<p>is it possible?</p>
<p>I know this is similar to another thread I had made earlier, but here I'm talking about Journalism specifically.</p>
<p>*I'm going to graduate from Cornell with about ~40,000 in debt. My friends and family insist that 40 grand "really isn't too bad," but I'll be honest -- this number scares me. Could I really expect to pay off that much with a Journalism major?</p>
<p>*How much more debt could I expect to accumulate if I decided to attend grad school? </p>
<p>Assuming I studied English or Journalism as an undergraduate and my ultimate goal was to write for some well-known publication -- think of weekly newsmagazines, like TIME or US News -- would I *need a graduate degree in Journalism, or would my B.A. do the trick? </p>
<p>*I don't like writing fiction or hard news; feature articles and editorials are more my style. When I took Journalism in high school, we only learned how to write hard news stories -- is that what the major is all about? </p>
<p>*Cornell doesn't actually offer a Journalism major; the closest alternative is "Communications." Do you need to major in Journalism to "break into the biz," or would a degree in English suffice? </p>
<p>Thanks a lot, and sorry for the overlapping questions.</p>
<p>Not a good idea to graduate with $40 k in debt if you plan to be a journalist. However, most people change their career plans after ending college anyway. Still, IMO, $40 k is too much debt for an undergrad education.</p>
<p>Good chance, too, that since you're not planning on going to a journalism school, you'll have to go to grad school and major in journalism. "Commuications" is not the same as journalism. No Ivy has an undergrad journalism major. Columbia has a graduate level journalism program.</p>
<p>Check the CC archives because there have been lots of threads on journalism careers.</p>
<p>I don't know about this, I've spoken with a couple of Journalism professors, and people who have had exprience working for the L.A. Times, Chicago tribune...etc. But this might've changed over the years (and another key note is that even though they weren't majors in Journalism or Communications most of these ppl came from prestigious schools) and I feel like what's more important is your experience and connections. </p>
<p>It's great that you're coming from a well-respected school like Cornell.
One PR lady I interned with told me how most of those who worked at top-notch pulications graduate from IVY Leagues. So sometimes it is a lot about the connections.</p>
<p>Journalists I've met were in the past trying to get Masters in Education or taking Political Science and Sociology. </p>
<p>I've hearda million times taht you dont have to major in journalism to be a journalist, although it would be ideal to major in a field that would help you, like liberal arts or english. </p>
<p>Editors complain a lot about wrtiers who can write but dont understnad the subject they're writing about.</p>
<p>So i dont think you need to major in Journalism to become a journalist. You have to have good writing skills,the passion for it and do it for the love of the job and not the pay.</p>
<p>Even top-notch publications don't pay that much. If you want to make money sooner, to pay off that debt, you may find yourself in the communications department of a large corporation or investment bank, writing PR blurbs and annual reports. Places like that love Cornell and Ivy grads. I'd consider taking some business and/or economic courses as well.</p>
<p>I love writing features myself, but staff positions don't pay a lot, and freelance can be very unsteady income.</p>
<p>I think if your ultimate goal is to write features for publications like Time or U.S. News, be prepared to start at the bottom for little money or go to journalism school. I have a friend who writes features for the NY Times, and he is far from rich.</p>
<p>Also consider that the publications you mentioned are based in NY City, one of the most expensive places in the world to live. </p>
<p>I don't say any of this to discourage you, but you may want to cast your net wider for job possibilities for one with writing skills, given the amount of debt you will have.</p>
<p>I have a family member who has a significant job at Time magazine. He graduated with a degree in English (Univ of Mich) and did some work on a Master's but did not complete it. However, he was very active in other publications, sought out opportunities to do many types of writing and perhaps to a degree was at the right place at the right time. </p>
<p>He of course did not start at TIME - started working for a publishing company editing/writing textbooks. We all have to start someplace. He was very bright and skilled in and out of college but is typical in every other way. </p>
<p>There are no guarantees, but I always think it's good to give motivation that possibilities ARE there.</p>
<p>Back when most of the parents here were young, it was relatively easy to enter the journalism field even if one wasn't a journalism major and didn't have any journalism experience in college.</p>
<p>Things have changed a great deal since then.</p>
<p>While it's possible now for people to enter journalism straight from Ivies, such people are likely to have done major work for their daily student newspapers, and to have been at an Ivy campus that was in a big city, affording more major stories to cover than one would find in Ithaca.</p>
<p>In addition, virtually everyone entering journalism now has had internships during college or grad school. To get those internships requires usually having done major work on daily campus media, preferably a campus paper that allows one to cover stories that are of great interest far beyond the campus -- the kind of stories that one can do if one lives in a major metro or state capitol.</p>
<p>I've been a recruiter for a major newspaper chain, and have helped select students for summer internships, so I speak from experience. However, also talk to students at Cornell's student paper to find out what kind of journalism internships they're getting, and whether any recent graduates have entered journalism, and if they have, what they had done in college, grad school and on internships to attain journalism positions afterward. It would be worth it to contact them directly and ask their advice. Cornell's alumni office also could help with this.</p>