I know I'm not the only person in college who has worried about what they are going to do with his or her life, but now, senior year has brought about intense worries about the future. I know I love journalism, but now I don't know what I want to do with it. I used to think that I wanted to be a reporter, but now I'm not so sure.
I think that design is really interesting, and it would be awesome to get a job as a designer at a fashion magazine. However, I don't think I want to ever design at a newspaper. I think a newspaper's design is a lot less interesting than a magazine's, and that is where I would want to design. Plus, I adore looking at magazines for the design and photos; I think a lot of people do too. I really don't like all of the graphs that have to be made for a newspaper, and I know I would not want to do it, especially after we had to design a graph for graphics. There was just so much room for error, and almost every graph we critiqued in the class was not good. Magazines never have graphs, plus they have more artistic photos and are visually more appealing. I also just like them better!
I also think I would be interested in becoming an editor. I really like our editing class, and so far, I have been surprised to learn that it is interesting. Yet, I would still want to be an editor at a magazine, rather than a newspaper.
Basically, I don't want to write for a newspaper, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up at one to get some much needed experience for the magazine world.
(Now watch a recruiter find this blog and refuse to hire me for a newspaper! Maybe I should just go to law school....)
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7 comments:
Yes the real world is scary, we are all getting journalism degrees and some of us have no idea what to do with them. I used to be a political science major and swtiched to journalism because I thought that with a journalism degree I would be able to find numerous jobs that are interesting and in many specialized fields. I was right, journalism carries over to numerous fields: fashion, business, travel, etc. The daunting task now is chosing what you're interested in and focusing on getting more experience in that field. Good luck!
Having spent all my life as an editor, I will have to agree with you about editing being interesting. If you tire of fashion, you'll still have that fabulous world of words in which to find a different subject.
I think most of us are in the same boat. While there's a chance the world will look different with a journalism degree, as of now, I can't see myself going straight into the field. I, too, started in political science and switched into journalism in hopes of pursuing a job in political media.
Journalism, especially editing, is interesting and fun, but I can't help but think I made the wrong choice as I spend my nights in lab staring quietly at a field of words while the advertising kids work on colorful projects and enjoy the camaraderie of others.
Wherever we end up, at least we'll have strong communication skills, something that will never lose value.
I do remember the wise words of my old Reporting I professor Jeff Unger
(btw, the most comedic journalism professor I have ever had): "If you know how to write well, you are ahead of 95% of the rest of the people out there." Or something like that. And I believe it is true. Whether we pursue what we are in now by actually becoming reporters, or whether we go into politics or advertising or public relations or business...there is always going to be a need for people who know how to write well and know how to talk to people. We journalists know how to do that. (was that the correct use of we?...ha) I sometimes get nervous thinking about what I will do after college, but I think that journalism and communications is so broad these days that I start feeling comforted by the fact I am educated in something that will never get old: giving people information, getting information from people, writing precisely and interestingly, and researching...anything.
I feel that many political science majors have a fall-back in Journalism--that's what happened for me, too. But I understand where you are coming from.
Everyday we are faced with "problems in the media." Either it's how newspapers are being phased out, or how journalists should be able to write the stories, edit the stories, post the stories, design the stories, heck make the stories for all I know...it leaves us all wondering if there will be a job out there waiting for us.
The main thing in my mind is to remember that even if none of us land our "dream job" right after graduation, that doesn't mean it won't happen.
Now that graduation is quickly approaching, I find myself saying, "I just want to be a radio DJ." That's all. I want to play music for people. The problem, of course, is that whenever I tell people my new career path they laugh at me. Why is it that every journalism major I've ever spoken to doesn't have any idea what to do with her degree? I sure don't. At least we're all in this together. Maybe we should organize a U of I journalism graduate support group so come next year, when we are jobless and confused, we won't feel so alone.
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