GwenWoods

I'm new to the way graduate funding works and I'm hoping someone can explain what universities take into account when deciding how to award scholarships. Right now I'm looking at Columbia, which states their scholarships are merit-based and need-based. So, my question is, let's say I have $30,000 saved, will this mean I get less aid because I've saved up more money? Or will they try and supply as much aid as they can to bring me closer to the $76,000 tuition+living expenses? I know for undergraduate scholarships it was better to be lower class than middle class in terms of scholarships. I have a 3.7 GPA as well—does anyone have any idea whether this is considered good enough for scholarships amounting over $15k? Thanks!

In Canada we have four well-known universities for journalism—Carleton, UBC, Ryerson and Western. UBC, I believe, is a newer program, but it's quite good from what I hear. It's a two year program with the opportunity to do an internship. From what I hear though, they put a lot of emphasis on grades when applying. If you don't have a minimum of a B+ in your upper year classes, you don't stand a chance. On the flip side, they've got a great student newspaper to write for while you're there, and it seems like the school has a lot of money. Pretty much everything I've heard about Ryerson has been bad. It's based in Toronto, so people think the connections will be good, but I've heard they're not. Not sure if this is 100 percent accurate, but I heard instead of getting to do an internship with a real media outlet, you have to write for like the student newspaper as your internship, which sounds pretty limiting to me. Overall, I'd say no to this one. Don't know too, too much about Carleton. I think it used to be better, but has since fallen in the ranks. Ottawa is a neat city to live, but Carleton itself isn't very prestigious and the campus isn't that nice. Western has a 12 month program, so if you're looking to get in an out fast it could be good. You don't really specialize hardcore, but instead learn everything. So you do like a semester of tv, then radio, then print. You also get to do an internship somewhere (normally the GTA) for a month. I know some people who got great jobs out of it. Overall, I'd say UBC or Western are your best bets.

I moreso said National Geographic as in "that would be my dream job" and to give some indication of the type of work I wanted to go into, not "I have no back-up plan and will only accept National Geographic." I made this thread to discuss chances at grad schools, not chances at a place of employment. I'm more interested in knowing what it takes to get into Columbia and what I should aim for.

Thanks for the advice! It's hard being removed from the situation up here in Canada. I do have some concerns about Colorado—if only Columbia was in the mountains. I'm set to visit the school this July to speak with the advisors, so hopefully I'll have a better feel for the school then. I'm very much an outdoorsy person at heart, so I know the mountains would make me happy, but if I'm thinking in the long run, Columbia is probably the better option. Of course, financial aid is another big deciding factor, and the opportunity to do internships. I doubt Columbia will let you stay in the U.S. for a few months after the program has ended to do an internship, and Canada doesn't have as strong of a journalism job market. I'm still a bit worried about Columbia though, I don't know if my GPA is too low. How do schools determine how your admission will benefit the program? Is there any exact criteria this is predicated upon? Thanks!

I've looked into NYU in the past, but I'm not sure if I could handle spending a lot of time on health reporting. I did a lot of medical reporting at CTV and it wasn't really my cup of tea. I'm also not that passionate about living in New York, Boulder appealed to me because it offered such close access to the wilderness and outdoors, which I feel could be more beneficial than an urban metropolis. But thanks for the advice! I'd choose Columbia because it's Columbia, but other than that I'm quite enamoured with the University of Colorado. And I've seen that before on National Geographic's website, I don't expect getting in there will be easy, but I'm a pretty determined person and I don't want to let one line on a website defeat me—you'll always miss 100 per cent of the shots you don't take, as the saying goes.

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and I was wondering if anyone could estimate my chances at being accepted for Columbia's M.S. program, or maybe outline your own stats if you currently attend the program. I'm interested in the magazine specialization and want to go into environmental journalism—read: work for National Geographic. Undergrad: University of Western Ontario (I'm Canadian). Honours specialization in media, information and technoculture (kind of like pre-journalism), minor in geography, certificate in writing GPA: 3.7 (cumulative of all four years) Awards: Graduated with Distinction (known as summa cum laude in the U.S.) , Dean's Honour List, Writing Program's Student Award for Non-Fiction Writing, three awards from my campus newspaper (News Staff Writer of the Year, Most Influential Story of the Year, Excellence in Hard News Writing), and the Undergraduate Student Leadership Award Work & Internships: - Worked full-time throughout my third and fourth year as a news editor, and then a features editor at my university's daily student newspaper—the only daily in Canada. I have a portfolio of approximately 200 clips. - CTV National News internship, the most-watched nightly news program in Canada. Interned as a reporter and researcher. - I now work 60+ hours a week as the editor-in-chief of my university's student newspaper and will be working in this position until next spring. I am in charge of 22 full-time staff members and have control over a $400,000 budget. I pretty much do everything in this position—write, edit, manage staff, deal with legal issues and complaints, create a daily page layout, story search, create assignments, graphic design, etc. The paper has a daily circulation of 11,000 copies. - I've also worked as an assistant clerk for the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario, although that's not super relevant. Volunteer: -Acted as a project team leader for two years with my university's environmental student group and organized a number of events. - Tutored Sudanese refugee children in English and French, as well ESL students, for Students Taking Action Now: Darfur for three months. All of this is within the past three years or so. So, does Columbia typically require more than this, do you think? I'm also interested in the Universty of Colorado because of their specialization in environmental journalism, but I'm a bit concerned about it's reputation. Does anyone know about this school? Thanks!