What courses should I choose?

bianca - you asked for advice from the folks who work in this business, and you've received (shockingly) non-sarcastic and overwhelmingly solid words of wisdom. many of the responses came from people you'd respect if you knew them IRL.

if you choose to ignore the very advice you requested, i hope you never have the audacity to complain later in life about the shitty bed you made for yourself.

 

I don't think nurses are getting laid off anywhere. The major hospital chain around here had some pretty big layoffs, but it was non-medical personnel. (That sort of removed the sting of my being passed over for a PR job there after multiple interviews last year...)

 

I can't stress enough how important it is to major in something other than journalism. Work for the school paper. Intern. But you'll be so better served having a backup plan.

 

bianca - you asked for advice from the folks who work in this business, and you'

That's a little harsh!

 

I would like to thank everyone again for all the great advice. And to answer some of your questions: I am hoping to go to either Quinnipiac or Boston University (most likely with a new career plan) . I do currently write for two online newspapers and just started the bleacher blog. I am also the manager of my highschool varsity icehockey team, which sadly just lost their final game last night. I bid you all farewell..I am late for school!

 

Bianca, you're not the only young one who still believes in journalism.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031300577.html

 

Like everyone else said, major in something other than journalism. If you must go into journalism, I'd strongly suggest you also learn how to write hard news and features that aren't always sports.

I've been doing journalism writing for over 10 years and I still consider features my weak spot. Having said that, I've covered a murder trial, indictments and other hard news stories. If you ever work for a newspaper and you can write about more than one thing, it will be to your benefit.

Also, learn photography, videography and other ways of communicating. Journalists these days are expected to do a lot more than just write stories or just take photos.

 

How many of us were the kids in that article 5, 10, 15, etc. years ago? (metaphorically speaking)

 

Do these online newspapers pay their writers?

 

eh, it was warranted.

 

Just spoke with a nurse manager last week and got around to talking about their career path. The one thing they constantly went back to is that they can go anywhere they want and get a job, more or less. A perk of the job, they said, since they can pick where they'd like to live and find something there.

On topic: I can't agree more than anyone getting into the business MUST have experience working with audio and video if only to get a sniff. I keep telling myself I need to learn programming like CSS or HTML, which I hope to do sooner rather than later. Makes everything much easier when trying to find something new or at least moving up.

 

Believe me, everyone of us wishes we could sit here and tell you this would be a great field to get into. Our lives would be a lot better if it were the case. Consider yourself one of the lucky ones to know that the journalism field is not going so well despite the great writers with great amounts of passion.