Journalism Grad School: Is it a good idea?

Michael Lewis says no.

 

I recently graduated with a master's degree in Journalism. It was good for me for a few reasons:

1) When I graduated from undergrad (like now) there were few jobs available.
2) The school I went to offered me a package to be a teaching asst. (so I didn't pay tuition, in fact they paid me a stipend, a very small one, but still helped).
3) I want to teach, so I needed the master's degree + it gave me some teaching experience.

The answer to whether you should go to grad school is not a simple one, it depends on other options you have and what you ultimately want to do.

 

No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No

 

Don't get trapped into thinking that an MA in English is going to be a ticket into the professoriate. It won't be unless you are unbelievably lucky. I am a prof in a business school and my colleagues across the way talk about 500 applications for a single job, with most applicants holding a PhD from an upmarket institution. Getting and keeping one of those jobs is probably about as hard as making it in the major leagues. Most people in the humanities spend years (if not entire careers) patching together a living teaching one or two courses across multiple institutions at a time.

 

Not as funny as the law school one, but pretty good.

 

There was a Slate article a while ago about graduate degrees in the humanities and what a waste they are right now, particularly compared to medicine, law, and MBA's (the latter two are no golden ticket, either). I know hard science PhD's are the most impressive, but from what I understand, only about a quarter of the people who begin them get through. It's a scam - the professors just want research assistants.

 

Tell us how you really feel.