whatever college I go to is to do well freshman year and enter the honors program as a sophomore.</p>

<p>I think I'm definitely going to visit MU. Columbia's only 2 and half hours away. KU also has an amazing new rec center, so I could compare the two. </p>

<p>Oh, but KU did beat MU last season. 31-14. But you're right, the team does have a strong following, mostly for the social opportunities.</p>

<p>I'm not sure if I could get into U of I or U Wisconsin, but it seems awfully cold up there. Hmm.</p>

9

<p>Your plans sound great. </p>

<p>I have lived in IL my entire life, and the weather really isn't that bad. And the weather in WI is very similar too. Sure, it gets colder than it does in Kansas, but honestly, the winters here aren't that bad. We never get much snow. </p>

<p>U of I is turning into quite the school. It's reputation is slowly improving, and it's getting harder to be admitted. Coming from IL, I know for a fact U of I has a huge sports following, especially the basketball team (they almost won the NCAA championship this year), which is extremely talented.</p>

<p>U of Wisconsin-Madison has a huge fan base, and the students go crazy for the football team. Everyone loves Bucky the badger. It's usually ranked a little higher than U of I, although I think both schools are about the same.</p>

<p>I haven't considered U of I so much since so many classmates go there--last year, out of 850 seniors, 60 went to U of I. And about 500 went to schools in IL. There aren't really any other schools here, besides Northwestern, that I'm interested in. But I think it's great you are considering staying in KY. It's a very logical decision, and you'll save lots of money. (Plus get lots of scholarship money.)</p>

10

<p>Yeah, Illinois' basketball team is pretty incredible.</p>

<p>I think my school has even more kids at KU than yours does at UI. It's like a high school reunion every day. That's actually why I want to go somewhere out of state. Missouri looks better every day.</p>

11

<p>I'm going to be a communication/journalism major at NYU this year. It's urban and may be a reach for you, but it is an esteemed university with many respected programs outside of journalism. Also it's in new york so the internship opportunities are endless. </p>

<p>I've heard that wisco has a good journalism program but I wouldn't really know firsthand.. if you're looking to stay in the midwest, I'd say that's your best bet because it is climbing the rankings pretty quickly.</p>

12

<p>Visited WI and loved it, the problem is you don't enter the program till junior year, and only about half the kids that apply get in.</p>

<p>I'd love to go to NYU, but there's no way my parents would let me. Although Chicago is only 15 minutes away from where I live, so I've basically grown up in the city.</p>

<p>And lionswim--Mizzou is fantastic. My friend's sister is going to be a senior there and is majoring in journalism. She loves it and got a great internship for this summer through the college.</p>

13

<p>you can check out the college awards at <a href="http://www.spj.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.spj.org&lt;/a>. On the East Coast, Syracuse, Boston U, and Ithaca have great programs. Beware - at the larger colleges - Mizzou, Ohio U, PSU, Maryland - the programs are graduate oriented and difficult for undergrads epecially frosh and sophs to get involved in. Temple U also has a great program.</p>

14

<p>Yeah the J-School @ UW is pretty competitive. It's not at the level of Medill or Missouri, but it's top 10 in every undergraduate journalism ranking ive ever seen. However if you're thinking about going to NYU/Northwestern, and looking at your ACT score/ability, I think you'd be admitted. Add Ohio University to that list and Syracuse. Top notch journalism programs, maybe some $ for you too!</p>

15

<p>Kimk, there's actually an article about a journalism major at NYU who got credit for stalking the Olsen twins... I read it at the gym today and thought of this thread. CC is taking over my life. It's an interesting article, though.</p>

<p>WeezerFan, my friend's brother is a sophomore there and he sounds like he's having the time of his life. He's not a journalism major, but I don't really need any convincing on the top notch-ness of their program. Maybe I'll be a tiger after all.</p>

<p>All this talk has actually got me thinking about narrowing my college list down to schools that are especially strong in journalism.</p>

16

<p>The website--spj.org--is fabulous. Thanks so much Speedo for the suggestion. I was interested in Syracuse at one point, but I think it's a tad small for me. Then again, if I could get scholarship money, that would be great. My friend got offered a full ride there this year, but she turned it down for American. (A mistake, just my opinion.) But I plan on applying to BU; it seems like a good match for me. And maybe I should look into Ohio University. Definitely could get money there.</p>

<p>Lionswim, that sounds like a great plan. I'm trying to look into all-around good schools that have strong journalism programs. And it's good to know that so many people love Mizzou! A bunch of people from my high school are going there next year--I'd say around 20 or so. I think the school's reputation is really improving.</p>

17

<p>I see that you want to stay in the midwest, but if you're looking at liberal journalism schools, consider Emerson College. The location is prime- Boston is a fantastic college town- and Emerson's specialty is communications. Plus you might have the stats to qualify for their honors program which gives you a half-tuition scholarship.</p>

18

<p>lionswim where can i find that article?</p>

19

<p>Kimk, the article isn't online, but you can still find that issue on newsstands. It's the August issue and Kelly Clarkson is on the cover. The article is on page 80.</p>

20

<p>Missouri (Columbia) is one of the best schools in the country for Journalism, and with your ACT you'll probably be an automatic admit, possibly with a scholarship and/or honors college.</p>