老美们对有关Journalism选校和申请的讨论

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　　　这是在Collegeconfidential的BBS上，一些老美们对J-School的讨论，有一定参考价值（我做了简单的编辑）。有兴趣的可以一看。其实，这个网址上，还有很多相关的讨论。也有关于一个具体学校的讨论。http://talk.collegeconfidential.com

Where Are Lists For The Top Journalism/comm Programs?

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Even though I have already applied to schools, i am curious to see an actual list of the top communication programs in the country. I constantly read that unc-chapel hill, northwestern, missouri, and syracuse are the top, but i have yet to see a list compiled by some top service. If anyone could provide a list, I'd love to see it. Also what are your opinions on the top j-schools in the country?
   
Posts: 2,297  Use a search engine and find the lists for the "William J. Randolph Hearst" print, broadcast and photojournalism awards progams. These are the Pulitzer Prizes of college journalism, and are only open to student at accredited journalism programs. The universities winning the most awards are widely regarded as the country's best.
   

Posts: 2,297  Here's a link to the HEarst program. Unfortunately, they don't list the awards winners, but I know that each year, they produce a booklet with that info. My advice is to e-mail them and ask them to send you that booklet, which they probably will do at no charge. The schools with lots of winners are the best journalism programs in the country: http://hearstfdn.org/hearst_journalism/index.html

On the site, you also can see a list of accredited journalism programs. It is important to go to an accredited journalism program, so that's a good start.
   
Posts: 749  i'm surprised that Northwestern isn't on that list. I thought Northwestern was a really good school for journalism.
   
03-03-2005, 12:32 AM    #8  
Posts: 440  Medill at Northwestern,
Syracuse (marv albert)
(generally, among sports journalists I know, Northwestern and Syracuse are considered the top two)
Columbia University
UC Berkeley's grad school of J. (they have undergrad comm, but no undergrad J)
University of Iowa has a really good J school too, although Im sure its not on whatever top 10 list, because, well, its Iowa

Also, when considering a J school, don't just consider the journalism major, because J majors are most likely to take a second major or minor, because, well, journalists need to know about something so they can write about it. Think about what kind of journalism you want to do, than go to a college that has a J school but also a fine program in whatever you want to study (for example, if you wanted to be an international correspondent, you would look and see what Gtown has...)
   
Northwestern has pretty much dominated the writing competition-1st/2nd for 16 consecutive years when no other school has ranked in the top five every year during the same period (89-04). Other categories--photography, television and radio news have large disaparity.

Posts: 3,020  Here's a rather lengthy list of "Top Journalism Programs" from The College Finder, After that I give some ideas on how to judge various programs:

U of Alabama
American
Arizona State U
U of Arizona
Ball State U
Boston U
UCLA
U of Colorado
DePauw U
Duke U
Duquesne U
Emerson
U of Florida
U of Georgia
U of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
Indiana U Bloomington
Ithaca College
U of Kansas
Kent State U
U of Maryland College Park
Michigan State U
U of Minnesota, Twin Cities
U of Missouri Columbia
Uof Nebraska, Lincold
NYU
UNC Chapel Hill
Northwestern
Ohio State U
Ohio U
U of Oregon
Pepperdine U
U of South Carolina - Columbia
U of South Dakota
USC
Syracuse
U of Tennessee
Washignton and Lee
U of Washington
U of Wisconsin, Madison

Of the above schools, I am familiar with and recommend the following schools in particular: Syracuse U, Northwestern, Boston U, U of Missouri, USC, Ithaca, Emerson, Indiana U, U of Oregon, U of South Dakota, U of Maryland, UNC Chapel Hill

When looking at ANY journalism program, there are a few important questions to ask:
(1) is the curriculum emphasis on actual "real world" journalism skills? (Many "communications" programs are more theoretical than practical)
(2) What percentage of the faculty has "real world" experience, i.e., they've actually been journalists or in communications? (You want a program where a higher percentage have experience and working knowledge, not just theoretical knowledge)
(3) What opportunities are there to work in on campus media? (At some schools, getting a reporter or editor position at the student newspaper or radio station can be very competitive)
(4) How up to date is the equipment in the program? (Esp. important if you are interested in broadcast journalism) Are the facilities adequate for the number of majors? (If you never get into use the facilities because they're tied up for grad students, they won't help you)
(5) How many opportunities are there for internships? How many students actually do internships? Is it realistic to combine an internship with the level of academic effort required? How do you get internships?
(6) What size are the classes? How much writing and editing do you actually do in the classes? How good are the professors at giving you feedback about your writing and editing?
(7) What is the career placement office like? Does the journalism program have its own career placement/advising program or do you go through the school's "general" career office? Where did last year's graduates end up working immediately after graduation? Where do alumni work?
   
Posts: 600  The last time US News and World Reports ranked journalism schools was 1996. The top ones were:

1. U. of Missouri (Columbia)
2. Columbia University
3. Northwestern University
4. UNC (Chapel Hill)
5. Indiana University (Bloomington)
6. U. of Florida
7. Ohio University (Athens)
7.(tie) U. of Wisconsin (Madison)

BUT (from an article):

However, Thomas Kunkel, president and publisher of the American Journalism Review at the University of Maryland, said U.S. News botched the rankings because no two journalism/mass communications programs are alike. "They were comparing apples to oranges to kumquats," he said. For example, some of the schools offer only graduate programs, while others have undergraduate and graduate programs. And the sequences each school offers also vary.

[ For example, ] Scripps [ Ohio University ] offers academic sequences in public relations, advertising, news writing and editing, magazine, broadcast and online journalism.

Because of these discrepancies, Kunkel said, "The results were so controversial, and people were so upset, that (U.S. News) decided they weren't going to do this anymore."

   
Posts: 77  yeah, i was looking at the list and I realize it is important to have accredidation as a journalism school. Less the 200 comm schools in the country can say that, so its important to start at those.
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Posts: 128  Medill (Northwestern) and Columbia are probably the two with the best national reputations.
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Posts: 498  Quote:
However, Thomas Kunkel, president and publisher of the American Journalism Review at the University of Maryland, said U.S. News botched the rankings because no two journalism/mass communications programs are alike. "They were comparing apples to oranges to kumquats," he said. For example, some of the schools offer only graduate programs, while others have undergraduate and graduate programs. And the sequences each school offers also vary.

[ For example, ] Scripps [ Ohio University ] offers academic sequences in public relations, advertising, news writing and editing, magazine, broadcast and online journalism.

Because of these discrepancies, Kunkel said, "The results were so controversial, and people were so upset, that (U.S. News) decided they weren't going to do this anymore.  



I agree. That's why performance over the years (not just one year) in head-to-head competition like Hearst probably serves as a better measure. Northwestern's winning tradition in writing competition should be enough to show it's a great school for aspiring news writers. That other categories (photojournalism and broadcasting) have large disparity probably indicates many schools are about the same esp in those
03-06-2005, 12:49 PM    #20  

Posts: 577  From the large list above, it should be noted that Washington & Lee is the only top liberal arts college that has an excellent journalism program. Anyone who is looking at these two things (journalism, liberal arts colleges) should seriously look into W&L.
   
Posts: 73  missouri is the oldest school of journalism with its centennial upcoming in three years. it remains first for undergraduate education with indiana, north carolina, georgia, iowa, kansas, and syracuse among a group as close competitors.

for graduate education in journalism it's northwestern and columbia with most of the list above also very strong.

that said, each program has varying strengths such as print, broadcast, photo, advertising, public relations, etc.
  
  Just because it’s the oldest doesn’t make it the best. The University of Pennsylvania is the oldest University in America, and that surely doesn’t mean it’s the best.
   
Posts: 2,297  Harvard, not U of P, is the oldest university in the US.
   
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 73  correct, harvard was founded in 1636 for whatever that's worth.
missouri journalism was founded in 1908. obviously, that is hardly the reason most polls put it first at the UGR level. its breadth and strength of programs, facilities, faculty, reputation and placement, all are part of the recipe.
   
Posts: 77  no, the University of Pennsylvania is the first UNIVERSITY in the United States. Harvard is the first COLLEGE. By establishing the first medical school in the country in 1765, it became a university. Harvard only had the "College".

If you disagree, just look it up, plenty of evidence out there. If your argument is that it is the first place of higher learning, then i totally agree. But UPenn does rightfully own claim to the first university in america.

Just my 2 cents.




penn became the first "university" in 1779 after being chartered in 1740, more than a century after harvard had begun. guess that means places like williams, radcliffe, amherst or harvey mudd are irrelevant since they still are colleges.

not sure the point as it relates to journalism but whatever...
   
Posts: 245  To add to Northwestern and Columbia... Penn, Berk, and USC
   


Posts: 77  back to journalism, in my opinion, unc-chapel hill, syracuse, northwestern, and mizzou are the best journalism programs in the country (i applied to two of them myself)
   


yes, megastud you are right!
annenberg east (penn) and annenberg west (southern cal) are truly elite programs. both of them focus more upon communications and theory, with the west campus having strong ties with the entertainment industry. cal is very small and very elite with a focus on journalism. all three are extremely selective with outstanding facilities, notably both annenbergs. all would be superb picks at the grad level.
  

Western Kentucky University offers the best photojournalism school in the united states i am a photojournalism major there and it is wonderful they have the best teachers and the most up to date equipment. the new Journalism building was just completed this year
   

guess you've already decided. anyway, northwestern offers the best of both worlds--their school of journalism and school of communication are both among the best. because of the strict number of students Medill can have each year, it's best to be admitted to the school of journalism first and then add either communication studies or communication science as second major through the school of comm if one is interested in both.
   
Posts: 73  medill is terrific. northwestern has the highest ranked marketing department in the nation and as such it is strongest in the areas of advertising/IMC/PR but is powerful across the board. if you want a comprehensive program that combines college level prestige with that on the university level with all of those resources you must include missouri, syracuse, and southern california in the elite category along with top notch state universities (ie, maryland, kansas, illinois, georgia, texas, florida, cal) very close nearby. most of these offer the full range of majors such as R/TV, PR, AD, MAG, JOUR, PHTO, which allows you the flexibility of moving about to find your niche.
  

Posts: 560  What's the difference between journalism and communications? Sorry if I sound really, really uncultured here.
   

Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 73  journalism is the application of communication into mediated forms such as newspapers and magazines. communications typically includes theory and other forms such as organizational communication, small group, dyadic comm, etc.
   
Also, grad schools would like to see internships, right? What about the school newspaper?
     
Posts: 498  at northwestern, what drj said really belongs to "communication studies". But there's also "communication sciences and disorders" which focuses the science of communication, learning and comm disorder. Within this field, nu is particularly known for its audiology and speech pathology programs (grad program). so allureny86, I suggest you check out nu's website and you'd get a much better idea of what the differences among journalism, communication studies, and communication sciences/disorders are since nu is one of the few schools that have these three areas as three distinct majors.


Posts: 440  allure: the daily newspaper at northwestern is one of the top in the country. There is also a radio station which is always being awarded something for its excellence.. i visited, they had more plaques than wallspace.. and a student run TV news program that airs twice a week for undergrads and 3 times a week run by graduate students. If you are in medill, you will spend a quarter doing an internship in another city at a real tv/radio station or newspaper or magazine, depending on your major... theyll set that one up for you, but of course, to get any work in journalism, you're going to need to show more experience than just that.
   


Posts: 490  A couple of comments:

1. Accreditation. I caution people from worshipping at the altar of specialized accreditation. There seems to be a belief that programs without accreditation are lacking in some way. That might be true in some fiields. It's not true in all fields. In fact, some programs choose not to seek accreditation for very good reasons, perhaps because they disagree with one or more of the criteria, or feel that accreditation pulls their curriculum in the wrong direction. This varies by discipline, of course, but it always sounds strange to me when people laud accreditation as the gold standard of a program's quality. Look at NCATE accreditation--some of the best teacher education programs say "Thanks but no thanks."

2. "University" The word "university" in an institution's name is the last thing I'd look at in determining a "first." If you're talking about adopting the traditional German model of a university, then I'd say Cornell, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins would be the ones best able to lay claim to being the earliest in the country.
   
Posts: 560  drj, I meant in general. Grad school is still a little ways off. I was just wondering what I ought to be doing in college to be on the right track.

GT一族UID: 170078

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DendisUID: 158017

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coffeegirlUID: 137942

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林月如UID: 170402

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