What are my chances? Having trouble getting info on Journalism - Graduate Programs

Graduate School
1

<p>I'm applying to graduate schools for Fall 2010 and have had so much trouble finding rankings of journalism programs and schools or even average acceptance rates.</p>

<p>Here's me in a nutshell: </p>

<p>B.A in International Business
B.S. in Spanish
[From the College of Charleston]
GPA 3.44/4.0
(Dean's List 2x for GPA 3.9 and GPA 3.7)
Tutored ESL for a few months
Haven't taken GRE yet but generally don't do great on standarized tests.
Semester study abroad in Argentina
Intern - 6 months freelancing for travel recently launched travel Web sites
Intern - 6 months at local business magazine Jan-Jun '09.
"Contributing" or freelance writer for same magazine (online and print) since June '09. </p>

<p>I have several writing clips, but I know my work experience is not that impressive - nor my average GPA.
So, what do you think my chances are at?</p>

<ol>
<li>American University</li>
<li>City University of New York</li>
</ol>

<p>Should I even bother applying to UC Berkeley, NYU, USC?</p>

<p>I am basing my search largely off of what school has a good journalism program (not just communications, pr, etc.) and also the location. (As in, where is there a media market? What city do I want to make connections in for future jobs?)</p>

<p>I'd really like to go to San Francisco, but can't find any schools all of California that are good and not impossibly hard to get into like Berkeley and USC. </p>

<p>Please feel free to email me any suggestions, etc.
Thanks!
Carrie
<a href="mailto:caresmc@gmail.com">caresmc@gmail.com</a></p>

2

<p>USC is not impossibly hard to get into. it’s not near san francisco, though.</p>

<p>throw an application to NYU. i’m not saying it’s a definite but it’s certainly within your reach. consider applying to columbia, too. a friend got in there and his work experience was limited to the school paper and an online city blog/magazine. granted, he came from a higher ranked school, and i’m not sure what his GPA was, but in terms of work experience alone his was comparable to yours.</p>

<p>good luck.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your response.</p>

<p>Still working on the list. I think I will try NYU. </p>

<p>I’m also looking into Boston U, Northeastern, The New School and Georgetown. I really wish I knew if I was reaching for the stars here, but I know it’s all very subjective. I’m finding it really hard to find “safety” schools. So, far that list includes UT Austin, U of Maryland, UGA, U of Arizona. (although I hear some of those can be hard to get into as well.)</p>

4

<p>boston was easy to get into as well. i rushed my application at the last minute and there might have been factual errors in one of my statements (i really rushed), and i still got in there.</p>

<p>i didn’t know that northeastern has a program. northwestern has a well-known program but it is expensive as hell. more expensive than columbia, even, to the tune of $70,000 a year before your room and board. yeah. they even demanded that students purchase their own laptops and camera equipment according to their specifications. so if you already had a laptop or an SLR camera or a video recorder, that was no good. you had to go out and buy the model they wanted, and often those models weren’t even industry-standard. so i don’t even know why i’m telling you to apply to northwestern, because it’s a jip, but they’re considered one of the top schools (along with columbia and berkeley), so add them to the list.</p>

<p>none of this is out of your reach. further, especially since you’ll be paying out of pocket for the degree (as far as i know, most of these programs offer zero financial aid, scholarships, or fellowships), you want to go to the best school possible. journalism school is buying connections and networks. that’s it. they don’t teach you anything you won’t learn on the job anyway. the reason you go is so that you get the piece of paper and meet a few journalists who work at CBS or NPR or whatever. so if you’re basically buying yourself networking connections, you want them from the best places possible. so aim as high as you can and think long and hard before you put your money into tuition at a place that isn’t top notch.</p>

<p>you can get in to at least one of the top schools. so go for it, and good luck.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the encouragement/advice.
Just out of curiousity, what do you thing a good number to apply to is?
(That is absolutely ridiculous about Northwestern - good to know.)</p>

<p>I will most likely be taking out student loans. I’m actually quite poor which makes going to j-school crazy. But I want to go because my chances of being hired as a staff writer are so incredibly low right now with all the lay offs. (im in Nashville, TN) So school just seems like a good idea to learn, get an internship, meet other aspiring journalists, network, move to a different city, etc. I guess I could do that with a job (if I could find one) but school overs a support network…an expensive one. Thoughts?</p>

<p>It’s not really that I think I need the most prestigious ivy league program. (would be nice) But mostly I’m interested in finding a good program in a city I could actually live in because your’re right - the whole point is to make connections and get your foot in the door. So, I would like to do that in the same area where I want to live/where there is a big media market.</p>

<p>Also, I’m finding it really hard to find average j-schools that aren’t in the mid-west or some other small town/city, like Cal State Chico. I mean really, if I went to Chico I would just have to move again after the program to get a job anyways. Pointless to make those connections unless they happen to know people elswhere, although they may?</p>

<p>The schools I’d really like to go to are American, CUNY or NYU. I’ll also apply to BU and Northeastern (they have a program, it’s harder to get into that BU probably just b/c its smaller). I want to apply to Berkeley, I’m mostly just embarassed to ask my recommenders because I’m not sure if I’m really at that level. I guess a little embarassment never killed anyone. </p>

<p>Probably need some more in there, but I can’t seem to narrow down…Northwestern, USC, UGA, U of Oregon, Georgetown, UT Austin, U of Arizona, U of Maryland. Anyone know about those?</p>

<p>I’ve been debating with myself whether to apply to a couple nonfiction MFA’s too. I think I’ve finally decided not to. Will j-school satsify my writing desires?</p>

<p>Ok, done ranting. Thanks.</p>

6

<p>University of Kansas–yes Midwest–is not far from Kansas City. If you are interested in magazine, Meredith is in Des Moines–again, Midwest, but perhaps great opportunities for part-time work, free-lancing, or other publishing. You will get plenty of writing in j-school. I took a course at the University of Florida called “Journalism as Literature” that explored Joan Dideon, Tom Wolfe, and others. It was interesting.</p>

<p>Anyway, the Midwest schools are among the best and usually have a fair price tag as well.</p>

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<p>Thanks MD Mom. That’s what I was afraid of. I think you’re right about the Midwest schools…they’re just no New York City.
I’m glad to hear I won’t crave more writing in j-school. And the course at U of F sounds really wonderful! I hope I’ll be able to find something similar.</p>

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<p>One thing to consider very carefully: the direction and evolving business model(s) for journalism. The industry is in flux, the overall direction for number of people hired and job security is not good, and the number of laid of journalists is making for relatively crummy salaries for those who are lucky enough to get jobs. TheMom’s public sector employer has been picking up highly experienced former LA TIMES writers for a fraction of their former salaries…and this scenario is by no means unique.</p>