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Assuming I was admitted. Rank these schools in order with strength of communication/journalism in mind:

Boston U
U of Southern California
NYU
University of Texas - Austin
UCLA
UC Berkeley
Barnard

(P.S. I realize there are some very good communications schools not on the list such as Syracuse and Northwestern. These are the schools that I applied to for a variety of factors. I equally all like these schools and I have no "first" choice. By doing this, I hope to distinguish the schools I should focus on more)

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 01:00 am: Edit

I'm in the journalism field, but can't rank the schools you listed except to say that I don't know why Barnard is on the list since it doesn't have a J school. I'm actually surprised that you have not included any of the schools that are regarded as the very top in journalism: U North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Northwestern, Missouri. I just don't know enough about the schools that you listed to venture a ranking.

By Musefinity (Musefinity) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 02:54 am: Edit

Um, like Northstarmom said I don't know that much about these schools but I hear that (of that list) Boston University and USC are some of the best.

But seriously, where's UNC and Syracuse?

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 12:23 pm: Edit

Of your list, BU, NYU and USC are the only three usually included in rankings of "top 10 schools for journalism/communications." As Northstarmom pointed out, Barnard doesn't have a journalism program at the undergrad level (perhaps you are applying to Barnard because of Columbia's graduate program in journalism?). The other schools are fine but some of them focus more on mass communications than journalism per se. If that's not a problem for you, they're decent schools for a communications major.

By Sac (Sac) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 02:41 pm: Edit

UCLA has an undergraduate communications major, which is huge, and not specifically geared to journalism. (Do you know the difference? Communications can also include the study of the media and public relations, while journalism focuses on reporting, writing, and editing).

UC Berkeley has an excellent school of journalism but, like Columbia's, it is a graduate school. There is an undergraduate mass communications major, I believe (again, the study of media), and there are a few undergraduate journalism courses.

If what you are interested in is really journalism, just pick a school where you can take some undergraduate classes in it while majoring in something else, work on the school paper or tv or radio station, look for internships. I'd say the only exception would be, if you are really sure that is what you want, Northwestern, which really trains working journalists as undergraduates.

By Tinkerbell (Tinkerbell) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 04:14 pm: Edit

What about Emerson?

By Emyh (Emyh) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 06:10 pm: Edit

I am not particularly aiming for a journalism major. I want to work in the communications fields definitely, but I'm not exactly sure where (journalism is a strong possibility though).

I chose these schools for a variety of reasons: proximity to a large city, I'm personally more comfortable on the East/West Coast, diversity, etc, etc. I care for a strong communications program as well but I really wanted the schools to have other strong programs in other areas that I have an interest in.

And some of the schools that I visited (Syracuse, Northwestern, etc) I didn't really like at all.

By Emyh (Emyh) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 06:10 pm: Edit

oops double post

By Emyh (Emyh) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 06:12 pm: Edit

I am not particularly aiming for a journalism major. I want to work in the communications fields definitely, but I'm not exactly sure where (journalism is a strong possibility though).

I chose these schools for a variety of reasons: proximity to a large city, I'm personally more comfortable on the East/West Coast, diversity, etc, etc. I care for a strong communications program as well but I really wanted the schools to have other strong programs in other areas that I have an interest in.

And some of the schools that I visited (Syracuse, Northwestern, etc) I didn't really like at all.

And my mom made me apply to UT.

By Cruella (Cruella) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 01:13 pm: Edit

Top Journalism schools'''
U of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia
Syracuse
Indiana U at Bloomington
U of Florida
U of N. Carolina-Chapel Hill
U of Kansas
Ohio State
Northwestern
U of Minnesota

If you're serious you'll look at the schools on that list.
Ta ta...