Oh right, I have a blog...
The "J School" part of the ryaninjschool blog has been woefully anemic since my classes started. If you've been checking the site religiously to discover what it's like to attend journalism school, my apologies. Both for not posting, and that reading this thing is the most interesting thing you can come up with to do... :)
So, it's been pretty hectic now that class has started and I've needed to get back into the whole homework thing, after four years removed from it. All my classes look like they'll be really interesting, albeit with a LOT of reading. Along the lines of, "For next class, three days from now, read this entire book along with a good several dozen pages of dense theory." But I'm sure it will be fine, and besides it's not like I have any money to be doing much besides reading for hours at a time.
A bunch of people have asked what classes one takes in journalism school, so for anyone interested, here's a list. Everyone in my program takes Evidence and Inference (about doing research, making stories as accurate as possible, and not getting swayed by sources or personal biases) and History of Journalism for Journalists (the name says it all). I'm also taking one class dedicated to arts and culture writing (for which I've already gone to a Korean Film Festival and an exhibit on Dadaism at the Museum of Modern Art) and a course outside the J-school in 20th Century American Theater. On top of that, there's a 50-page master's thesis due in May. Now you know.
The application materials for the M.A. program I'm in said something along the lines of "applicants must dedicate an outstanding record of professional achievement" in order to be admitted. I was thinking that covering the school board and kids making gingerbread houses for four years was probably not what they were after, but I got in, so I guess I was doing something right. The fact that I was accepted made me think that the "outstanding achievement" they were looking for had less to do with an impressive resume than I had worried about. However, the resumes of my classmates pretty much fall in line with what I thought in the beginning, when I thought no one who wrote about middle school food fights would get in.
An partial list of where some of the other 32 people in the program worked last year:
Wall Street Journal
Newsweek (three people!)
San Francisco Chronicle
Times of India
China Daily
Slate
Reuters London Bureau
There are a few people from non-world-famous publications, but no one from anywhere as tiny as the Daily Hampshire Gazette. So I feel pretty lucky to be here. However, there are three former Gazette people that I know (two interns and one of my fellow reporters) in the other program at the J-school, so I guess we're impressing someone.
Another question people like to ask is "what's your roommate like?" I have to be honest -- I really don't know. I hardly ever see him or talk to him, even though he's usually here closed up in his room. The other day we had an actual five-minute conversation, the first time we'd said more than Hi to each other in a few weeks. But that's fine -- I'd rather live with someone a little odd and quiet than loud and obnoxious.
So, it's been pretty hectic now that class has started and I've needed to get back into the whole homework thing, after four years removed from it. All my classes look like they'll be really interesting, albeit with a LOT of reading. Along the lines of, "For next class, three days from now, read this entire book along with a good several dozen pages of dense theory." But I'm sure it will be fine, and besides it's not like I have any money to be doing much besides reading for hours at a time.
A bunch of people have asked what classes one takes in journalism school, so for anyone interested, here's a list. Everyone in my program takes Evidence and Inference (about doing research, making stories as accurate as possible, and not getting swayed by sources or personal biases) and History of Journalism for Journalists (the name says it all). I'm also taking one class dedicated to arts and culture writing (for which I've already gone to a Korean Film Festival and an exhibit on Dadaism at the Museum of Modern Art) and a course outside the J-school in 20th Century American Theater. On top of that, there's a 50-page master's thesis due in May. Now you know.
The application materials for the M.A. program I'm in said something along the lines of "applicants must dedicate an outstanding record of professional achievement" in order to be admitted. I was thinking that covering the school board and kids making gingerbread houses for four years was probably not what they were after, but I got in, so I guess I was doing something right. The fact that I was accepted made me think that the "outstanding achievement" they were looking for had less to do with an impressive resume than I had worried about. However, the resumes of my classmates pretty much fall in line with what I thought in the beginning, when I thought no one who wrote about middle school food fights would get in.
An partial list of where some of the other 32 people in the program worked last year:
Wall Street Journal
Newsweek (three people!)
San Francisco Chronicle
Times of India
China Daily
Slate
Reuters London Bureau
There are a few people from non-world-famous publications, but no one from anywhere as tiny as the Daily Hampshire Gazette. So I feel pretty lucky to be here. However, there are three former Gazette people that I know (two interns and one of my fellow reporters) in the other program at the J-school, so I guess we're impressing someone.
Another question people like to ask is "what's your roommate like?" I have to be honest -- I really don't know. I hardly ever see him or talk to him, even though he's usually here closed up in his room. The other day we had an actual five-minute conversation, the first time we'd said more than Hi to each other in a few weeks. But that's fine -- I'd rather live with someone a little odd and quiet than loud and obnoxious.
posted by Ryan Davis | 2:08 PM
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