Comments on: Advice to journalism students: Forget grad school!

By: jololol

jololol — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:24:03 +0000

I also did not see any reason to go to journalism school. I did contemplate law school and grad school for a bit… The pay was tempting, but the lifestyle would have been mind numbing.
I did my undergrad in English (Writing! not LIT!) by the way. Lots of people see English major and assume you just read literature books, this is not the case. I only took one lit course. Taking 10 writing/editing/rhetoric/etc courses as the major core vs 10 literature courses is a big difference… Along with a writing internship.
I also did a minor in Communications (4 classes), in which I took media law and ethics courses. Combined with another 3 courses in Political Science (writing heavy, 5 in Philosophy (writing heavy), 2 in History (writing heavy), and the remaining liberal arts requirements in econ/history/etc, what more would a J School possibly do for me outside of paying for a job connection and going over the same material.
As somebody who does not have rich parents, J school was simply a non option.
My UG did not offer a Journalism major.

By: Personal branding is key for would-be journalists |

Personal branding is key for would-be journalists | — Fri, 06 May 2011 20:00:08 +0000

[...] for extra-curricular students. “Journalism is not rocket science,” McAdams wrote inprovocative post in 2008. “You don’t need a master’s degree to know how to do it, and you won’t do [...]

By: LKS

LKS — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:01:32 +0000

And when you get laid off from your journalism job, because last hired/first hired, you will be thrilled you have that master’s. You can teach English at a community college. In this horrible economy, especially for journalists, have a back-up plan. Ira has a job and would be paid to give speeches if he lost it. What’s your backup plan? GO TO GRADUATE SCHOOL.

By: Messy Christian (2.0) » What Masters should a journalist pick?

Messy Christian (2.0) » What Masters should a journalist pick? — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:59:55 +0000

[...] I know for sure that I don’t want to pursue a postgraduate degree in Journalism. Many seem to agree with me, such as bloggers Dave Lee (Post Grads are a waste of time) and Mindy McAdams (Advice to journalism students: Forget grad school!). [...]

By: Mindy McAdams

Mindy McAdams — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:19:02 +0000

@N. Jean – Adjunct work might be a dead end as far as whether it leads to a full-time post at that institution, but working as an adjunct (or “sessional,” in Canada) has two benefits: (a) You can find out whether you like teaching, or not; (b) You get to add higher-ed teaching experience to your resume.

The latter can be important if you apply for a full-time position as a lecturer or professor. If you lack that experience, you might not get the job interview. I worked as an adjunct for two semesters at NYU, and that experience definitely contributed to my being offered a full-time position.

By: N. Jean

N. Jean — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:38:02 +0000

You need a master’s in the subject area – or a master’s and 18 credit hours in the subject area – to be an adjunct at community colleges in the orlando area. Proof of the M.A. is required pre-interview. And this is for jobs that pay about $1,600 per class, for a 16-week session.Adjuncting is a dead end. For less than $100/wk. you can look elsewhere.
Does not usually lead to full time instructor job, tho they will string you along saying it “might.”

By: Mindy McAdams

Mindy McAdams — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:16:41 +0000

@aisha – There is a reason why someone with your experience would want an actual master’s degree: To teach. Nowadays the bigger universities require even the adjuncts (sessionals, in Canada) to have a master’s degree.

By: aisha

aisha — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:11:04 +0000

i majored in tv production in undergrad and now have 7-8 years experience in a/v & multimedia under my belt. i’ve been thinking about a multimedia/journalism grad school program to merge the two, but your posting has given me second thought – i’d really like a short-term seminar/refresher program rather than a two year commitment. thanks for the perspective!

By: Madeline

Madeline — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:49:11 +0000

Richard Tomkins writes: “I never went to journalism school so my view is admittedly biased.” But isn’t this (one of) the reasons why journalism grad programs are held in such low esteem? The people doing the hiring don’t have journalism degrees and therefore don’t value them.

I’m biased too: I’m currently enrolled in a journalism grad program. I didn’t study journalism in college, and I’m glad I didn’t.

College helps give you a framework for thinking about the world. Study history, political science, English. Learn how to read well and write well. I’m skeptical of our tendency to jump into “pre-professional” programs at the age of 18.

I don’t know how every program is run, but mine is practical in nature. We do no theory at all. We’re given assignments, sent off to report, return to class and have our professors (who are not professors but practicing journalists who do this on the side) tear our copy apart. We do learn digital skills, and we learn how to shoot and edit video.

This grad student is learning a lot: what I’m doing isn’t worthless, and the newsrooms should pick up on it!

By: My Dream ENG Kit « Design+Multimedia+Creativity

My Dream ENG Kit « Design+Multimedia+Creativity — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:50:45 +0000

[...] together my kit, skills and j-abilities? (Speaking of which, I came across a great blog about whether or not people should go to grad school for journalism from Mindy McAdams. I don’t know if I’m in the execption, but plan to post a question [...]