Out of:
Kansas
Oklahoma
Nebraska
Minnesota
Illinois
Which are in the “top tier” of undergrad journalism schools, and for those that aren’t, where do they fall beneath them?
Journalism schools don’t have rankings the way some schools do for their departments, so it’s really just people’s opinions (which widely vary). I would say if you’re going by most famous/widely known for their j-school, none of those would make the list for Midwestern schools (Northwestern, Missouri, Indiana, and Wisconsin probably would). But all five of those schools are [url=<a href=“http://www2.ku.edu/%7Eacejmc/STUDENT/PROGLIST.SHTML#NB%5DACEJMC-accredited%5B/url”>http://www2.ku.edu/~acejmc/STUDENT/PROGLIST.SHTML#NB]ACEJMC-accredited[/url], which is good. This is an interesting read about the rankings (or lack of) in the journalism school world: The Best Journalism School in America Is…. It all depends on what your definition of “top-tier” is, but it’s really subjective.
Ok, thank you. If I wanted to hear personal accounts of people who may have attended some of those schools, would it be better to leave it within journalism, or ask about the journalism within the individual school’s threads? Or would that add too much bias?
This forum isn’t too active so you might have better luck asking in the individual schools’ forums. There will be some bias, but you can hear about their experiences and see if they have any suggestions. Also check out the websites for the schools you’re interested in and see if some schools afford better opportunities than others (you could see their job placement percentage, internship opportunities, etc.).
Thanks. Do most schools offer in-house advertising agencies, or is that a rare opportunity?
And is a student-run agency more advantageous than an internship?
I don’t know enough the advertising side of journalism to say whether it’s extremely common, but I know that not every school has that opportunity.
I don’t think one is more valuable than the other; everyone needs internships to improve their resume and improve their chances of getting a job, and I think a student-run ad agency is something that is additionally impressive, but not necessarily more impressive.
Thank you. As far as selecting journalism schools, since many of the rankings are so subjective, and only five or so schools are very consistently at the top, how do you choose which to look at? I’d like to have a list of closer to 15 or 20 schools to start out with before I begin to whittle it down
Start by looking at any and all school with a journalism major that interest you. [url=<a href=“http://www.collegemediamatters.com/2012/12/04/50-best-journalism-schools-and-programs-at-u-s-colleges-and-universities-updated-for-2013/%5DThis%5B/url”>http://www.collegemediamatters.com/2012/12/04/50-best-journalism-schools-and-programs-at-u-s-colleges-and-universities-updated-for-2013/]This[/url] is a list of the “50 best journalism schools” (ignore the “best” part, it’s really just a big list of most schools that offer an actual journalism major) that’s good resource. Then forget about the journalism part and narrow down schools based on other factors–cost, location, population, etc. Then narrow it down even more by looking at what their journalism departments have to offer–since you’re interested in advertising, make sure the major offers opportunities for that. See if they have a unique program you like that other schools don’t. That should get you a list of <15 schools.