Go back?

[Panhandle PK]

So I keep hearing a lot of people say, "Go back to school!" "Get out now"

The question is... would it be even wise to go back to get a Masters in Journalism?

 

[Written Off]

Do you want to teach journalism for a living?
If not, do not, under any circumstances, go back for a Master's in journalism.
Go back to business school. Go to law school. Go to engineering school.
Do not waste any more money on journalism.

 

[sportschick]

There are a lot of lawyers who were once journalists. Do not, unless like WO said you want to teach journalism, get a journalism masters. It's junk.

 

[Ace]

So I keep hearing a lot of people say, "Go back to school!" "Get out now"

The question is... would it be even wise to go back to get a Masters in Journalism?

No.

 

[Panhandle PK]

I assume by teaching it, I would need a PhD on top of a masters?

I'm HORRIBLE at Math...so Business/Law/Engineering are all out of the question...

 

[mustangj17]

You certainly have a lot of questions. We should get you some blue stickies at the top of the page.

Go to a local community college and get some courses on HTML, CSS and photoshop. If you are at an intermediate level for those items you could always be a valuable member of the web team. Web jobs are the only ones safe in this economic climate.

 

[SF_Express]

I assume by teaching it, I would need a PhD on top of a masters?

I'm HORRIBLE at Math...so Business/Law/Engineering are all out of the question...

Well, unless you're talking about adding up fees, this shouldn't necessarily kill you in law.

No to the Masters degree, again, unless you want to teach it.

I don't think you need a PhD for that.

 

[Panhandle PK]

Thanks. I do enjoy asking questions...
Perhaps a Masters degree in Public Relations?

 

[forever_town]

I'd go with the advice listed above. If you want to teach journalism, a masters is essential. However, if you don't plan that route, it's a waste of time.

When I was at The Diamondback, I mused out loud about possibly going to grad school for journalism since my undergrad degree was in English. To that point, I'd taken exactly one college level journalism course, at my community college. That was about seven years prior to my time at The Diamondback.

To a person, each of my Diamondback colleagues told me I'd be wasting my time. Having gone through the J-school curriculum, they said my background and experience at that point taught me what the curriculum would have. I might still go in so I can teach journalism, but I don't know how much help a masters degree would be.

So that's my take on the idea of going to grad school for journalism. If you have an undergraduate degree in journalism, the only thing going to grad school does is postpone your time in the "real world."

 

[mustangj17]

Thanks. I do enjoy asking questions...
Perhaps a Masters degree in Public Relations?

I was in your same shoes a year ago. Had no idea what way to go. Law school, masters, teaching degree... instead I ended up learning some computer stuff and now I am valuable for my writing skills as well as my computer skills.

 

[WaylonJennings]

If you're under 25 and can get into Columbia, you should seriously consider it. As the business contracts, the big shops are going to be more and more selective about the credentials of who they give a shot to. I know there is an opposite school of thought about if you're bright and have clips and can report they'll find you, yada, yada, yada. I don't buy it. Not if you want to work somewhere like the NYT or the Washington Post or the Chicago Tribune. Of course, not everyone does, and that's OK, too.

But you should also give yourself a time limit afterward for making it big, after which you should go to law or business school. Perhaps somewhere in the 30-35 range, depending on where you are in life. With a good LSAT score, you can get into some damned good state schools for next-to-no tuition.

 

[JackS]

There are a lot of lawyers who were once journalists. Do not, unless like WO said you want to teach journalism, get a journalism masters. It's junk.

It's junk? Do you have one?

I can understand the broader sentiment that this may not be the greatest time to be spending money on the journalism profession, but a master's degree can open up a lot of opportunities you wouldn't otherwise get.

 

[RossLT]

I used to work at a paper that was a 17K daily, we had a guy who had a masters in journalism (from Northwestern) and that was his SECOND job. The first was at a 5k weekly in Iowa

 

[GBNF]

Sorry to thread-jack, but to teach journalism, you need a master's? Not just a teaching credential?

 

[Cadet]

There are a lot of lawyers who were once journalists. Do not, unless like WO said you want to teach journalism, get a journalism masters. It's junk.

It's junk? Do you have one?

I can understand the broader sentiment that this may not be the greatest time to be spending money on the journalism profession, but a master's degree can open up a lot of opportunities you wouldn't otherwise get.

A master's degree is not a guarantee of "more opportunities." And especially not in a newsroom. I've been told, to my face, by my editors, that my master's degree in journalism meant nothing.

 

[BigSleeper]

I'm not that big of a fan of a masters degree in journalism, but it may provide some benefit.

1.It's a masters degree, a line on a resume some folks find very desirable regardless of what it's in.

2. While the newspaper industry is evolving under these clouds of gloom and doom, I still believe journalism is still going to be around for a very long time. Which means someone has to teach it. You can't get a decent college teaching gig without the masters.

\

 

[GBNF]

I'm not that big of a fan of a masters degree in journalism, but it may provide some benefit.

1.It's a masters degree, a line on a resume some folks find very desirable regardless of what it's in.

2. While the newspaper industry is evolving under these clouds of gloom and doom, I still believe journalism is still going to be around for a very long time. Which means someone has to teach it. You can't get a decent college teaching gig without the masters.

As a professor or as a lecturer?

 

[JackS]

There are a lot of lawyers who were once journalists. Do not, unless like WO said you want to teach journalism, get a journalism masters. It's junk.

It's junk? Do you have one?

I can understand the broader sentiment that this may not be the greatest time to be spending money on the journalism profession, but a master's degree can open up a lot of opportunities you wouldn't otherwise get.

A master's degree is not a guarantee of "more opportunities." And especially not in a newsroom. I've been told, to my face, by my editors, that my master's degree in journalism meant nothing.

Nothing's a "guarantee."

But until you have editors who say "we would have given you more if you didn't have a master's degree," your argument doesn't wash. Because you could have opportunities elsewhere that others couldn't.

The only time I would tell an aspiring journalist that a master's in journalism is a waste is if the person already had a bachelor's in journalism. In that case, get a master's in something else.

 

[Cadet]

Really? Please tell me where they are, because I would like to have one of those opportunities. My master's degree has not gotten me any further in my career. If anything, it hampered my career progress because I took time out to return to school.

I understand that it would be a different situation if I worked in a college environment, but outside of that there has been almost no benefit to this point. And I'm still paying student loans.

 

[JackS]

Really? Please tell me where they are, because I would like to have one of those opportunities. My master's degree has not gotten me any further in my career. If anything, it hampered my career progress because I took time out to return to school.

I understand that it would be a different situation if I worked in a college environment, but outside of that there has been almost no benefit to this point. And I'm still paying student loans.

The most important three words in that post are "to this point."

The game isn't over yet.