Journalism is a hands-on, professionally oriented major that involves gathering, interpreting, distilling, and reporting information to audiences through a variety of media. Journalism majors learn about every conceivable kind of Journalism (including magazine, newspaper, online journalism, photojournalism, broadcast journalism, and public relations).
That’s not all, though. In addition to specialized training in writing, editing, and reporting, Journalism requires a working knowledge of history, culture, and current events. You’ll more than likely be required to take a broad range of courses that runs the gamut from statistics to the hard sciences to economics to history. There will also be a lot of lofty talk about professional ethics and civic responsibility as well – and you can bet you’ll be tested on it. To top it all off, you’ll probably work on the university newspaper or radio station, or perhaps complete an internship with a magazine or a mass media conglomerate.
We know it goes without saying but you’ll also have to write an awful lot of articles if you decide to make Journalism your major. This is true even if you ultimately want to work in radio or television. If you don’t enjoy writing, you probably won’t like Journalism very much. Finally, take note: at universities with elite Journalism programs, time-consuming weed-out courses abound and you must be formally accepted into the Journalism program, which can be ridiculously difficult and competitive.