As a Syracuse broadcast journalism alum, I'd say there's no beating Northwestern. The media industry is changing so much, and Northwestern offers a solid liberal arts core to go along with their top-notch program. Syracuse can be good too - if you have other interests, which the school will let you pursue concurrently. If you want a great school in Texas, shoot for Rice. If you want a value play, then go to UT and then A&M. SMU is a good school too. I'm at Duke now for grad school, and I'd highly recommend it for undergrad as well. Very nice mix of partying, girls, nice weather, and smart people.
If you want to pursue journalism, you don't necessarily have to major in it. Just get heavily involved in your school paper/news sources/internships/etc -- basically anything that will allow you to build an extensive portfolio. I think someone mentioned it earlier, but starting your own blog would be a plus as well (assuming it's high-quality). I'm not sure how common getting a Masters in journalism is (it might help if we knew what kind of journalism you want to get into), but as long as your portfolio is up to the grad school'd criteria, you'd be fine with any major. That being said, it's not like majoring in journalism is a *bad* idea -- far from it. Just that it's not necessarily a must-have.
For the record, I went to Texas State and got my undergraduate degree in journalism, they have an excellent program there. I even got hired as weekend sports anchor on KGNS in Laredo, but when they told me the amount of money, I had to pass, I was making more than that already as a bartender...lol.... So, I went into video games instead....but I loved every minute at SWTSU, best time of my life...bar none. DD
Tulane man!!!! Go visit the campus, its a great place to go to college! http://catalog.tulane.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=36&poid=427&returnto=654
This. The vast majority of successful journalists these days are specialists. Some are in sports, many are in other trade publications... but in general, journalism is becoming a more specialized field with each passing year. It's not about the broad-based concept of being a "journalist" like it used to be. I got my Masters in journalism from Mizzou, and honestly, that's all I've really needed. It's not as if you need a BJ in journalism as a prerequisite. I did have one, but if I could go back and do it again, I'd have gotten my undergraduate degree in some sort of business field while writing on the side. Broadens your potential options. I agree that majoring in journalism isn't a horrible idea, and some people might not want to be in school for the 5-6 years it would take to get both undergraduate and graduate degrees. But based on my experience, that's the ideal. Use your undergraduate time on something more broad while writing on the side, and if you find you do really love journalism, come back to it on a shorter graduate program. Oh, and obviously, I do agree with the guy recommending Missouri. Wonderful experience.
A former roommate of mine went to Mizzou for a masters in journalism and she loved it too. Seems like a great place to live/study for a few years.
Anybody have any knowledge of Florida st? One of my good friends is going there and is trying to convince me to join him. Also mizzou is starting to grow on me. From everything I've seen it looks like a beautiful campus
I was told in high school by a lot of people that if you didn't want to do science stuff, you basically need to get out of Texas for university. Aside from that, I can't really help you if you're going to deal with journalism.
