Media/Communications/Journalism?!?! Help!

skateing dragon

Alright so I'm a soon to be 6th year and I am trying to do some research on courses.

I'm a creative person and I'm a pretty good writer and would like to pursue that. But I'm not sure if I'm a journalist. I think I'm more of a novelist. So I was thinking about a career in advertising as I think it sounds cool and I may be good at it.

But which course do I chose?

The courses pointed out to me have been Media Studies, Communications and Journalism. I'm not sure about Media Studies because it seems to focus on Computers alot. And although I'm very good at computers I don't want to spend my life infront of a screen. Communications sounds interesting to but it seems to be all about film production, radio broadcasting and being in front of a camera which is not what I want. Journalism seems really interesting but I feel if I do this course it's kind of All my eggs in one basket sorta thing.

Anyone have any advice?

Anyone take any of these courses? Or Anyone in Advertising that can help?

goodgodholmes

Hi, I'm doing Communications and I love it.

There are screenwriting modules for Video production specialising students, but no creative writing modules as such.

If it's a career in advertising you want CS is a good degree to have, it's well recognised by advertising agencies, but you won't be doing a huge amount of creative writing on the course itself.

You can pursue this outside your course though, I think DCU's BookSoc runs creative writing workshops, I know they published a book of student short stories this year.

I posted about the course in the Leaving Cert forum:

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=54929487&postcount=177

Rosita

skateing dragon wrote: »

Alright so I'm a soon to be 6th year and I am trying to do some research on courses.

I'm a creative person and I'm a pretty good writer and would like to pursue that. But I'm not sure if I'm a journalist. I think I'm more of a novelist. So I was thinking about a career in advertising as I think it sounds cool and I may be good at it.

But which course do I chose?

The courses pointed out to me have been Media Studies, Communications and Journalism. I'm not sure about Media Studies because it seems to focus on Computers alot. And although I'm very good at computers I don't want to spend my life infront of a screen. Communications sounds interesting to but it seems to be all about film production, radio broadcasting and being in front of a camera which is not what I want. Journalism seems really interesting but I feel if I do this course it's kind of All my eggs in one basket sorta thing.

Anyone have any advice?

Anyone take any of these courses? Or Anyone in Advertising that can help?

If you enjoy writing and are concerned about 'eggs in one basket' why not consider a BA with English and maybe another language. While you are studying you could dabble in the college paper (much of journalism in mundane and people need to get comfortable with that) and then with a few years more consideration given to things do the relevant post-grad.

I know a journalist with a national newspaper (I say that just to show that things have been fairly successful for him) who graduated with a BA in Journalism two years ago and regrets that he did not go the route I have suggested here as in that course one year was focussed on print, one year largely on radio etc. and if you were not into every area it was a hard slog.

ifitbeyourwill

Hi OP,

I was in a similar position to yourself a couple of years ago. I did the BA in Communications and then a Masters in Advertising and I'm working in advertising now. In second year communications you can choose between photography or radio or video - so you can pretty much avoid the standing in front of the camera thing. I did photography and imaging and we had an advertising project as part of our module. That's what made me consider pursuing creative advertising as a career. The B.A. in Communications was great because I knew I wanted to work in the media (sort of) but didn't know what area. The very few lecture hours clears space for you to try out different things on an extra-curricular basis - journalism with the college newspaper etc. I don't think my degree has really benefited my career (so far) that much (relevant work experience and a good portfolio are the best ways to get a job) but it gave me the opportunity to figure out what I wanted to do and was a lot of fun!

Anyway best of luck and PM me with any other questions!

corcors

I did Communications and I now work in advertising I've found that a lot of people in this industry have done Communications so its a good starting point. While I enjoyed the course I didn't find it very practical and it wasn't really what I expected it to be. However i do think out of the 3 its probably the best if you plan on pusuing a career in advertising (although if you want to be on the creative side Multimedia coual also be good, I work on the media side)

When I was working I did a Diploma in Advertsing by night which I found very good

Paddy-Megans-Lo

Hmm im in the same type of boat except I am going to college in 2 months..


I have journalism down as my number one choice and communications down as my second although I am feeling I would prefer communications. I know I would like to be a journalist in future but journalism as a single degree seems very generic and boring to me. I wanna be a fashion/music journalist and with communications subjects like psychology and photography I think it may be the better course for me, but guess Im stuck in the journalism boat now lol.

For you, another suggestion would be to take out an arts degree. My careers advisor told me that possibly takin maynooth arts with subjects like english and maybe another language or anthropology or something could be an edge later on when pursuing a job against people with just degrees about the media (like communications). I dunno, it's a tricky one but just flick through all the course content and description.

Another good tip is try to find people on bebo or ask around about people in the courses that you want and ask first hand about it

Xavi6

Doing an Arts degree is a complete waste of time imo if you have the option of Journalism and Media Communications. Arts should only ever be used as a back door into journalism if you don't get enough points, and even then there aree fee paying colleges in which you can do (which is what I did).

Journalism and Media Communications covers a broad enough range of topics to suit all tastes and needs.

And remember, in journalism a degree is only really a piece of paper. Get yourself out there writing and working asap (i.e. in your first year of college) and build up a portfolio. Believe me, it works.

Rosita

Xavi6 wrote: »

And remember, in journalism a degree is only really a piece of paper.

You have just unwittingly made the argument for Arts against journalism. If it’s just a piece of paper what’s the point? You can get yourself out there writing and build up a portfolio just as easily studying Arts (or anything else) and you will have a general level of knowledge in some areas which could stand you in good stead in journalism if yiou want to specialise and gives you a lot more options at the end (other careers, post-grad etc.) if you don’t fancy journalism at that stage or find it difficult to make progress.

Xavi6

Rosita wrote: »

You have just unwittingly made the argument for Arts against journalism. If it’s just a piece of paper what’s the point? You can get yourself out there writing and build up a portfolio just as easily studying Arts (or anything else) and you will have a general level of knowledge in some areas which could stand you in good stead in journalism if yiou want to specialise and gives you a lot more options at the end (other careers, post-grad etc.) if you don’t fancy journalism at that stage or find it difficult to make progress.

You've taken me up the worng way. Of course the journalism degree is far more beneficial than an Arts one (which really is nothing at the end of the day without a post grad). A journalism degree will put you ahead of most people if you can compliment it with experience.

A stand alone journalism degree means you have the academic qualifications to be a journalist, not the practical skills which are achieved through experience. Subjects such as Meida Law & Ethics are not something that you can just know and are not something you would pick up through Arts or any other unrelated degree.

An Arts degree is nothing when it comes to journalism.