<p>I'm in the process of crafting my senior year schedule and am trying to chose an English course.</p>
<p>Among many options is journalism. Currently, our school newspaper is in sorry shapeit's really a ragand journalism class has a reputation of being a joke. But I'd like to change that and make a a real school paper. I think I have some good ideas for reforming it, and could probably become editor-in-chief easily enough.</p>
<p>However, I'm concerned that selective colleges might scoff at such a course, given Journalism's reputation. So, what do people recommend?</p>
<p>(Other options include a Holocaust course, Utopian Literature, and Major American Literature.)</p>
<p>I think that if you really have a desire to work on the paper and improve it, than you should definitely give it a shot. I took journalism my junior year, and, honestly, our paper wasn’t that great. It was pretty much one of my least favorite classes ever. But I found that taking the class gave me a lot to talk about in interviews and on my application because I did have some interesting experiences. It also shows that you have a passion for writing, which is an asset to most every school. </p>
<p>It sounds like any of those courses you listed would be interesting and look fine on a college application, but journalism might allow you to be a little more proactive. Colleges will realize it’s not padding to your schedule if they see you’ve put in effort (as in, winning awards, etc.). Plus, it’d be pretty cool to be able to say how you’ve transformed your school newspaper into something worth reading.</p>
<p>Past a certain point, you’re really just better off doing what interests you. You’ll do better and enjoy yourself more and really, even though I know this is hard to believe right now, one class is not going to make or break your college application. Also, as challenging as THIS is to believe, one college is not going to make or break your life, either. Do what you want to do most.</p>
<p>Beware of one thing… My son was a year ahead in HS, English course-wise. In other words, he did 11th-grade English in 10th grade, etc. He signed up for a journalism course in his senior year, but found that it did not count as a 4th year of English at many schools. Make sure the journalism class is in ADDITION to an English course that “counts” as English.</p>
Do what you want to do most.</p>