Study: Journalism School enrollments largely in decline

But increasing at some places.

Story includes chart and list and stuff.

http://ajr.org/2014/07/07/journalism-enrollments-fall/

 

The numbers will continue dropping. As the struggles of Journalism become more visible — not just to people in the field, but also those outside it — parents more often will direct their kids away from the field and toward something different. My dad even recently said as much about my younger sister. He didn't know how bad the profession was until I graduated college and now has more reason to push a better-paying field once she starts college.

 

I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't gone to J-school. Probably something really practical, like history.

These days, 25 years after I got out of school, I don't think a journalism degree is a good idea. A communications minor with a business or political science or engineering major is a great idea, however. If you're smart in a field other than journalism but can write — shit, you're golden because most people can't write a lick.

 

At the most recent graduation from the Missouri J-School in May, little under a quarter actually got degrees in magazine writing or "print and digital news"

http://journalism.missouri.edu/2014/05/missouri-school-journalism-recognize-537-may-august-graduates-spring-commencement-ceremony/

 

Which is why many technical writers make six-figure salaries. Someone who can turn jargon in a specialized field and turn it into something the average person can understand is, indeed, golden.

 

Yeah, Joe, that's what I'm trying to find now, a job that can use my writing and organizational skills. But journalism and broadcasting are all I've done in a 25-year-plus career, so it's a tough sell. That and just finding something that can actually hold my interest.

If I were attending university today (as opposed to 30 years ago), I would pick a different major. Not sure what. Lots of people told me I should go accounting, because I'm really good with numbers, but the thought of sitting in an office doing spreadsheets and depreciation values all day just bored me to tears (still does).

 

My parents, both J-school graduates, advised me against it in college in the 1970s and 80s because of declining and limited income potential. And of course the Internet hadn't even been heard of yet.

If I had a kid in a similar situation today, I would forbid it -- as much as I had the power to do so.

Probably 80% of the J-schools in the nation should be shut down. They are a waste of money and resources for all parties involved.

 

The steady flow of articles like this one don't help the cause:

Link to article: http://education.yahoo.net/articles/worst_degrees_for_making_money.htm?kid=1O2H6

 

From what I've seen of the job listings on this website, a $32K entry-level salary may be above average. It's not much below what certain major metros are paying for experienced hires.

 

* Earnings used are median earnings in 2010 dollars rounded to the nearest $1000, based on those who worked more than 35 hours a week, at least 50 weeks a year. Calculations all use the survey weights provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.

** The Georgetown "Hard Times" report defines recent grads as bachelor's degree graduates between the ages of 22 and 26.

So in other words, IF you are lucky enough to land a FULL-TIME job within FIVE YEARS of graduating, you can expect to be rolling in it to the tune of $32,000.

That was my starting salary in 1993.

 

Took a while to move up to that level. But that was years ago and gas was less than a dollar per gallon.

 

I had about six years in before I made $32k a year. When I left that union-shop, family-owned paper, I was making $50k.

In my last full-time journalism job, I was making a little less than $28k per year.

These days, I make considerably less writing newsletter articles for an attorney in Florida and one in Dallas.