Down to the wire, my son got into Syracuse Newhouse, Pitt Dietrich AS, and Marist. He’s into communications/journalism but is basically undeclared. His 1st choice is Syracuse but the other 2 are 30K LESS per year. I know that Cuse has a great journalism program but is it really worth 75K per year?? Would he do as well in that field in the other 2 choices?. Right now he is leaning Pitt but their communications dept is much different. Any insight? He has like 4 days to decide lol,
What can you afford?
I’m a Newhouse grad but different era. If you want to be a journalist…today everyone has an iPhone. So you can practice.
A huge # don’t make it and those that do are low paid. I would save the $$ and get involved with college radio or tv. That’s me. There’s a reason most schools make you double major or have a minor with journalism. One of my life regrets was going to SU over ASU, solely due to outcomes and cost.
But if you can afford it then great. Fortunately my dad could but I still feel bad.
Make sure no matter where he chooses he’s heavily involved with campus media from day one.
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I would go with one of the cheaper options.
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This is a tough one. We are local to Pitt and I probably know/know of hundreds of current students and alum. I also know some local journalists. This is purely anecdotal, but of the hundreds, I don’t know a single person who attended Pitt for journalism and I don’t know single journalist who went to Pitt.
Will the program at Pitt meet your child’s needs and interests?
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Fair point - I don’t see a journalism major - and Dietrich is Arts & Sciences - so what would he study?
There’s still time to apply to Alabama and Arizona, too fine journalism schools - and depending on GPA (and test for Bama), will cost you less.
There are people in journalism from PItt on linkedin…but it’s a fair point. Smart that you mentioned that.
Thanks both for this input! The thing is he def does not know he wants to study journalism. At Pitt, he is looking at the Film and Media major (within the English dept) or just a straight up communications degree, or something else entirely. At Marist, they have a Media/Communications school kind of similar to Syracuse … but he is thinking over all that Pitt might have more to offer than Marist. He has just right now pretty much ruled out Cuse and the extra 30 K per year.
That’s good for mom anyway.
Only isssue with a film studies degree…than what.
but thousands figure it out each year. great observation by @CCName1
My son goes to Pitt and is a double major with one of his majors being Communications. The communications department at Pitt seems to be focused on teaching you about communications from an academic perspective rather than teaching hands off stuff like journalism. I wouldn’t recommend it for someone with a goal of journalism.
I don’t want to come off as anti-Pitt. I have a senior who will start there in the fall, so I think it is a great school!
But what does he want from Film & Media Studies program? Similar to what the previous poster said about Pitt’s communications major, Film & Media studies at Pitt takes more of a theoretical approach to analyzing film and other media. It falls under the English department because it seems to be an extension of the kind of textual analysis one would do with traditional literary materials. It’s not a major focused on film production at all. For students who want to be in Pittsburgh and are interested in filmmaking or production, Point Park is the school of choice.
Maybe you are saying he is really undecided, but the fact that he even applied to Newhouse makes me think his interests, though not totally defined at this point, lie outside of what Pitt can offer.
Majors don’t always matter as much as we think they do. I think kids can major in just about anything and go into business, for instance. But if a career in media of some sort is his goal, he may not find a path at Pitt that will give him practical exposure or meaningful contacts in that industry. It doesn’t mean he couldn’t end up where he wants to be, but the path to internships and ultimately jobs may be more challenging because this is a field outside of Pitt’s core competencies.
The Pitt film degree is relatively new. I think the production track was just created in the past few years. I think they’ve invested time and money into the program and expanded the lecturer list. S21 thought about Pitt for film but chose FSU. I’m a Pitt grad from many years ago.
Pittsburgh the city has a pretty good film environment. If he wants to get involved in the Pittsburgh film scene here’s a good start. My son interned there in HS. Some of the people here lecture at Pitt.
Historically Point Park is known for film and journalism. I also think people forget that CMU is a world class fine arts school, not just tech.
I went to CMU, so I definitely didn’t forget it, but this student didn’t seem to be interested in that kind of theater/movie production.
But CMU’s college of fine arts definitely has a long, long history of of high achievement and success. CMU always has great representation in front of and behind the camera, on stage and behind the scenes, at every awards ceremony.
This kid is going to school in the fall. He could still apply to Point Park for fall 2022. That’s not possible at all for CMU.
I was only pointing out that if OP is interested in film there’s a very vibrant community in Pittsburgh. Lots of opportunities to get involved. Especially with other college aged kids.
Thanks for your replies - I think my son still needs to do some finding of himself.
I’ll mention Point Park to him for sure!
What he needs to decide, in short order, is does he go for the University that may NOT give him the media upper hand (Pitt) or the college that is more media centered but may not offer as much in general (Marist).
And yes there is a Production track for F/M studies at Pitt now but yeah it’s prob def not on par with other schools. As someone who is undecided tho, he doesn’t want to pigeon hole himself- so he’s kinda stuck right now. Thanks again
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I’d take a deeper look at Marist. A highly respected friend’s daughter is a freshman there. Really enjoys it. She’s bi-lingual and had many options.
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What did he decide?