Majoring in Journalism and Mass Communications at SJSU

I decided to go to SJSU and major in journalism and Mass Communications. I know that a crap load of journalists say that it's a waste to major in journalism and that it's a dying field, but I feel like I can succeed. What do you guys think of my decision?

 

I'll leave it like this:

Everyone makes mistakes. The biggest mistake of my life was majoring in journalism.

Best of luck to you, though!

 

Listen to the crap load.

 

1. Keep your options open because a lot of people change majors at some point in college.
2. Expand your interests to other communications fields, such as public relations, if you're committed to JMC. The PR field is more stable than the current journalism field, after all.
3. You can also consider the wise words of Thonton Melon before choosing to enter the real world: "Don't go! It's rough out there. Move back with your parents. Let them worry about it."
4. Listen to the crap load, as RickStain recommends.

 

Two things to think about:

1. Of course you CAN succeed. Just make sure you understand the likelihood that you WILL succeed and consider the obstacles to that success.

2. What's your definition of success? What's your end goal, what's your path for getting there, and what are you going to do if it doesn't work? What other definitions of success are you willing and not willing to accept?

The latter of those will be why people are telling you to do something other than journalism. Will a journalism degree possibly help you achieve whatever definition of success you arrive at? Yes, it very possibly will. BUT, consider as well whether a journalism degree will hamper your ability to achieve success by a slightly different definition.

 

What's SJSU?

 

San Jose State.

 

I don't know what year you're in, but if you're wanting to start in this field, SJSU is a place you should be able to get plenty of access for work on features. Lawrence Fan, the SID there, is good people. If you're not already working for the student paper, start. If you think it's something you want to pursue, maybe reach out to Jimmy Durkin at the Mercury News and see if he'd let you shadow him during a football game on deadline.

 

Seeing your previous posts and this one, please focus on your undergrad English courses.

 

I would not major in journalism again. Like the job, hate the degree b/c it has limited real world applications outside of the field.

That said, if I wanted to cover government, I'd major in political science. If I wanted to cover one of the big four sports, I'd major in (or at least thinking of majoring in) some kind of health science or business. Injuries and money are a way bigger part of sports journalism now than who made or missed the game-winning shot. If it's baseball, I'd think about Spanish.

Either you can write, or you can't. Demonstrate your ability to write for the school newspaper, but train your brain about other topics. Minor in journalism, major in something that'll give you a leg up on the other people on your beat.

At the very least, having a finance, economics, OT or PT degree on your resume and some kick-ass clips will make an SE remember your name.

 

What is mass communications at San Jose State? What was communications at your university? Communications courses at my alma mater were all theory with no real-world relevance.