<p>That is not correct if the OP sticks with journalism. The networking will be there.</p>
<p>With reference to some of the other comments on this thread: top graduates of flagship publics, including but not limited to MU, who have gotten to know professors very well and have taken advantage of internships and internal research options are not limited in their future prospects. If they wish to go places, they go. They are admitted to top graduate and professional programs. A big factor that is either unknown by many on CC or overlooked is that tenured professors at even mid-level publics that are Research I universities often earned their doctorates at very highly ranked programs. Many publish in top journals and have broad professional contacts.</p>
<p>It is important for top students at such places to pay attention to what they are doing, to get good advice, to enlist help getting into the classes and programs they want if they are stymied by the bureaucracy. It requires some work and effort, a whole lot more than if they go to schools like Pomona. But, attending flagship publics is not the end of the line for intellectual growth and job opportunities for those determined to succeed. I’m pretty darned sure many of the professors at public research universities have been more successful than some of the contributors to this thread.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean everyone should go to flagship publics. Maybe not even this student. It depends on a lot of things, including the money question (think future options) and the extent to which he is sure of his major. But let’s not overstate the negatives if he chooses his home-state flagship public. </p>
<p>and, bigp, excuse me if I sound a bit rude, but why should the OP “trust” you? What are your lifelong qualifications that make your opinion so trustworthy?</p>
<p>This is really a decision about specializing in journalism vs. an open ended liberal arts educations.</p>
<p>I’m not connected to the field, but journalism is a really, really tough field right now to be in, or going into. Print journalism is trying to figure out how to build a profit model that is sustainable after decades of 15% + profit margins. Margins are now under 10% and dropping.</p>
<p>If I were a betting person, I would not bet against the negative journalism employment trend. It will become a job people do simply because they love it so much, and put up with the substandard wages. Just don’t forget your personal financial sacrifice, if you choose journalism, will impact your family if you get married and have children…</p>
<p>I’d call up Pomona and ask about a review of your aid. I don’t know if they would change it based on a prestigious scholarship from a not-as-prestigious university, but it can’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>And for college, 30k is relatively not such a huge amount. Think about your salary potential graduating from Pomona or Mizzou.</p>
<p>midmo, I didn’t mean for it to sound as if I am the authority on the matter and if it came off like that I apologize. I only said that because I made a very similar decision last year between Middlebury and UW-Madison. Many of my friends with similar interests and high school stats as myself chose UW-Madison over private schools whose culture fit them better and are really regretting it. It may be because they are in intro classes, but they have found the classes and discussions the very opposite of the intellectual stimulation they had hoped for. While a few students in each class might seem to really be there for the sake of learning, they tell me that the vast majority just want to get out of class as quickly as possible. Again, this may be a result of them being freshman.</p>
<p>While I understand the fact that you would be in a sort of school-within-a-school, so to speak, I still firmly believe that Pomona would give you a far superior education.</p>
<p>My point was that 30K is really not that much in the long term my personal opinion is that it would be worth it to attend a school that the OP feels much more passionate about.</p>
<p>lockn, This student is from Missouri. I know Missouri. I know Miissourians. If he wants to settle in Missouri after university life and work in politics (which he does suggest in one of his posts), an undergraduate degree from Pomona has no more value than a degree from MU. That may not say much about this state, but it is a fact.</p>
<p>If he goes to Pomona, it should be for the general fit and the intellectual stimulation, as well as the personal growth of living somewhere different. But suggesting that his income will automatically be higher is not justified by any decent research.</p>
<p>DunninLA makes some good points, which I have been reluctant to bring up, because I don’t want to discourage smart people from working as journalists. It is a tough field right now, for sure. Some of the smartest J-school graduates I have met in recent years are going straight into other lines of work–leaving the less-talented writing for my newspapers. Yuck.</p>
<p>bigp, thank you for your answer. I probably didn’t deserve such a polite reply.</p>
<p>I know UW-Madison. One of my undergrad. degree is from there. Your friends’ critique sounds, sadly enough, on target for many of the classes. That is why I suggested the OP enroll in Honors sections when at all possible. Also, the problem of being surrounded by fellow students who should have gone straight to work instead of college diminishes after freshman year. Some grow up, a lot leave.</p>
<p>I just don’t know about the assertion that 30K is not such a big deal. If tuition and other fees rise in subsequent years, does the debt go up too? Does it lead to taking a job that is unappealing over another that is more interesting or valuable in the long run? Hard to say.</p>
<p>Ugh. I just met with an independent financial aid counselor. She felt I simply MUST go to Mizzou, given our economic state. Even though the amount I’d have to take out in loans to go to Pomona is more like $5,000 each year (direct fees- mom will pay the rest), $20,000 over the course of four years (this answers midmo’s question!), she said to consider that my mother could suddenly not be able to pay for my incidentals, which total around $7,000 each year. $12,000 x 4, or $48,000, is what I should plan to take out, and this will be even greater with interest. </p>
<p>Ahh! Pomona seems increasingly distant. I really, really don’t want to take that kind of debt on. But it’s my dream school! Who would’ve thought I’d get in, then not be able to go because of finances!</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the transfer process is like? The counselor recommended I go to Mizzou, actively work to make it something great, then transfer to Pomona next year if i dislike it. Then, the school will base my financial aid on my parents’ current income (or lack thereof…)</p>
<p>Also, to clarify: I’m a girl. Haha.</p>
<p>Anonymous91- yes, I have called the financial aid office. They said they re-evaulate each year. I can write a letter, but, as they can’t assume my mother will remain unemployed, they probably won’t increase my grant.</p>
<p>All of your responses have been incredibly helpful. I’m taking notes. Please, bring more! I need all the input I can get!</p>
<p>Does the financial aid from Pomona already presume a summer job and on campus job? If so, what are those amounts? Do you think it would be realistic to add in more hours in the summer? I’m trying to figure out a way to ease the burden on your Mom.</p>
<p>This does not sound like a counselor who has a clue in all honesty. Next year’s aid will be based on your parent’s income this year regardless of whether you go now or transfer. At a school that meets 100% of need like Pomona, if your mother can’t pay because resources have dwindled you should get more aid.</p>
<p>Please call FA at Pomona and get the scoop from the horse’s mouth!</p>
<p>Mizzou - High paying journalism job (which is almost an oxymoron, so u know MU is good)
Pomona - path to Grad School, which equals more $, and that school will dictate salary.</p>
<p>Please, accept my apologies for assuming otherwise. As a matter of fact, it occurred to me during the afternoon that I had assumed you were male, and I had no reason to. I’m a female myself, and the mother of both a son and daughter, so I surely should have been more careful.</p>
<p>The reason I was still thinking about this thread long after leaving the computer is because I am really pondering what level of debt is considered reasonable. I’m very debt averse at this point in life, but I thought a lot less about money when I was young.</p>
<p>Do you lose the “Pomona grant” if you reapply as a transfer? In other words, is it considered a merit scholarship–most of those are not available to transfer students.</p>
<p>Pomona grants students money only on the basis of financial need, not merit. If I transferred my sophomore year, I would be awarded the same amount if my parents’ finances remained the same.</p>
<p>$30,000 is NOT a lot of money when most student loans are set up to be repaid in 20 or 30 years.</p>
<p>OP, <em>even</em> if you want to pursue journalism, the shaping of your critical thinking aparatus that will occur at Pomona will be worth the extra investment and debt.</p>
<p>Are you paying money to this counselor? Because you should demand it back. Suggesting a transfer to Pomona is nuts. So is the idea that fin aid will be better as a sophomore transfer than as a second-year sophomore.</p>
<p>I visited Mizzou yesterday. The journalism facilities are amazing. And I got to hear Russ Mitchell speak. That was pretty cool. Off to Pomona Thursday!</p>
<p>Is it true that the idea of transferring to Pomona is nuts? I got in the first time. What’s the difference? Does anyone have experience in this?</p>
<p>The issue is that top-tier schools like Pomona have very high retention rates, meaning that very few students leave after one or two years. This results in very few spots opening up for transfer students. Your chances of admission take a serious hit as a transfer student.</p>
<p>Try to talk to Pomona about the money situation. Explain to them that you received this free-ride to Mizzou, but you want to got to Pomona. If you do that, they might push to help you out a little more financially.</p>
<p>If you want to be a journalist, I’m not sure Pomona is the right place for you. (Speaking as a soon-to-be graduate from another Claremont college.) Pomona has ONE student newspaper, which comes out weekly and is relatively small. (It’s actually a 5-C newspaper, but it’s run out of Pomona.) That’s not really going to give you comparable journalism experience with someone who’s at a larger university and works on a daily newspaper. This can be rectified with summer internships, but money may affect your ability to do that. (Although Pomona does have grants for students to do internships which would otherwise be unpaid.) I’m not sure how competitive that is at Pomona; at my school, it’s quite competitive. Moreover, don’t assume that going to Pomona will automatically give you the kinds of internships you want, especially if you want to work outside the Southern California area. People on CC and in the academic “know” may be impressed by Pomona, but Joe on the street most likely is not, and Joe is going to be doing the hiring at a lot of smaller (and some larger) newspapers. Newspaper clippings of what you’ve written are going to be important, probably more important than the institution’s rank according to US news.</p>
<p>None of this is to say you shouldn’t go to Pomona. I’m sure people do make journalism careers from Pomona and similar institutions. But there are some disadvantages because of its size, and “name” in the non-academic world works quite differently from “name” on CC.</p>