Lulubelle

Iowa's deadline is Jan. 15. Visit days are in March. Really good funding when you get an assistantship.

I need to buy clothes because I've always worked in very casual offices, but I know that for my assistantship, I'll need to dress up more (no jeans). Not to mention that I realize I probably should start dressing like an adult. Most of the furniture in my room now was leftover from the previous tenant, and I won't be taking it with me, so I will need to find some bedroom furniture (aside from my bed) when I move. Probably some storage-type items, too, because I just use some built-in shelves right now. As for housing, I went out in April to find a place and was scraping the bottom of the barrel. Where I'm going is such a college town, so most students sign leases in March or so. That was the same for me in undergrad, so I sort of expected it. It was easier than expected, but mostly because I was meeting potential roommates who already had places.

3stars -- I'm attending another school, so I won't be of much help to you. But I got a really great impression of the program at interviews. The faculty seem amazing, the students loved it there (and were really helpful and supportive). Good opportunities to take courses that you are interested in outside the higher ed department. I'd definitely recommend applying. I didn't get in, but I probably would have ranked it as my top choice (and above my current school only because of location). Obviously, someone who's in the program can help you more, but if there's any specific info you want that I may have learned through the application process, feel free to ask.

So, I am likely moving to Iowa City in August. (I just got an assistantship offer and will probably accept.) I live in New York, so I suppose I have to haul myself over there to look at apartments soon. Does anyone have any recommendations? Or at the very least, companies or complexes to avoid? I'm hoping to make the most of a couple days there, so I'm trying to get a good list of places to contact.

I interviewed at one school for a master's in higher education (the others didn't require them) and didn't get in. Many programs in this field invite at least twice many applicants as there are spots (including when it comes to interviewing solely for GA positions). So, in my case, it's a broad range of factors.

At two of the three programs, you have to have an assistantship to officially enroll (it's a master's in higher ed), and at the third, you can enroll, but I'd get no funding and be paying out-of-state tuition, which means I probably couldn't afford it. (There's still a chance I can get someone's leftovers with a GA, but no guarantees.)

I've been accepted at a few programs, but haven't gotten any assistantship offers, which I have to have to enroll in a program. Of course, everyone has been asking me if I've "decided" where I'm going, so I keep reminding them that I don't have any options to choose from and may not get any.

I don't have much to add to what everyone else said, but the idea that you'll regret it for the rest of your life if you CHOOSE to regret it. It's all about attitude. And I'd say that having your dream job and a happy life with your family is not anything to regret. Not to mention that you have plenty of time to go back to school later, even if it doesn't fit your initial plan.

Yeah, $120,000 in debt as a journalist is pretty much unacceptable, I'd say. $60,000 is still a lot, especially because I assume you're not including the cost of living in New York? As for the other two, it's hard. If you went to ASU, you'd have a summer off where you could apply for internships, even in New York, correct? Are there places nearby that you could intern at during the semester -- like a newspaper or something? I think it would be worth it to talk to the program and ask them what sorts of internship opportunities their students get. I think that if you had general journalism experience and then clips and skills more focused on business through your degree, you could still get a job in your preferred field at some point. Most journalists in New York do not originate from New York anyway. I went to school in N.C. and there are plenty of people from my school who ended up at Bloomberg and Reuters. (They did intern at similar places during the summers of undergrad, but they also got those internships from outside the city.) Anyway, I'd suggest talking to the ASU program, maybe getting in contact with some alumni or current students and see what sorts of opportunities they've had. I think that if you really put your mind to it and made sure to get awesome clips in school and a lot of experience, you could make ASU work. It's just hard for me to say that going into THAT much debt for a journalism degree is worth it, because you will not make a lot of money when you get out.

In publishing, you do really need connections to get a job. Also some sort of experience. Have you worked in journalism beyond your degree? You're probably going to want to go to a program that will give you a lot of opportunities for hands-on experience -- internships, practicums, etc. Even with a master's degree, you may find it difficult to compete with people who have experience, even people with only a bachelor's. Even if the one program makes you choose a concentration, I doubt it would be that limiting. You don't have to play up the concentration when looking for jobs, and it wouldn't change the name of the degree, right? In terms of freelance writing, I don't think it will matter one way or the other as long as you come out with writing samples. Having the journalism degree is enough for that, educationwise, I think. But I'd agree with the others that if you want a job, then learning about publishing is probably more useful.

I am a journalist, but I don't know much about any of the programs. Yeah, I'd say that Austin probably won't help you a lot. Getting an advanced degree in just journalism itself is not a great move, because experience and expertise in the specific area are the most important things. I'm not sure how it works in your country, but here, like I said, journalism is about experience, and having a fancy degree from a good school doesn't matter as much as being able to put internships and jobs on your resume and hand in clips of your writing. On one hand, being in New York for journalism does lend itself to lots of opportunities, especially if they say that they'll help you get an internship. On the other hand, Boston sounds like a good option, too, and is definitely more well-known (not necessarily for journalism, but in general). Does Boston give you a chance to get hands-on experience? Is there funding for either? If it's more expensive, how much more? Journalists get paid like crap, so you don't want to go into a ton of debt for this, especially if you have no experience yet and will be taking on an entry-level job when you get out.

I think that while visits are helpful, it's hard to gauge what it would really be like once you were there. It's likely that you'd get along much better with the other students once you were attending the school and had gotten to know them, than when you were just meeting them over a weekend. Even if you still didn't like them, you could always try to make friends elsewhere. As for the location, it's only two years. Consider it a learning experience. I think it's just important to keep in mind that choosing a grad program is a lot different from choosing a four-year college. It's important to be happy where you are, but the priorities have sort of shifted.

I work in journalism now, and I know this wasn't what you were asking, but I second what Demetrios was saying. I work with quite a few people who have a master's in journalism, and considering that we all do the same job and I don't have one, I've always been wary of those degrees. Having expertise in something and experience in the field would be much more valuable, in my opinion. Regardless, I know that location is important to getting experience, but you're certainly not going to be making nearly enough when you get out in order to pay down $100,000 in debt very easily. If you're coming straight from undergrad, this is particularly true, since the key to moving up in journalism is experience, not necessarily the degree.

I agree with Andean Pat. There are a lot of factors like location that sometimes people DON'T get to consider because their programs differ so much in terms of faculty or fit or funding, so they end up having to ignore other lifestyle factors. But since these are equal to you, is there somewhere you'd rather life? Are there certain fringe benefits of one program over another? For me, I like that one of the programs I visited has a much closer cohort than another. Not something I'd base my entire decision on, but if I actually couldn't choose, then it would definitely put a point in the column for me.

I've felt the same way, and even more specifically, I have a similar conundrum as Shmanks. The two schools that appear to be options -- still waiting on assistantship news -- are the farthest away, and in the time that I'd had to think about it, I'd gotten really excited about moving closer to home. But then they weren't options anymore. I think also as someone who has a career in another field already, I know that I don't HAVE to go to school. It's not like when you graduate college and have to go somewhere, whether it's a job or school or whatever. So, it definitely is a decision of whether to go at all, not just between a few programs.