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Topic: How good is NYU's journalism dept?
| Author | Message |
| PW | Posted – 2/26/2007 9:08:10 PM | show profile I applied to NYU's graduate journalism program and was wondering how it's viewed. Obviously Columbia is more prestigious, but I really want to be in NY and want to know if NYU is worthwhile. |
| bjoconnorfla | Posted – 2/27/2007 9:36:27 AM | show profile NYU's reputation-- and I'm only going by who it is perceived in the newspaper business -- is as a reseach/communications theory kind of operation. If you want to teach communications theory somewhere, fine. Otherwise, the Big Three are Columbia, Univ. of Missouri and Northwest, depending on your concentration. Also good are Univ fo Maryland and U of Kansas. why do you want a master's? better to invest in work experience somewhere. plus, who the hell DOESN'T want to live in NYC? Unfortunately, the career path is short, the competition fiece and the opportunities poor. Develop your expertise somewhere else (cheaper) and move to NYC when you have something to offer instead of just being part of a cattle-call of eager young things. But don't wait too long. By the time you're 35 you'll be used to living in a space of more than 400 sqf, owning a car and being able to save. Really, what kind of career do you want? Grad school in and of itself is a poor way to get to most jobs in this field. |
| bjoconnorfla | Posted – 2/27/2007 12:03:44 PM | show profile More typos: Make it "how it is perceived" and "Northwestern." Apologies |
| Lotus665 | Posted – 2/27/2007 1:39:42 PM | show profile I went to NYU's J school many years ago and loved it. I had a number of years' writing and publishing experience but wanted to switch to nonprofit PR or journalism and needed something to show I knew what was what. I learned skills at NYU J school I couldn't have learned at random and made connections. I feel that when I started pitching articles to magazines, the fact that I was a j school student worked in my favor. Finally, Columbia makes you attend full time but I needed to be able to work and support myself, so NYU's part time, evening option was a big bonus for me. Warning: Their program has changed alot since I was there. Although it seems as good or better from what I've seen on their site. |
| totallyanonymous | Posted – 2/27/2007 2:01:50 PM | show profile It is SO expensive. I am $65,000 in debt from my NYU graduate degree, and I currently work as a fact-checker. I have no idea when or how I will pay that off. Something to consider. Basically, the NYU program greatly improved my writing, and I had some really good teachers and was exposed to a lot of interesting material. But it's true that much of it is theoretical. There's part of me that thinks I would have been better served by just moving to NYC and trying to get jobs, rather than going to school. Of course, if you or your parents are independently wealthy, then go for it, by all means. |
| DHernandez | Posted – 2/27/2007 7:00:48 PM | show profile The view of which are the "best" journalism schools is not universal by any means. The "best" depends on what you want to be exposed to and, as always, how motivated you are to make something of yourself. When I recruited, I saw an awful lot of fresh graduates who thought that having the name of a very prestigious West Coast university on their degree guaranteed their ticket to journalism had been punched. It must have been terribly disappointing to have paid all that money while the jobs went to grads from low-to-no-prestige schools with clips, demos and more than one internship. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 2/27/2007 7:34:17 PM | show profile I hear Rutgers is the new Harvard in Journalism. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 2/27/2007 7:47:07 PM | show profile And what are those "Very prestigious West Coast U"? There's only one I know of (university, you said) and they don't have a j-school. There's Berkeley, but that's not expensive compared to, Columbia (I think about a quarter as expensive, if that--Berkeley is a public school). Did you mean to say East Coast University? And many of the best J-school programs are from the Midwest (Northwestern, Missouri), correct? Many of those I know who attended grad school think that--other than for the connections they made there --it was a waste of time and money. And a few, in their forties and fifties, still haven't paid back their student loans, despite top jobs at top newspapers...The magazine people I know who attended grad schools --J programs specifically-- seem to be in better shape financially--but most of those folks didn't have to take out loans for their graduate programs, for reasons I can only guess at and I'll allow you to do the same. |
| ferdinand | Posted – 2/27/2007 8:30:53 PM | show profile has anybody heard anything about how CUNY's new jschool program is going? It's cheap by design, and they have a good faculty, but it's just their first year up and running so it's hard to tell. I heard that they were focused on having students accumulate internship/work experience during the program, which can only be a good thing. |
| bjoconnorfla | Posted – 2/27/2007 8:38:24 PM | show profile I've been a hiring editor in newspapers for years and I've never heard of the Rutgers program. Is it undergrad -- most of them aren't very helpful for landing a job. BTW, Columbia does have a part-time program, and many of the classes are evenings. I took journalism and law and the ethics classes both at night for my MSJ. Like I said, if you are just getting the degree to help you land a job, it be an expensive -- and wrong -- move. I've found that the Master's is helpful to people changing fields who need to jump start their skills and understanding of the industry/culture of journalism. |
| bjoconnorfla | Posted – 2/27/2007 8:40:34 PM | show profile At least at this point, if you did the CUNY program I think some editors would give you an interview just to hear about the program and judge how well its graduates turn out. The novelty factor, and all. Plus the faculty seem to be well-connected and I'd think they will be sure to help the early grads land jobs to help establish the program. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 2/27/2007 9:30:28 PM | show profile I know of five magazine editors and seven TV anchors who graduated from Rutgers. All make six figures. |
| Marie | Posted – 2/28/2007 12:27:13 AM | show profile Rutgers also has a well-known student paper that a lot of people land jobs from. I think it's an underground journalism program, though. I've met a lot of journalism undergrads from there, who've done well. Some went on to Columbia, some didn't. |
| Village Gal | Posted – 2/28/2007 8:41:29 AM | show profile From what I've read, the CUNY program sound good, esp for a start up. I would not go into debt for NYU. I think major college loan debt is a huge mistake. |
| buddhadrinksfanta | Posted – 2/28/2007 10:36:28 AM | show profile You didn't mean 65K in debt just on tuition, right? The program is a year and a half and comes to a total price of about half that. |
| totallyanonymous | Posted – 2/28/2007 12:16:05 PM | show profile No, the loan was not just for tuition. They give you an allowance for living expenses, since it's pretty impossible to earn a living while in school -- it's a lot of work and takes up all your time. And as we all know, living in NYC is expensive. |
| bjoconnorfla | Posted – 2/28/2007 1:49:16 PM | show profile doglady, we're talking about grad school programs. I know a bunch of people who went to Vassar and are doctors -- that don't make it a med school. Besides, we're talking about journalism, which has nothing to do with TV anchors. |
| Lotus665 | Posted – 2/28/2007 3:12:10 PM | show profile When I went to NYU it was much more affordable, I think $300 a credit or something. My rent was dirt cheap then too (lived in Hoboken when it was still kinda transitioning). But the OP's question was about how it's viewed. I think it depends on the person doing the hiring, so that's not something you can predict. |
| PW | Posted – 3/3/2007 10:09:42 PM | show profile thanks for all the responses. and i just want to point out that i know graduate school isn't the way to land a job. i'm applying only to topical programs (e.g., NYU's cultural reporting and criticism program). i'm a current medill undergraduate, and i'd like to refine my focus. i haven't really gotten to explore what i want to explore, and it's proving hard to do that through internships. |
| EQL | Posted – 3/4/2007 7:50:17 AM | show profile I would suggest three things when considering grad J programs. First, go to www.ratemyprofessors.com and review the comments about professors. It may give you an overall sense of the program. Second, review a listing of the required courses. Some programs require a number of theoretical courses; whereas, other programs do not. Also, read over the alumni publications. NYU J school's Web site has a whole alumni section, which includes information about where some alumni are working. |
| Marie | Posted – 3/4/2007 2:04:45 PM | show profile And don't hesitate to call these alumni, which is often whom you'll get the best information from. And, hey, you make contacts. Most alumni are happy to talk to future students. I know I am. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 3/4/2007 11:32:51 PM | show profile BJ, My point is that J school doesn't necessarily make good journalists. And you find me 25 Tv journalists who wouldn't consider an anchor job. Go ahead. name them. Email me their addresses. |
| thuyweep | Posted – 10/25/2007 1:45:17 PM | show profile be careful You should be careful in picking professors. Some of them are good, but some are nightmare. I know a case that professors even forbade a student to write about Iraq, Vietnam, Palestine and Israel with no academic reason, punished a student for skipping a class to receive an international media award, etc. It's bizarre. Read the professors' stories to make sure they are truly good journalists. Some of them aren't. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 10/25/2007 2:30:00 PM | show profile Granite Girl ... Working in television myself, I don't know any TV anchor who *doesn't* make six figures, and I don't know any who went to Rutgers. I also don't know any TV anchors with graduate degrees. In fact, interestingly enough, most of the people in power positions in my industry have only undergraduate degrees. The only ones with master's degrees (and most of those are in journalism) are the newly-minted newbies who are still languishing at the bottom of the totem pole as PAs, BAs, and APs. Those kids eventually drop out of television altogether and switch industries when they realize their MA isn't the "get out of experience free" ticket they thought it was to move up the ladder. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 10/25/2007 3:02:16 PM | show profile BJ ... "Besides, we're talking about journalism, which has nothing to do with TV anchors." Does "BJ" stand for "bitter journalist"? |
