NYU vs. Northwestern for journalism major

<p>Although NYU is my first choice, I have heard from numerous sources that Northwestern has a better reputation for journalism. Yet I am thinking that NYU might be better since its right in New York, therefore there will be a lot of work experience available.
Has anyone got any thoughts on the matter, or is currently (or has before) studied journalism in NYU? Is it worth the money in your opinion?</p>

<p>Unless you really like NYU's location, you really can't go wrong with journalism at Northwestern. It's one of the best (probably the best) journalism programs in the country.</p>

<p>In NYC, Columbia is best known for Journalism. I believe it is the 2nd best journalism school in the US.</p>

<p>Northwestern has a higher rank than NYU on the overall university scale as well on the latest US News rankings. Here are the journalist rankings I found after a bit of googling. Unfortunately NYU is not on any of the lists. Columbia and Northwestern is on it.
Google</a> Answers: Rankings of Undergraduate Journalism Schools in the U.S.</p>

<p>My Opinion:
It is true that NYU is located in NYC, a place of many opportunities considering the NY Times is located here. Keep in mind though that there is a chance for journalism occupations in every major city as news media is pretty much located in every major city. In NYC, you will be facing heavy competition from Columbia where journalism major is very popular, assuming most of the students decided to stay in NYC for work. Also consider the fact Columbia had moved this undergraduate major in the 1930s to a graduate one to allow its students to fare better in the journalism job market. It was extended longer than other undergraduate journalism programs purposelyto order to make it a Masters program.) If you are really interested in journalism and NYC, Columbia should be the fittest school for you in my opinion. Unfortunately it is also one of the most competitive schools.</p>

<p>Sources:
Our</a> Programs - Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism</p>

<p>Answer to your questions:
Do I know anyone in the journalism program?
Unfortunately I do not know anyone in the journalism program at NYU. But I do know that NYU is famous for finance (international business at Stern) and theatre arts (Tisch). I do not know the ratings for their journalism program but I think other than their highly rated economics and philosophy majors at CAS, their journalism program is average.</p>

<p>Is it worth the money? In reality, it depends how much you will utilized the resources offer by the college you will pick. The tuition, according to collegeboard, is the same between NYU and Northwestern. I have to say though it APPEARS that Northwestern would be worth it considering it has a rank among top journalism schools. (Actually it has its own school of journalism: Medill</a> - Northwestern University ). Considering the fact that Northwestern has its own school of journalism and NYU does not, it is definitely better for journalism. However, this does not mean that the journalism at NYU is bad it may just meant it has a lesser focus.</p>

<p>Sources: College</a> Search - Northwestern University - NU - Cost & Financial Aid
College</a> Search - New York University - NYU - Cost & Financial Aid</p>

<p>You may want to research their academic programs for journalism. Looking at minors are also ideal since in future employment you can say you have a certain skill. For example: Assuming you are applying for a job writing for a medical journal, it's a good thing for the employer to see that you have major in journalism and major or minor in biology. This makes you more competitive than others that have only a journalism major or having some unrelated minors.
USNews.com:</a> America's Best Colleges 2008: Majors: Journalism</p>

<p>One helpful link (You may want to navigate to each of the school ratings to see a quality of life from a student's point of view. Be aware that not all students have the same experiences, however.): <a href="http://www.**************.com/docs/major_jo.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.**************.com/docs/major_jo.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>To further help you, may I ask why is NYU your first choice other than location. Keep in mind that location alone does not necessary help you.</p>

<p>Best of luck in choosing the college that fits you best. It's a difficult decision.</p>

<p>Edit: The stars refer to s/t/u/d/e/n/t/r/e/v/i/e/w/s I suggest Googling it since CollegeConfidential omits the link and words purposely.</p>

<p>Northwestern is better because it has its own journalism school. Recruiters are likely to go to a school that has a school of journalism than one without one. That said, it is likely the school has its own internship programs. After all, who wants to go to a school of journalism without any jobs available. I don't think NYC will help you unless it's business. It is probably mostly business jobs available since NYC is a financial district, not Hollywood.</p>

<p>NYC is certainly not just a financial district. It may not be hollywood, but it is broadway. </p>

<p>Bottomline: NYC is the best city in the world for internship opportunities. I'm not sure if this is true for every college, but, at NYU, it seems that even the dumbest kids have NO PROBLEM picking up quality internships in every field of study.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, when it comes to journalism, you really can't go wrong with Northwestern...tough choice.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for the feedback, I really appreciate it!!! </p>

<p>Scioncars, I guess I initially picked NYU as my first choice due to its location and my own lack of knowledge in rankings for journalism schools...</p>

<p>Since my family will be in Europe, and I will most likely encounter myself alone in the US, I straight away felt compelled to stay as close to the east coast as possible, in a place such as New York. Also, since I am not american, nor have ever visited, I would prefer to stay in a very international city, to avoid several kind of problems or dissapointments due to false expectations... </p>

<p>Another factor that influenced my decision I guess was my inaccurate research. I came up with the conclusion that NYU was one of the top colleges for journalism, yet clearly was misled... </p>

<p>I have looked at Northwestern closer after having read your post, and I guess I am not so sure anymore about NYU being my first choice any longer... Despite the fact that Chicago is not as international and large as New York, and is slightly further from home, I guess these are the sacrifices I have to make to provide myself with a good education. </p>

<p>I am just glad I have realized this now, since I was planning on applying to NYU ED... However, not so sure about that any longer. But thanks a lot for the feedback, it really helped me!!!</p>

<p>You welcome. No sacrifices were made. You are just picking what you believe is best for you. It is really all about opportunity cost. There will always be opportunities everywhere with some places with many and some with few. But it all really comes down to whether you have taken advantage of it to the fullest potential. Seeing that you are preparing for college and sensing your motivation of your interest in journalism, I believe you will be an excellent candidate to any college and employer regardless of where you go. </p>

<p>binghamtonrocks, I agree that NYC is a great place for internship opportunities. It is a vast city with many different kinds of jobs and employers. However, I have to disagree that "dumb kids" have no problem in finding jobs. For certain, no employer will hire someone unprofitable and not helpful to them.</p>

<p>This is just a feeling that I got from NYU student, so it may be wrong, but according to them any student from NYU can pick up a good internship with very little effort. Now that's does not mean that it will be a paid internship...</p>

<p>Thank you for your feedback, though I am still doubting and have not quite yet made up my mind.
Would anyone here happen to know about journalism at NYU? Whether it was helpful, gave you a lot of opportunities, whether you were content with it in general?
Thank you</p>

<p>lol to tell you the truth i actually didnt even know NYU has journalism... there's reason probably they arent ranked at all. on the other hand, i sincerely must say i really dont know much about NYU CAS except for economics and that asian parents like it =X</p>

<p>Wow... it is incredible how much people depend on "rankings" and vague guru talk. I am a NYU journalism grad.</p>

<p>Journalism is a field profession, meaning that you have to be out on the streets to get your stories. And for this purpose there is no other city in the world (not even Chicago) more exciting than New York City.</p>

<p>There is no doubt that Northwestern has an excellent program. But I do not think that NYU's program is inferior in quality. Assuming that you are a grad student, NYU's graduate journalism program is highly specialized.
The global journalism program is heavily focused on international coverage, Business reporting prepares you to be a kick-ass Bloomberg reporter.</p>

<p>And as I have said before, there is no city as exciting as New York to cover.
NYU just got a brand new journalism building, with state of the art facilities.</p>

<p>I too, was accepted at Northwestern, Missouri and Columbia. But I was determined to go to a school in New York, so it was between Columbia and NYU. I chose NYU because I felt that Columbia's program is too short, and NYU has better facilities. The level of the professors were similar. (Many professors teaching at NYU also teach at Columbia & visa versa)</p>

<p>Just do your research well, and find out which school fits you best. Go visit them, or at least phone them and talk to the faculty.
Research is one of the key elements in reproting, if you trust self proclaimed "experts"" opinions on a on-line message board too much, you have already failed your first step as a journalist.</p>

<p>My mother studied journalism at Ohio University (a top-ranked journalism school) but a very LOW RANKED university. Now Northwestern is one of the country's best universities, and NYU close behind...but a great journalism school does not mean a great overall education or any kind of prestige if the university itself is not recognized.</p>

<p>It also depends on your focus. NYU has one of the only "magazine" sequences in the country for example....
WHAT A CHOICE TO HAVE!!!!!!</p>

<p>I've heard NYU's undergrad journalism program is prettty meh, but I wouldn't doubt the grad program is much better. Actually when I was there (I graduated 2007), journalism wasn't even a full major, you could only minor in it, but it seems that's changed. I can tell you NYU's student paper, The Washington Square News is a joke in terms of quality. I think Northwestern having it's own school of journalism would make a significant difference in the quality of the program (though that's just speculation) but NYU's location counterbalances that (I would say location alone does make a huge difference in this case), as journalism is really a professional major, so experience is more important than program rankings. Like above posters said, you should research the programs (check course listings, department websites, email professors) and see which once caters more to your interests. Not that you wouldn't find plenty of opportunities in Chicago, but NYC is where I'd want to be interning and working in journalism, you won't have trouble getting internships (dumb or not), there's a huge number and variety of different media outlets to choose from (the post that says NYC is just business oriented is absurd), and NYU has a Career Services office that can help you (though I got the sense most NYU students are self-motivated and find their own way). I also think as an international student you'd be happier in NYC. If you have the money (or don't mind accumulating lots of debt) I would personally go with NYU or Columbia (you should absolutely apply to both), but do more research.</p>

<p>I've spent some time in NYU journalism department. My sincere advise is if you are an international student, be very careful when you pick professors there. Some of them are good, but some are terrible beyond imagination. Read the professors' stories first to see if they are real good journalists. Don't trust their boasting about books and awards and Columbia University teaching experience. Don't naively believe that you can express your liberal ideas freely to any prof there, especially concerning Iraq and Palestine. Be careful and good luck guy. I pray for you !</p>

<p>Hi.I m looking forward to undergrad in journalism for my daughter.My query is regarding placement after undergraduation in journalism,if v compare Columbia vs NYU vs Northwestern…which one has better placement.
Thanks</p>