What are my chances of getting into Journalism School?

[Al Faz]

I hope someone can help, since I'm super confused.

I would like to get into a master's program in Journalism (usually Masters in Journalism) somewhere in a big writing market (pref. NYC).

My stats are a bit unusual though, and I don't know how grad schools will look at this.

- I attended Univ. of Texas- Dallas for 3 years (Fall 06-Fall 09), but after the first two semesters (which were average B-ish grades), I bombed 4 semesters. I ended up having a 2.6 after failing a bunch of classes by the end of my junior year.

- For my senior year, I entered University of Houston with about 45 credits (since some didn't transfer and many were fails), and am completing my undergrad there by Dec 2010. I will graduate with about a 3.9 or higher in my BA- Communications.

- I have excellent recommendations from department heads that speak very enthusiastically and personally about me and my writing/personality/experience.

- I have a decent print and broadcast portfolio since I was the managing editor for a local lifestyle magazine. I also have Newspaper clips from when I interned at the Kuwait Times in the middle east. So more than just a few school paper articles basically.

- I tend to interview very well, and generally fare well in face-to-face meetings.

- I will hopefully get about a 660 on my GRE verbal

Do I stand a chance at getting into a good journalism school or masters program? I would love to try for Columbia or NYU, or even Fordham, since NYC is the biggest magazine market. I could also shoot for Boston University or Yeshiva University in NYC.

Would grad schools just tear up my application after seeing that I bombed a good 2 years? I will have a good 4 semesters of solid straight A's to make up for it after the fact, but still...

If my chances are bleak, can anyone suggest decent journalism programs in big markets that I might have a shot at?

Any advice or info would be much appreciated!

[Katiana]

I'm not sure about how adcoms work, but I can suggest a couple more universities for you to consider:

USC

Syracuse

Mizzou

Berkeley

UNC Chapel Hill

Northwestern

University of Florida

University of Colorado at Boulder

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Some of those aren't in big cities, but their programs are reputable nonetheless! Hopefully someone here can answer all your questions! Good luck.

P.S. I'm a UH Cougar as well.

[Scottielass]

This portfolio should help you a lot. J-schools are very interested in "real world" experience. How is your overall GPA? The schools I looked at had a min. 3.0 GPA and 1000 GRE cutoff. They seemed to be pretty strict on it unless you had some contacts that could push your app through to the committee. I think if your app gets through to the committee, you'll be fine. It really depends on the applicant pool for the year. Any schools in the major markets are going to have far more applicants, thus more competition for available spots.

I empathize. My GPA was awful which I returned to school. I busted my butt for the past 5 quarters, which pushed my overall GPA above the minimum cutoff.

[Al Faz]

This portfolio should help you a lot. J-schools are very interested in "real world" experience. How is your overall GPA? The schools I looked at had a min. 3.0 GPA and 1000 GRE cutoff. They seemed to be pretty strict on it unless you had some contacts that could push your app through to the committee. I think if your app gets through to the committee, you'll be fine. It really depends on the applicant pool for the year. Any schools in the major markets are going to have far more applicants, thus more competition for available spots.

I empathize. My GPA was awful which I returned to school. I busted my butt for the past 5 quarters, which pushed my overall GPA above the minimum cutoff.

Thanks for the advice! For me, undergrad was kinda split in 2. So the first 2 years avg at 2.6. The next 2 years avg at 3.9. So, I guess my average would be around a 3.25, which is pretty low for NYU standards, I think. And even then, if I had just gotten A-'s throughout it would have been better. I have tons of Fs which I think will scare them, despite the As that obviously make up for it.

[communications13]

Truth is we can all hemm and haww all day about what ifs and shoulda, couldas. Really, you'll never know until you try. It seems you should apply to a variety of programs and see where the chips fall.

You could make it into Columbia, stranger things have happened, none of us knows what makes an ideal candidate since applications aren't run through a stats program, they are reviewed by people, who may have had thier kid throw up on them before they left for work or who could be feeling particulalry generous on the day they read your app. You nor us will know until you try.

I would say, however, expand your search outside of NYU and Columbia if Grad school is something you really want, if it isn't Grad School that is drawing you, but instead the idea of NYC/Boston, then nothing is stoping you from just moving there and starting a career. With your experience with other papers, you might also consider DC as a good jumping off point as well.

[HappyCat]

You also may want to check out CUNY's Journalism program if you want to be in NYC.

http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/