J-school or no J-school? Joe Pappalardo (Air & Space magazine) is an award-winning feature writer and editor who has worked at newspapers and magazines in the U.S. and abroad. Given his range of experience, we asked him about journalism school: Does he notice a difference in the career paths of people who went to J-school and those who didn't?

"I went to journalism school at Missouri but graduated with an interdisciplinary degree in Spanish, history, and journalism. The first-hand newspaper experience and editors at Mizzou changed my life. Any program that puts you on the front lines of a news gathering operation is useful. But what I don't like about J-school is the insulting mentality it breeds. The complaints that journalists are a mob of preening, self-important simpletons come from somewhere. You spend too much time in the bubble, and you suffer for it."

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Feature Writing for Magazines with Joe Pappalardo (Washington, D.C. 3-hour seminar) - July 10

Feature Writing with Joe Pappalardo (Online course) - starts July 17