by WillyBlues » Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:45 pm
Take a few classes and decide it you really love it because it's tough to find gigs, you really have to scramble and take what you can get until you make contacts and such. Also, a large part of the job is research as opposed to writing, being a good editor will also make it easier to land a job. Of the roughly 16 to 20 people in my program I think maybe 3 or 4 eventually followed through and became journalists/reporters. I was actually one of the editors of my college paper and wound up in advertising after college, along with about 50% to 60% of my fellow grads. I understand Grad school at Columbia or Missouri can help you land a quicker, better job but I only know one person who went the route and he became a college professor and author.
I still think the old way of training journalists was best, take a young, bright kid who is street smart and savy and has a knack for words and begin him as an apprentice of sorts. That's how most of the greats began, many never even went to college.
"All there is to thinking is seeing something noticeable which makes you see something you weren't noticing which makes you see something that isn't even visible."