My grad school choice

Last week I turned down Columbia University, arguably the top name in journalism instruction. Am I crazy? Perhaps. But given the value I'll get at the University of Maryland - the school I chose over Columbia - perhaps I'm crazy like a fox living a cushy life under a backyard deck in Olathe, Kansas.



Maryland made my decision quite a bit easier late in the game. The Terps offered me a fellowship that will pretty much cover all the tuition. The only condition: that I start in July. So I said, "Gee, let me think... um, SURE." Frankly, I was pretty intimidated by the idea of taking out a bunch of loans to get a journalism degree, so that was a nice load off my mind. But it isn't the only reason I chose Maryland.

After talking to the dean there, I learned that I'll be able to test out of at least one, and possibly two, of the early courses that seemed a lot like ones I took at KU. So that pretty much addresses my main concern with the Terps' academic program. By starting in the summer I'll also be able to finish in less than a year (read: before I'm 30), which is pretty awesome.

Columbia's a great school, but I think I may have been more drawn to the idea of a Columbia degree than a Columbia education. The Maryland program is more flexible. I'll be able to cover a number of different topics and maybe even take a sports reporting course taught by Kevin Blackistone (that name means something to ESPN addicts like myself). Maryland's got all kinds of great teachers. They recently lost a couple of well-known faculty members, but the program is still littered with Pulitzer winners. It's known for producing good writers.

Yes, it would have been amazing to live in New York for a year, but the DC area is nothing to sneeze at. Yes, Columbia's professional network is pretty much peerless, with alums at basically every major media outlet. But Maryland's network reaches far and wide too, and given that I already feel like I have a pretty good relationship with the dean there, I think I'll be in a better position to access that network. In the end, that was a big part of what sold me on Maryland: the people. Not that the people at Columbia and Northwestern weren't great too, but I just felt like I connected with the profs and administrators I met at Maryland more.

The goal is still to get a full-time reporting job and if that comes along in the next month I'd have to rethink my plans. But right now I'm prepping to become a Terp in July. And I'm pretty psyched about it.