Average journalism major starting salary is...

thanks bania.

 

There's no retort. Only shame.

 

I get all that, yes. But isn't medical school pretty hands on after year 1, as well? I don't know that medical school, other than the first year, is what we think of as "school," either.

 

Medical school is almost entirely academic, i.e., classroom setting, for the first two years. The second two are clinical. And while those years can be hands on they are nothing like residency, where residents are more than thrown into the fire right away which can be trying to say the least. I'm not going to lie and say the potential income doesn't work out in the end, but there are a lot of costs in time, money and sometimes personal well being to get there.

Having been a journalist making peanuts for years and having been along side a spouse during medical training and beyond I have to say it's not that easy to decide which is the better path.

 

Good point there. With medical school, there's a lot of things that suck. Long hours, bad pay, more stress than a 20-something should have, and a lot of debt at the end.
But there's light at the end of that tunnel. You know that if you can handle it, and survive it, you can come out on the other end in good shape. It's a weeding-out process, and not necessarily the way the business is for every single person.
With journalism, the light turns out to be the layoff train. The reward for doing a good job isn't your own practice or a cushy job (although that might be changing thanks to websites). It's being told you make too much to keep working at the job you've done well for 20-plus years. Grinding your way through the minor leagues often does nothing, because the major leagues are tanking.
It's basic carrot-and-stick philosophy, and it's what drives people. Many industries have it. Journalism, in its present form, rarely does.

 

You can sidestep the debt by having the military pay for your school. Navy paid for my brother's schooling, he came out a commissioned officer and made great money. Lived in San Diego 2 years, Yokosuka, Japan for 3 and the rest of his career in Orlando. 40-hour week, basically 9-to-5. By choosing dermatology and the military, he basically traded an upper stratosphere salary and long hours for zero debt, a nice income and easy work hours.

 

Good work if you can get it. But something like dermatology is highly competitive and selective to get into right now mostly because it's good hours and high pay. And even with the military scholarship you have to commit to the military for so much time and still do residency before, during or after. I know people who have lucked out doing military scholarships and were stationed in a place they wanted to be and it was no sweat. And I know people who have spent two years on a boat or three years in Guam with none of that time going toward a residency. My wife and I opted against it because we already had a family and didn't want to be uprooted umpteen more times to have no debt. If you're single with few other responsibilities it's a no brainer.

 

that made me tear up just a bit.

 

Yeah, because their minority status was the reason 90% of the people working in an industry that's 90% white male (and rising) got their jobs.

Minorities have more obstacle against us, not less. You are blind if you can't see that.

 

The end of "Mickey's Christmas Carol" should make you cry. My poor career choice? Don't even get misty.

 

Here we go.

 

I'm not debating on the need for minority-hiring programs. Just pointing out the fact that PEteacher keeps posting his atypical path and trying to make it seem like the norm.