Journalism: Should I do Arts or Journalism in college?

sarahisainmdom

If I want to be journalist, am I better off doing Arts or Journalism? I would assume that a degree in journalism would be better, but I want to keep my options open and do Arts (with English, two languages and then a fourth subject).

The pros of doing arts for me are:

It's more flexible and doesn't tie you down to one career.
I'd get to do a third language instead of just English and one other.
The hours are shorter so I'm hoping that I'd have more time to write for the college paper/local papers and to get experience (which is the most important thing in journalism as far as I know).
I'd get to do more subjects, and I'd have more of an interest then because I'd get to pick them myself.
Arts is an option in more colleges, so I could be closer to home.

The cons:

It's not a degree in journalism. :P
The focus wouldn't be on writing for a paper.

The pros of doing a Journalism degree:

It's a journalism degree.
It'd be a better preparation for the career.
More experience (doing interviews, writing articles before deadlines, etc).

The cons:

The only real career option I can see from it is... Journalism!
It might not be as fun/interesting.
It would cut off a lot of other options (like teaching).
It's only taught in Limerick and Dublin (so there's less choice of Irish cities).



So, can you add to the pros and cons lists? Or tell me that I'm wrong about some of the stuff? If any journalist wants to tell me which they did and why it was a good/bad option, that'd be great. :pac:

karaokeman

Do an Arts degree. If you do you will have a broader understanding of other subjects like the two other languages you wish to study.

Plenty of Arts graduates go into journalism.

Only cons I can think of is the odd douchebag who will bash you for being an Arts student. These jokes are old as s***, don't listen to them just know they are only jealous they didn't get the points for Arts.

vector

The Arts jokes are almost dead, these days regardles of what degree you have even Law or something once considered more impressive, its hard to get a job, so do Arts and have fun

(I have an Arts degree myself, from the early 90s when it still meant something)

Larkenn

You could always go on to do a masters in journalism after your arts degree if you decide its definitely the career for you. An arts degree will give you a better range of topics to write about.

Sefirah

I'm in the same position, and chose to do an arts degree- haven't looked back since. I just feel that writing is something you can do or you can't- there's little grey area. With arts, you can combine English with other subjects to give you a broader knowledge on what you might want to write on (such a politics). Also, you leave open more possibilities. Good luck!

gudwan

Do an arts degree and contribute to a few college publications. Journalism degree or no, writers start out on the bottom rung of the ladder, so you'll have plenty of time to become familiar with the kind of stuff taught in a journalism course while on the job.

OctavarIan

Be aware that the writing you'd be doing in an Arts degree would very far removed from the writing you'd be doing in a Journalism one. You can always tell what articles in a college publication have been submitted by an Arts student, and that's not a good thing. An Arts degree won't teach you good journalistic writing any more than a Computer Science degree would.

Do a degree in an area that interests you and do your journalism learning on the side.

To forge a career in journalism all you need is:
- Tenacity and relentless drive
- Luck
- Experience
- Luck
- Contacts
- Luck

Sefirah wrote:

I just feel that writing is something you can do or you can't- there's little grey area.

Anyone can learn to write well.

melekalikimaka

1.arts degree, followed my masters in journo in dcu.
2. Find Journo job
3.????????
4. PROFIT

karaokeman

OctavarIan wrote: »

You can always tell what articles in a college publication have been submitted by an Arts student, and that's not a good thing. An Arts degree won't teach you good journalistic writing any more than a Computer Science degree would.

Again with the arts bashing. Good journalistic writing comes with your experience of writing. If you write every day, chances are you will get better and better, it doesn't matter what degree you do. Plenty of journalists never even did a journalism degree. An Arts degree has much more essay writing and so fort than a Computer Science degree has and thus it will enable you to develop your skills better.

OctavarIan wrote: »

Anyone can learn to write well.

No arguments here.

OctavarIan

karaokeman wrote: »

An Arts degree has much more essay writing and so fort than a Computer Science degree has and thus it will enable you to develop your skills better.

Arts degree essay writing is in a totally different league to traditional journalism writing. I'm not saying it's better or worse, because journalism writing is very formulaic and quite boring imo, but it's very very different. If you want to write novels or long magazine features then the verbose essay style will be beneficial, so long as it's technically sound, but for everything else it'll fail.

karaokeman

OctavarIan wrote: »

Arts degree essay writing is in a totally different league to traditional journalism writing. I'm not saying it's better or worse, because journalism writing is very formulaic and quite boring imo, but it's very very different.

True the writing styles taught are different but if the OP does an arts degree he can learn about formulaic writing when he does a course in journalism after. The arts degree will also give him an idea what he would like to write about.
As melekalikimaka puts it.

melekalikimaka wrote: »

1.arts degree, followed my masters in journo in dcu.

OctavarIan wrote: »

If you want to write novels or long magazine features then the verbose essay style will be beneficial, so long as it's technically sound, but for everything else it'll fail.

Novels don't specifically require a degree. Anyone can write one if they have experience writing long stories and describing things in detail. A degree would help but you can be successful in this area without one.

karaokeman

Another option would be a Media Studies degree, if thats the same thing as a Journalism degree???

Are you a 6th year now OP or have you started college and picked a course already?

Little_olivia

Would it be best to do an arts degree or a law degree? I'm also considering journalism and am completely lost.
I've had articles published before and done some radio work. I know this is what I want to do.

jb08668

Firstly you need to Self -introspect yourself about which career field you want to opt for and how can it be related to each other and where the career growth is much better than another, just study the aspects the details and then better opt for a subject.

beauty101

Little_olivia wrote: »

Would it be best to do an arts degree or a law degree? I'm also considering journalism and am completely lost.
I've had articles published before and done some radio work. I know this is what I want to do.

Speaking from current experience...

I did a diploma in Journalism and now I'm doing Arts (English) in UCD. I've had plenty of work published in magazines and newspapers in the mean time and I'm considering doing a masters in Journalism when I finish my degree.

My personal thoughts on this are:
a) You don't need a degree to be a Journalist
b) An Arts degree gives you more options
c) The experience of writing for a college newspaper is invaluable