College Majors/Degrees

Yea I went with English as well. Some schools don't have a journalism program. But, experience I have learned comes first and foremost.

 

Depends on who is hiring you. For broadcast outlets in my area, they want a journalism degree from a reputable college/university.
For print, major newspapers consider applicants with it; however, if someone has substantial experience without the journalism degree,
then they will hire them for the appropriate position.

 

Or s

My aerospace engineering degree with nuclear engineering post-graduate training helped me kick the door down at my paper.

 

i started working part time (30-39 hours a week) at a daily my freshman year and was writing a weekly column midway through my second year. i learned far more from that job than i ever did in j-school.

because of my experience, i think degrees are way overrated.

 

Sure, degrees are overrated ... but you still need to have one just for the sake of saying you have one.

And that's pretty much all they're good for.

 

I don't care if you get a degree in journalism or not. I don't care if you got a journalism degree from the Big nationally-known J-School or if you got an English degree from Podunk U. I care more about your clips, your attitude and your professionalism than I do about sheepskin.

 

I've got a journalism degree but I will say that some of the more competent reporters I've run into had degrees in something else.

A lot of the journalism majors I went to school with only happened into journalism because they couldn't do anything else - which is true for me but, unlike them, I don't want to do anything else.

 

I'll echo that. You know what I learned in school? Nothing I didn't learn while thrust into the action - or would have learned at some point.

They are overrated. But for professions outside this one, which many people have veered off into, they're necessary.

 

you kinda nailed it.

 

I kinda agree.

 

I got my degree in broadcasting and journalism with a speech communication minor. I did well in school and my resume was filled before graduation. But if I hadn't brought a binder packed with clips to my first job interview, I'd probably still be living in my parents' basement. So long as you're actively involved in school -- or a part-time job while at school -- your major really won't mean that much to your perspective employer(s).

I have, however, run into a problem with not having gone to a "big-name" college in the past. I've never been out of work for going to a smaller school, but I have been turned down from better jobs because of it.

 

you may not live in your parents' basement, but you do spend festivus there. telling, very telling, my friend.