Boston U, CUNY, or Austin for Business Economics Journalism??

[cissy54]

Hi guys, I've got admissions from Boston U, CUNY and Austin, but I am toally lost when I need to make the decision. Could you please help?

 

I'm determined to be a buisness journalist and expect to seek work experience in the US before coming back to my home country. The strengthes and weakeness of each school is listed below.

 

Bostoun U  (Buisness Economics Reporting)

good: good location, fit program

bad:   expensive tuition...

 

CUNY: (Business Economics Reporting)

good: good location in NYC, a close department, good internship chance promised by the school

bad:  people in my country never heard of it.... a little worried about my job hunting back home

 

Austin (Journalism)

good: repurtation, location(is Austin one of the best cities for working and living in the U.S?)

bad: the program is not so fit in my career plan;    a little bit theory focused (Is that true?)

 

I wonder what comes more important for journalism students, the location or reputation of schools?

BTW, Austin has required some credits outside the school, can I take courses in the business school to prepare a business journalism career? Is that feasible?

 

Thanks a lot!!!!!

[cissy54]

anybody help？ ToT

[zabius]

It's hard to say without extra information (especially since I am not familiar with the field of journalism). But if the program at Austin isn't a good fit for you and won't help you with your career goals, you can probably rule it out.

It sounds like Boston might be a good choice, but again more information is needed. I'd recommend checking the job placement records for recent graduates of each program to see which one is best at getting its graduates the type of career that you're aiming for. Then, I'd choose the school which has the best mixture of job placement and overall fit.

In general, I'd say that location is a factor to consider but not the most important. I wouldn't use it as the deciding factor unless everything else about the schools is essentially the same. The biggest things are your fit with your POI/the overall program and job placement. The reputation of the school is often correlated with job placement success, but not always. Another thing worth considering is funding… are any of these funded offers? Money isn't the most important factor, but it's still something that you want to take into account.

I hope this helps!

[Lulubelle]

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.

[cissy54]

Thank you for your help.

As you said, the school reputation, the location, the program are all very important. Location may be not the most factor, but a good location in city may be helpful to get an internship. And that's also why I cannot make a decision. TOT

A few days ago,Arizona State University offered a scholarship of 8000 dollars a semester, which could cover two thirds of the tuition. The program is good but I'm just a little worried about the internship in Pheonix..

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

It's hard to say without extra information (especially since I am not familiar with the field of journalism). But if the program at Austin isn't a good fit for you and won't help you with your career goals, you can probably rule it out.

It sounds like Boston might be a good choice, but again more information is needed. I'd recommend checking the job placement records for recent graduates of each program to see which one is best at getting its graduates the type of career that you're aiming for. Then, I'd choose the school which has the best mixture of job placement and overall fit.

In general, I'd say that location is a factor to consider but not the most important. I wouldn't use it as the deciding factor unless everything else about the schools is essentially the same. The biggest things are your fit with your POI/the overall program and job placement. The reputation of the school is often correlated with job placement success, but not always. Another thing worth considering is funding… are any of these funded offers? Money isn't the most important factor, but it's still something that you want to take into account.

I hope this helps!

[cissy54]

Thank you for your reply.

 

I've just found one elective course in business journalism, but still I doubt whether the skills could be finished in one class. Tuition in Austin is 30000-40000 Dollars.

 

Professor in Boston U told me the program was very practical, but the tuition plus living expenses reach 120000 dollars for 2 years. That is skyhigh for me ... Although they can help land an internship on Boston Globe, I'm not sure whether I need to put on that large debt. 

 

CUNY is also practical, with its best location in NYC. I heard that internship in CBS is available. The cost could be 50000 to 60000 dollars for one year and a half.

 

Arizona State U in Pheonix, may has a less preferred location or internship opportunities, but they has offered me 2/3 of the tuition...That's inviting...Shall I take this money but put the internship opportunities at risk???

 

I really don't know what to do, since all the programs that I applied for focus on practical skills. Now maybe I can choose just one from ASU and CUNY...

 

What do you say? Thanks!

 

 

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.

[Lulubelle]

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. 

Edited March 23, 2013 by Lulubelle