Aspiring journalist seeks answers

But a 4.0 GPA with immense experience and good clips is even better. They are not mutually exclusive goals.

If you are trying to market yourself, accept NO shortcomings. Don't use good grades as an excuse not to do good outside work, and don't use good outside work as an excuse not to get good grades.

 

good advice, thanks a lot everybody

 

Here's something to think about when choosing a degree program other than journalism.

At my college, students couldn't take 3- and 5-thousand level journalism courses unless their major was journalism/mass comm. Had I not majored in journalism, I never would have gotten to take focused courses like oversees/foreign newspapering, history of journalism or investigative courses.

Looking back, those types of classed were personally the most entertaining/educational during of my time in school. If you choose, say, psychology as your major, you may want to check with an adviser if you can sign up for those kinds of courses. They can really help you in your journey to being a writer and in my experience they were a lot of fun (and easy).

Just food for thought.

 

I just graduated from journalism school, oh, two weeks ago, so I know I'm not as a great a reference as people who have been in the business for awhile. However, from personal experience, I would say to make sure you're going into the industry because you want to be a journalist -- not because you want to meet athletes, coaches, etc. I've worked with people at the school paper who get too easily star struck and would be scared to write a negative story about their subject. Also, make sure you're going to be able to deal with said coaches and athletes. Some of them just aren't agreeable people to be around. At my school, I thought a couple of our coaches were jerks to us because we were "just" the student paper. Turns out that unless you're a major media outlet, they don't really care about you at all.

 

If only our program was that big name.

 

That big name? That school hasn't won a bowl in 12 years.

 

Just to echo a couple of earlier posts: A sportswriter writes for a living; that he writes about sports is kind of a footnote.

In other words, you'd better love writing at least twice as much as you love sports. Otherwise, no chance.

 

I agree.

You're 19. Look into something else before you make the leap into a questionable future.

 

My school won't be going to bowl games for another couple years. Division I-AA.

 

That might be the best advice on this thread.

I've seen too many fanboys who think this is just a non-alcoholic sports bar. They're startled to find out that, sometimes, we actually have to, like, work instead of just bullshit about our fantasy-sports teams all day. Although there is a time and place for that, too.

 

I agree with most of what these others have said. As a recent college graduate -- last May -- I am fairly new to the field. I didn't decide until halfway through my college career that I wanted to be a sports journalist. Honestly, the best thing you can do is get all the experience you can. You don't even have to have a journalism degree. It helps, but now not as much as people think it does. Having the abilities to write stories and interview people are important. Having the experience from your campus paper and other publications is truly what it's all about. If there is anything else I can answer for you, please feel free to contact me and I'll do what I can to help.

G

 

And here I thought only football players considered college a "career."