1. It's a great program:
Just about anything you can imagine doing in media, you can do at Medill (Northwestern's school of journalism). If you want to start a magazine, you can do that. If you want to make a documentary film, you can do that. If you want to start your own news website, you can do that. If you want to report in Chicago, you can do that. If you want to report in DC, you can do that. If you want to report in London, Dubai or Cairo, well, you have to fill out an application and pay for an extra semester, but there's at least a decent chance you can do that. It's like a smorsgasboard of media and if you're passionate about journalism, I can see how you'd be like a kid in a candy store there.
2. It's a large program:
This was a turn-off for me. Last year they had 90 students start in the fall. That seems like a heck of a lot for a master's program if you ask me. Maryland had fewer than half that. The current students Northwestern brought in to talk to us insisted that they still got as much individual attention as they could possibly want, but I'm skeptical. One of them said he had a class with 38 people in it, which is not my idea of graduate school. Even the open house seemed ridiculously crowded at times, especially when they brought all of us to downtown Chicago to check out the Medill newsroom there. On the one hand the size of the program helps Northwestern maintain a great professional network -- more grads out in the workforce make for more connections once you get out of school and start job hunting. But I don't like the idea of paying a bunch of money to be just another fish in a rather crowded pond.
3. It's a ridiculously expensive program:
Ah yes, the price. Truly one of the greatest sticker shock moments of my life when I saw it. The all-inclusive estimate for the 12-month program (tuition, fees, room and board) comes to... wait for it... wait for it... about $83,000. That's right, $83,000. Have you picked your jaw up off the floor yet? I was awarded a $20,000 scholarship, which is nice and all, but the rest of my financial aid package consisted of four different loans totaling about $60,000. Loans that have interest rates of up to 7.5 percent. I was told that teaching assistantships are not possible at Medill ("Our program is too rigorous. We just don't think our students could handle it"). Taking out that much in loans seems crazy. I think that much debt would just be an absolute crushing weight on me. I mean, it's not like I'm getting a master's in chemical engineering. Even in the best of times it would not be easy to pay off those kind of loans with a journalism job. Right now, with the economy uncertain and the industry in flux, it seems like an exceedingly risky proposition. Especially for someone like me, who can't exactly go get a construction job if this whole journalism thing doesn't work out.
Conclusion: I like Northwestern a lot. It's in the Midwest, which feels comfortable. It's very close to my brother, sister-in-law and two adorable little nieces (see photo below), which is enticing. The campus is beautiful and it's right on Lake Michigan. The journalism program is globally renowned, with highly visible alums and all kinds of exciting opportunities. But the size of the program left me feeling like there's not many personal touches. I didn't get the same warm reception I got at Maryland. At times during the open house it honestly felt like Medill was a journalist factory, just trying to churn out as many alums as possible. Then there's the price, which makes me think that the only people who can honestly afford to go to Medill are the ones whose last names are on some of the buildings on campus. I've been brought up to not spend money I don't have. I just can't justify going into that kind of debt. I think I have basically ruled out Northwestern.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment