<p>I would like to major in print journalism. The majority of colleges have English or Communication majors. I am trying to stay away from state schools and state schools are known more for having good journalism programs. There are some schools which have journalism, but it is in the English or Communications program. Then there are other schools which do not even offer journalism classes. Villanova has Writing & Rhetoric which isn't exactly journalism. </p>
<p>For Instance, I like Connecticut College and they only have an English major. They do not have any concentration in journalism. I didn't even see any journalism class in the course catalog.</p>
<p>I may or may not go to graduate school. It depends if I have a job after graduation or not. Would an English or Communications major get me ready for a journalism career? Should I still apply to schools that I really like, but they do not have a major in journalism? </p>
<p>Some examples are:
Villanova
Vassar
Sarah Lawrence
Holy Cross
Clark</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>People enter the field of journalism mostly from getting killer internships. Print journalism is dying faster and may in fact be entirely gone within 5 years, leaving only digital journalism. </p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>I agree with the first reply. Print Journalism as a career and/or major is a sinking ship, therefore, you need not focus your college choice on only schools that offer that specific degree. The first poster is dead on: internships is your entry into that career. </p>
<p>It’s funny. </p>
<p>My son likes sports management and it is the same thing: internships make you or break you. </p>
<p>You see…its like 200 years ago when you had to apprentice to enter a field. Colleges like to pretend they “prepare” you for vocations but they don’t do a real good job of it which si why internships are crucial. Again.</p>
<p>My ideal job is to become a travel journalist and work for a travel magazine. I would also be interested in pop culture and becoming a television critic. Arts journalism is the field I would love to enter. I have a 3.4 cumulative GPA, but I have an upward trend. My GPA went up 3 points in one year. I expect to have a 3.5-3.7ish GPA by the time I apply to college. I will have about 6/7 AP classes. I am an upcoming junior. Test optional schools may be good because I’m not the best test taker and I did poor on the PSAT. My back up is to apply to UGA (in state) and GCSU. I don’t know if I could get many internships if I stayed in Georgia, but I do not want to be in too much debt. I also act and would like to audition by LA or NY.</p>
<p>My list includes:
NYU Gallatin (top choice)
USC
Fordham- Lincoln Center
Northwestern (biggest reach)
Sarah Lawrence
Binghamton U (OOS= cheap)
Villanova
Vassar
CT College
Loyola Marymount
Santa Clara
Chapman
George Washington/American
Boston U
Flagler
Rollins
Fairfield
Holy Cross
U Dayton
Clark</p>
<p>I don’t know much about what it takes to get into the journalism field. However, I agree with the previous posts about internships. They are the best resume building tool out there. ALSO, it is important to note that some schools will be willing to work with you if you have a specific goal in mind, but no real degree plan is offered. Some schools are willing to tailor a degree plan to the kind of classes and training you are interested in. Example: I wanted an undergraduate degree in Ethnomusicology. I was already in the Music Ed. program at Texas Tech and they don’t offer an undergrad degree in ethno. So we compromised. I changed my degree plan to a Bachelor of Arts in Vernacular Music. My plan became so much more flexible that I have been able to take courses training me for MY goals. I would talk to some of the advisers and specific professors that you are interested in studying under. Some plans are made to be bent, broken, and remade.</p>
<p>I know internships are very important, so if I go to school in NY or LA it would give me more opportunities. I’m not much into blogging or anything though.</p>
<p>Majoring in journalism is different from majoring in English. If you go to a journalism school, the internships and connections will be for journalistic pursuits. Even though newspapers are in trouble, the online papers still have to be written by a person. A great liberal arts degree will prepare you to write about anything, but the j-schools will have more specific internship opportunities IMO. </p>
<p>Also, you are interested in some fairly specific fields, in specialty areas that are not generally filled by recent college graduates. Don’t assume that if you go to school in the middle of nowhere you will not have internship opportunities. A neighbor kid at West Virginia U was offered a broadcasting internship in NYC this summer–I have no idea what he would be doing, but it was in NYC. Often, the internships are not local. At the top schools, you will have plenty of opportunities that are appropriate for a college student. </p>
<p>You might look at a couple of j-schools in the Midwest: Missouri and Kansas. Both are well respected.</p>
<p>And, you can get published from anywhere.</p>
<p>I know Missouri is the top journalism school, but I want to live somewhere urban or in the suburbs. I hate huge football schools, that would be the opposite of where I want to go. I would only go to UGA because of the hope scholarship. The better fit schools don’t have journalism majors.</p>
<p>I actually went through that same process, and I applied to schools without that major, although I ended up majoring in journalism with where I want. The thing with journalism is that experience matters the most. You could major in English, but with what you’re interested in, I think that studying something like art or music industry could be more relevant. English is not going to teach you journalism-style writing. I would make sure that your college has a decent school paper that you can write for (whatever you write there, you can use as a writing sample for getting other internships), and pick a school somewhere where there are magazines that you’d be interested in interning for. I think getting that experience is the most important thing.</p>
<p>I think a lof of employers think like I do which is that we are looking for bright talented people who are hardworking. So I gravitate towards graduates of colleges that have reputations for top academics and workloads. The major should be challenging and have relevant skills for the position but exact matches are not required as much of the job is learned “on the job”.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I am getting a little confused because of the different opinions. Should the school have its own journalism program or would a communcation major work with a concentration in journalism? For example at Chapman: BA in English with a concentration in either literature or journalism. </p>
<p>Schools on my list with an actual journalism major are:
NYU
USC
Northwestern
Boston U
American
George Washington
Northeastern
UGA (instate)</p>
<p>The only problem is financial aid with these schools. I think I could get more financial aid at schools like Clark or Denison then NYU or George Washington.</p>
<p>I wanted to bump this thread after reading another thread in the parents forum about journalism (brodcast though).</p>