A Look On The Recent Past

My experience with the journalism and mass communications major in general has been a great experience. In my five years at college I have declared four majors. I started in business but couldn’t find a passion there. I moved onto anthropology and met disappointment again. There was little to no study on the fields I wanted to cover. My next leap was into statistics and I only lasted a semester. However I saw the light and jumped head first into journalism.

Don’t get me wrong there is several points I would like to see changed in the journalism and mass communications program. These changes revolving around the idea of new writing courses such as an advanced copywriting course and more classes to continue polishing your skills for the real world. If there is one thing I can tell you, the more practice you get the better off you are. This said, I also minored in writing so I could attempt to master as many forms of writing before I graduate.

I remember taking my first newswriting course over the summer as an online class. My parents had planned a trip out of the country for over a year and it took place in the middle of the class. However, we only had a couple assignments a week and despite the tropical resort I found the assignments just as fun.

To anyone considering going into the journalism major I have several warnings for you. One, do not limit yourself to your emphasis or required courses. You should take as many journalism classes as you can in all the emphases offered at your school. Two, take as many writing classes outside of journalism if you feel you are struggling. As I said before, practice is the key. Three, make sure you are a nice person, at least on the surface. What I mean of course is strike up conversations with strangers. You wouldn’t believe the stories they will tell if you simply listen to what they have to say.

If I didn’t make it obvious I do wish I had the chance at several other journalism based writing courses. However, I found each one exciting and stepped up in difficulty with each class. What I didn’t expect was to gain better social skills. In the journalism program you’re forced out into the world to find people to interview. If you have bad social skills you’re not as likely to get good quote. You may even cause someone to end an interview. That experience was by far the most beneficial to me.