What courses should I choose?

I suggest sports information.

 

That may be the best second post by anyone in the history of this board.

 

I would have elevated it to No. 1 if she had solved the "smiley to finish off parenthetical statement" problem that plagues the net to this day.

 

Not that this is new, but major in something else. I'd probably double major in econ and poly sci, if I could do it over again. I'd also string as much as I can.

 

Any specific schools you're looking at? That would give a better idea of what kind of good programs they would offer outside of journalism.

 

Something other than journalism. Seriously.

Until the people running the newspaper industry — more correctly, the people who have killed the future of the newspaper industry — are removed from the newspaper industry, it's a career you don't want to be part of.

 

Only jobs in the local paper's classified section are for health care jobs — nursing, mostly.

Well, that and one ad from some apple orchard in upstate New York ... guess there's opportunities available in minimum-wage agriculture, too.

Correct on all counts, especially the latter.

 

A dream is good to have, but you have to get over the though of writing about an NHL team or the Flyers if you want work. NHL beats aren't a dime a dozen and a love of sports writing means loving writing more than you love sports.

 

Start blogging about the Flyers games now. Watch the games at home and write about it.

Read your local writers and get a feel for how they see the game.

 

Oh, if I could go back in time, I would pursue an MRS degree instead of devoting my life to newspapers and marrying someone already in them as well.

But seriously, if you do really want to do this, I suggest searching "backpack journalism" and taking courses that can help you accomplish all those ideals. Video, audio, writing, editing, web production ... by the time you get out, it will be a given that everyone has those skills. I would even add some form of scripting training -- anywhere from ActionScript to CSS to Drupal ... anything that shows you are familiar with building a web page or a presentation from scratch. Even database management.

 

Oh man, I whiffed on that one too. One of us really should have changed majors.

 

While beat writing is probably an unattainable goal, working towards becoming a public relations associate for an NHL team (i.e. the Flyers) is not far off at all. If you're really interested in working for the Flyers one day, go for it, but realize that working in the sports industry is a very competitive field to get into.