Journalism or Communication Studies?

Rosstafarian

I'm a Leaving Cert student hoping to go to DCU next year and am just wondering if anyone who does Journalism or Communication Studies could just let me know what the course is like and if they like it...what they like about it etc...
Thanks.

Paddy-Megans-Lo

Rosstafarian wrote: »

I'm a Leaving Cert student hoping to go to DCU next year and am just wondering if anyone who does Journalism or Communication Studies could just let me know what the course is like and if they like it...what they like about it etc...
Thanks.

I second this i was JUST about to write the exact same post!!:D

torregolf

Me too, about to ask which is best course. Have communcications as number 1 but yesterday an impartial career guidance told me that the communications which has very high points for what it offers - is quite lacking in content - not a great degree and that Media Studies in Maynooth is much better - but I don't want to go Maynooth. Would love to here some advice

dory

Someone said Media in Maynooth is better?? I would really like to know where the person who told you that got that idea. I finished it last year and found it to be the most useless 3 years possible. And just about everyone agreed. The EU people did surverys of lots of college courses and Media in Maynooth got absolutely slated. Every year gave out and had nothing positive to say. There was one lecturer there who almost made it worth it, but he left.
Sorry I can't help with the communications/journalism question but I know everyone in my class would agree with me that you should stay away from Maynooth!

Choco

Ok, well I'll try and help you as much as I can. I just finished first year of Journalism - and I loved it.

In first year for both Communication Studies and Journalism, you have six modules each semester. And in first year, both courses have two common modules in each semester.

In the first semester these are Introduction to Social Studies, which isn't the most interesting module in the world. There's a great lecturer, mind you, so it isn't the worst. And it's an easy module to pass even if you're not interested in it - just an essay with two others, and a seminar presentation - so it's fine. And there's also a module called Information and Study Skills, which is basically a Dummies Guide to DCU made into a module. Boring! Boring! Boring! But bloody easy. The last first year module we both have is Media Technology, taught by a lecturer who loves puppets and making sexual-ish jokes. It's an easy module - the mark comes from a weekly online quiz, and making a webpage at the end about a celebrity - and is rather interesting, going into loads of crap about the internet and all that.

In second semester, we both have Communication Theory another module that I found particularly boring, but at the end of the module, you choose your own essay to write as well as an analysis of media in your life. So, it can be made interesting. We also both have History and Structure of the Media, where a number of different lecturers each give the history of something media related (History of American Cinema, History of Public Service Broadcasting, History of Irish Newspapers...) over THREE hours. It's actually quite an interesting module. You write a essay half way through the module, and then have an exam at the end, where you have to do two mini-essays in two hours, but you are given the questions before hand, so it's basically a memory exercise, which is either amazing, or not so, depending how willing you are to memorise two essays.

They are the common modules. Then in first year, just in Journalism, we have News Writing, where you basically learn how to write for newspapers. Every second week half the class has two hours to write a story based on materials sent around by the lecturer by email, and then you have to email it off to an ex-Daily Mirror/Irish Times journalist who gives you feedback by email. They don't count towards your final grade, but you have to do them to pass, if you get what I mean. The grade is based on an essay in twos where, more than likely, you'll choose to analyse whether stories from a newspaper of your choice follows the guidelines of books in the reading list. It's not a bad module, but some stuff does seem to be a bit repedative towards the end.

We also have in first year, Introduction to Law, which does have an proper exam, without the questions being given in advance, at the end and a law essay half way through with three others. It's not that bad - and if you're lucky - you'll get Michael Doherty as your lecturer, who is the best lecturer you'll have in first year. He's amazing and he makes Law a brilliant subject. It is, however, the hardest subject. About a third of the class failed it this year. Another first year module is Introduction to Politics. We had an awful lecturer, so didn't really get into it, but the good thing is the grade comes from a take-home one-day exam that you submit online. And no-one to my knowledge failed it.

Second semester then has News Reporting, which is essentially News Writing developed a bit more. Same marking, except for a debate you have to participate in. You then have Radio Newsroom, which is a brilliant module all about how to write news for the radio. You do end up recording a few things - but more of the recording's done in second year in another radio module. Marking is based on weekly news quiz's (where you're asked ten questions about the week's news), an interview project (you interview someone in the radio studio and have to engineer someone else's interview), and there's a radio news bulletin writing test (you write the 'twelve o'clock' news based on material that you're given by the lecturer) at the end of the year. It's probably the best module in the second semester.

You also have in the second semester, News Editing, which goes into basic newspaper design in InDesign (there's a full module on that you can choose to take in second year) and subediting. You're marked on a sub-editing test, and then you either do an essay analysing the design of two newspapers with a partner OR design/write a 4-page supplement on a news event with a partner. This year most people made supplements on things such as the Race to the Whitehouse, to the Health Service, to Zimbabwe, to Teenagers in the Media, to my one of the Eurovision. So, it's kinda cool, in the sense you look into a subject you like. And InDesign isn't that hard to grasp.

The last module in the second semester is a choice module. Either Constitutional Law, American Politics, or Analysing Media Content. All but the last one have exams and Constitutional Law - which I wouldn't pick AT ALL - has a law essay as well, half way through. I did American Politics, which was great. The exam wasn't that bad - we were basically hinted towards what to study for. Analysing Media Content, is what the majority did, and personally I wouldn't recommend picking it (there was one hour in a lecture given up to analysing the meaning of the colour blue) but if you're interested in that stuff, it's not too bad. The mark for that module comes from a few essays throughout the module - in the final one, you analyse the start or end of a movie. With the chosen module, you do have to make a choice when registering, BUT you can change that for free in the first few weeks, when you're aloud to go to all of them - they're on at different times. So, don't worry too much about choosing a module.

That's Journalism, anyway. The biggest thing you need to know if you're looking at Journalism - is it is very much news based and writing based. Don't kid yourself that it's not. It is. If you are thinking it can be a substitute for English at Trinity, it isn't. And in first year some stuff can be boring but other stuff is brilliant. It's probably not as varied as Communication Studies (in third year, I heard of a group who had a class on interprative dance) - this is all their modules - but I loved it. If you're the kind of person that likes reading newspapers, likes watching the news, likes reading magazines, or listening to the radio - then it's the course for you. I can't, not having too much knowledge about it, say too much about Communication Studies but hopefully this has at the least given you an idea about Journalism. And in case you're interested, this is the rest of the modules so you can see what second/third year's about.

Also - in Journalism - in third year you do a work experience placement within a media company, so that's another good thing. In Communication Studies, there's no work placement as far as I'm aware. And - as I've just remembered this - Journalism is a class of around 40, Communication Studies is about 120. In case you're at all interested in class sizes.

(Oh, and if you do get into Journalism or even Communication Studies, come to the first meeting of the College View - the college paper - and make sure you get involved in first year. It's a great thing to be involved with, and if you get a bit of experience, I'd recommend going for a position on the paper when interviews come up towards the end of the year, even if it's just an assistant editor's position.)

If you have any questions about Journalism just put them here and I'll try and give you an answer.