Interested in Journalism

Coen

Hey, a sixth year here. I'm interested in going into Journalism and Media, that sorta stuff. With no specific course related to this in U.C.C, would you recommend me taking an arts course (which is what I'm thinking of doing atm) and then do a masters in Journalism down the road, OR leave the county and pursue a more specific course somewhere else; Dublin, Limerick etc? Not too fond of leaving Cork and I'd really love to go to U.C.C, but I'd take it into consideration if it was really a good option for me.

Basically looking for advice etc. Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

corcaighabu92

I havethe same interest as you. I wanted to study Journalism and New Media in Limerick. I got a C1 when I needed a B3 though. I am doing Arts in UCC now. You will have to probably do English for certain anyway. What side of Journalism are you into. Im not that fond of the Arts course and I am only a few months in first year. I absolutelt love the college here and I would certainly recommend you to come here.

JeremyH

Plenty of journalists started out by doing Law/Politics/Arts degrees instead of Journalism degrees. Take an undergraduate degree where you will read and write a lot, while you are doing it, try to get involved in writing for a local newspaper, or a student paper, or get involved with presenting/producing on campus radio, or just start a blog and write and write and write. Try and get an internship or work experience in radio/TV/newspaper. Build up a strong portfolio of articles etc. by the time you graduate that demonstrate your ability to potential employers. It's so easy to do these days because of technology.

If you still think you need it after graduating, do one of the Masters degrees in Journalism.

Definitely sign up to Twitter and follow the Irish journos/bloggers - you will learn a lot from them.

Best of luck.

Coen

Thanks a million for the help guys! Found it really helpfull. I reckon I'll do the arts degree; with the time on my hands from the course I'll defo be able to read and write more, develop my skills, get work experience etc.

Corcaighabu92, what are you not fond of with the arts course? Ill defo be picking english alright, maybe philosophy too, heard theres a fair bit of writing in that.

Byron85

Coen wrote: »

Thanks a million for the help guys! Found it really helpfull. I reckon I'll do the arts degree; with the time on my hands from the course I'll defo be able to read and write more, develop my skills, get work experience etc.

Corcaighabu92, what are you not fond of with the arts course? Ill defo be picking english alright, maybe philosophy too, heard theres a fair bit of writing in that.

It's Arts. No matter what subjects you pick you'll have a lot of essay writing to do. I'm in second year Sociology and Psychology and I just handed in two essays last week. I've another four due in next month and all of them are of varying lengths.

Coen

Yeah, true. How you find the arts course Byron85? Hows studies in psychology? Thats another one I'll probably choose. Thanks

Bonzo-Reborn

Arts is definitely your best bet if you wish to pursue a career in writing although in saying that there are courses such as journalism and new media that you should look in to in UL and other places. Multimedia courses have also given rise to some of best journalists of our time.

The advantage of UCC's degree is that while you'll have LOADS of essays, it will improve your writing tenfold and while you're not writing essays you can contribute to the campus paper, radio and magazine.

rebel girl 15

essay writing and writing articles can be quite different!! Articles have to be snappy and address the four W's and H whereas academic essays are quite different, I've done both. The best journalists have huge portfolios built up, degree or no degree. If its print media your after, sorry to burst the bubble but its very difficult to get jobs - number of local papers were laying off staff, pay isn't great either, there are quite a number of things to consider. What aspect of journalism are u interested in?

Best thing to do is to build up a portfolio by submitting articles to your local paper, make sure they have bylines with your name, useless otherwise. When you look back over stuff you have written in a years time, I guarantee that you will be cringing at it!

Coen

Not too sure what aspect of journalism I'm interested in really; I've worked at the evening echo before for work experience, got an article printed. I really enjoyed it there and I've had a thing for writing since I was young. I'd probably like to write reviews if I had the choice. Another thing that would interest me is going into film/tv: Scriptwriting/Directing/Producing etc. So basically I'm not entirely sure just yet what exactly I want to do, but I have an idea of the area(s) I want to get into. Hoped that answered everyones questions of what aspect of Journalism I was interested in!!

rebel girl 15

Coen wrote: »

Not too sure what aspect of journalism I'm interested in really; I've worked at the evening echo before for work experience, got an article printed. I really enjoyed it there and I've had a thing for writing since I was young. I'd probably like to write reviews if I had the choice. Another thing that would interest me is going into film/tv: Scriptwriting/Directing/Producing etc. So basically I'm not entirely sure just yet what exactly I want to do, but I have an idea of the area(s) I want to get into. Hoped that answered everyones questions of what aspect of Journalism I was interested in!!

Being honest, I think the journalism course would probably be better suited for you, it would give you a much broader range of media to work within than arts would. Looking at the course content, it would give you a much better footing in journalism, plus the external placement for two semesters gets you in the door in places.

Reviews would be a very very narrow area of content and looking long term, to make a living from that alone would be very hard. If you go down the news side of it, are you prepared to deal with interviewing families that a loved one has just died etc, going down the sports route, being at a pitch frozen cold night in and night out, the unsociable hours. The journalism course would give you more opportunities to get involved in the scriptwriting aspect of it

I'm not just saying this to put you off - I know a lot of people think journalism is an easy and high flying job, when in fact its far from the truth! I got very interested in journalism for about a year, been writing things since I was young, but then went back to the one course I had always wanted. I've staying involved in it, but it was never gonna end up my full time job.

daniel.ocarroll

Practically anything will do for journalism, at least undergrad.

The journalism degree is a relatively recent phenomenon. To the best of my understanding, the profession of yesteryear was dominated by guys who started up as papersboys and worked their way up through the system.

If you want to go into a specialized area of journalism, however, you'll need the appropriate qualification.

So, for instance, if you want to become a court reporter, you'll probably need some legal training; likewise for business, etc.

I'm finishing my law degree in UCC (BCL) and have applied for journalism school in a few places.

What you can do when you're an undergrad in a non-journalistic course is write as much as possible (I started www.corkstudentnews.com), get involved with the usual on-campus publications, get published in any way, shape, or form, etc. Also don't neglect the internet as that's a very emerging area of the media, so consider starting a blog or writing for a reputable online publication (such as cork student news -- just joking!).

Do a solid undergrad degree - I think practically any will do - and prepare for journalism school ('j-school') as early as possible! I would say that one with a strong writing component - such as Arts - is probably preferable though!