<p>Journalism is what I really want to pursue when I go to college and I've been looking at some of the more well known J-Schools but I was wondering if it would be wise to go to a school thats not as known for journalism and get my B.A. and then go to a school that's well known to get my M.A. I'm asking this because of my financial situation and it could possibly be easier on me.</p>
<p>There are many paths to a journalism career. Assuming you want to be a generalist, my advice is to get the broadest education you can as an undergraduate, and not to spend a lot of time in exclusively journalism courses. Focus on history, sociology, politics, the history of science and technology -- and of course writing -- and then work hard on the school newspaper, or radio or TV station. In four years you can decide if a grad program in journalism is right for you. By then, the Internet will probably have created a whole new class of journalism jobs.</p>
<p>Thats very helpful but what I meant to ask was do you think an employer would look over me for not going to a very strong college for my B.A. but a strong school for my M.A over someone who went to both a strong J-School for both their B.A & M.A</p>
<p>In my opinion, you should go to the undergrad school with the best overall academics that you can get into... assuming you can afford it. When you graduate, you can decide whether your goals and interests lead you to grad school or to an entry-level journalism position that will let you learn on the job -- and pay you while you're doing it
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<p>My understanding from friends who work as journalists is that when it comes time to hire an employee, editors care a lot more about the quality of clips you provide and previous relevant experience than what school you went to for either grad or undergrad.</p>
<p>thanks for your help! It was a big concern of mine because alot of the top J-Schools are either very expensive or very far away (I'm from New Jersey) so I was nervous if I didn't go somewhere good, it would effect me in the future.</p>
<p>What's your opinion--if I want to be a print journalist, would it be better to get a BA in something other than journalism--probably sociology--and then get an MA in journalism, or BA in journalism?</p>
<p>take a statistics course.</p>
<p>I think you should consider Columbia University. Apparently they are being a lot more generous with scholarships now because they received a huge sum of money from someone. I don't remember who, sorry. But, I have a friend who is going to start at Columbia for undergrad. this fall and she got a huge scholarship after this guy decided to give the money this year; prior to him giving this money she didn't receive much aid. I think they gifted the money in the form of merit aid rather than financial need, so that is a plus for everyone. Also, Columbia is really close to New Jersey and is in NYC, the perfect place for someone pursuing a career in journalism.</p>