<p>I'm a high school junior and out of all the colleges I've been looking at, Chicago is by far my favorite. I love everything about it: the quirky-ness, the great academics, the beautiful campus, and of course the location. My only concern is that I want to go into journalism, and I'm not sure if Chicago would be the most practical school to prepare me to go into the field. I've heard that the school offers a journalism internship (or something along those lines)--could anyone tell me more about that? Exactly where do the students intern? And what kind of job placement into that field does Chicago have?</p>
<p>You’ll definitely want to check out Chicago Careers in Journalism (<a href=“Home | CareerAdv”>Home | CareerAdv). This is one of many pre-professional advising programs that the Career Advising and Planning Services (CAPS) offers. You should be able to find a lot of the information you asked about through CCIJ. We also have a lot of great student publications, including the Chicago Maroon, the student newspaper. Your worries are common ones, but rest assured, people who attend the University of Chicago come out well prepared for careers or graduate programs in journalism.</p>
<p>Any liberal arts institution will be less “practical” than a journalism program.</p>
<p>At this particular moment in history, I’m not certain that there is any such thing as a “practical” journalism program. The whole field is in disarray.</p>
<p>I know lots of journalists, mostly print and some broadcast. The ones with the best careers have been history majors at liberal arts schools (this of course includes Harvard and Yale, and I don’t mean “history majors” literally) who did a lot of journalism activities in college (and some who didn’t). But people who went to good pre-professional journalism programs have certainly done well, too. Maybe better overall, it’s hard to tell. But my friends’ career paths – even the career paths for my friends in their early 30s – are not something that today’s high school students can rely on following.</p>
<p>Anyway, Chicago has lots of students who are interested in journalism and engage in it. You can read lots of student publications online if you wish and judge for yourself. They come in daily, weekly, monthly, and whenever flavors. I think the quality is spottier than some other places, but it’s far from awful comparatively. I don’t think there is one journalism internship; there are multiple ones, and people get support to pursue anything that interests them. My daughter had internships at a glossy (but alternative) cultural monthly and one of the University’s glossy publications; friends worked with established alternative weeklies, big-name dailies, well-known websites, and major national magazines. But for any young graduate interested in journalism, especially the kind that involves actual reporting and writing, it’s a chaotic hustle-fest every day.</p>
<p>Hey noodles:</p>
<p>I’m a fourth year in the College. I’m majoring in English but I’m interested in continuing on to Journalism school (I’m actually applying to graduate programs right now). I’m part of the pre-professional program called Chicago Careers in Journalism that KMad mentioned.
Every student involved with CCIJ on our campus is paired up with a journalism adviser (in addition to their regular faculty adviser) who works with them to tailor the University of Chicago education. This adviser, Kathy Anderson, has done some fantastic work in the field and is really helpful in helping us prepare for the future. She sends dozens of internship opportunities to our emails each week. With her help I was able to line up a journalism internship last winter and spring with a local journalist/author. University of Chicago students also have a unique opportunity for internships through the Metcalf program. This program places students at the College in amazing positions across the globe. This URL will provide you with more information:</p>
<p><a href=“Home | CareerAdv”>Home | CareerAdv;
<p>Through the Metcalf program, I was able to intern with ESPN Radio this summer. I am also a publications intern with the Admissions office, and have an internship this fall and winter with FOX News Investigative Unit and their web department. Kathy will be invaluable to you in helping find internships. In addition to the internship opportunities available to CCIJ students, our adviser also brings journalists to campus to meet with us, has held helpful workshops on campus, and alerted me to an opportunity at a news station downtown to meet with journalists in the business, ask them questions, and network. </p>
<p>The University of Chicago also has a lot of extracurricular opportunities for students interest in broadcast or print journalism. We have our own radio station, WHPK, numerous newspapers and magazines like mentioned above. Writing for a newspaper (the Chicago Maroon) and a magazine (I’m currently Co-Editor-in-Chief of our fashion organization) has given me a lot of clips (aka articles) with which I can apply to internships and graduate programs.</p>
<p>My degree in English has prepared me to think and write critically. There are also a number of other majors that would be applicable to a career in journalism (political science, Law Letters and Society, International Studies), although I know someone who was pre-med as an undergraduate and continued on to journalism school. I am confident that any student interested in journalism can come to the University of Chicago and have great experiences within and outside the classroom-- experiences that are directly applicable to a future career in journalism.</p>
<p>Noodles,</p>
<p>I am a working journalist, and all of the above advice is good advice. A great liberal arts education will never hold you back–from anything. Think about majoring in something other than English or Poli. Sci. They’re both a dime a dozen, whereas the profession needs journalists with deep knowledge of bio, physics, math … . Economics would be phenomenal. </p>
<p>Read the New York Times. Subscribe to dozens of magazines. Work at your college daily. Learn to program mobile apps. If you land in Chicago, get an internship with Ira Glass at Chicago Public Radio. Trust me: That would open doors to any journalism job anywhere. </p>
<p>Lurking around the forums, I have been impressed by how well the UChicago kids write. There’s another thing that will never hold you back in journalism.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>