My friend from Vietnam has recently been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, and intends to study a graduate program in journalism. I’m not exactly clear on the process, but they’ve allowed her to choose from only four schools:
Oregon
Missouri
Michigan State
Indiana
She actually requested UC Berkeley, but that wasn’t offered her. Can anyone give any advice about which school she should choose?
Missouri and Indiana have good reputations for graduate programs in journalism.
I don’t know if they can provide precisely the information you’re looking for, but you could browse around on the SPJ SDX web site.
I was a newspaper reporter/editor for over 20 years. Missouri is, hands down, the top pick among those you listed. The Pulitzers endowed the j-school. I have worked shoulder-to-shoulder with some Mizzou grads and found them to be among the best in the field. Northwestern, Brown and U of Washington are in the same league.
Mizzou and Indiana, definitely.
I went to Indiana (though not for Journalism), and their program – along with their student paper (which is where I decided to do journalism) – is top-flight. After I transferred to a different school and into journalism, I heard all about Mizzou (mostly jealous rants), and now that I’m out doing internships and whatnot, they’re definitely well-regarded. Michigan State I haven’t heard as much about, and Oregon almost nothing, but those two could be a matter of proximity.
I’d recommend a visit to the campuses, if possible, so your friend can pick the one that most suits her. I’ve never been to Mizzou, but I know Bloomington, Ind. is pretty welcoming of international students.
Don’t forget Columbia.
That’s not a choice this student is being given, though. I agree that Missouri is the best school out of the options she has.
That’s interesting. I heard from someone else that his Vietnamese friend had dropped out of Valpraiso because she couldn’t handle Indiana racism. Still, that’s one case, and a different school.
Indiana as a whole is probably not the most tolerant place in the US, and even parts of Bloomington might not be as accepting as the campus, but my experience was that the college itself and the parts of town accustomed to dealing with college kids were pretty diverse – with different regions and cultures inside and outside the US. Being a white kid from the Midwest, I felt like I was in the minority (though I don’t know if I ACTUALLY was – I suspect not). Plus it was the first time I ever had Thai food.
I’m definitely prejudiced here – I have a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Missouri. By far it and Indiana are the top two on the list.
One advantage to Missouri is that they’ve had such a good reputation for so long that they’ve had a lot of foreign students go through the school. They may be more experienced in helping foreign students navigate the red tape that comes with any graduate program.
I don’t know whether Indiana would (or would not) be able to say the same.
I go to Mizzou now and my roommate is in the j-school. The name means something in journalism. One of my roommate’s current professors wrote for Rolling Stone, which is kinda neat I guess. I came here for the j school but changed my mind. The undergrad program is hard to get though. We’ve got an NBC affiliate, a newspaper, news magazine, a radio station too I think.
It was funny when I went to a journalism meeting freshman year for all us kids that got early admittance to it. They asked the people from out of state/country to raise their hands and 90% did, I swear.
It’s a great school but gosh Columbia is boring. But if your friend is working for a grad degree in journalism here they won’t have time to notice.
I have never been to Bloomington yet, I’m actually going up to visit next month, but I’m looking at their MLIS program. From what I hear, it’s a great school all around. I am friends with a prof. here who started out teaching at Indiana U. when he first got his PhD. He talks about it like it’s the greatest place on earth. My old boss dated a guy from Bloomington for a few years, and she said it’s a wonderful place. Pretty accepting for different cultural backgrounds and stuff, but once you get outside of town about 30 minutes, it’s somewhat more hillbilly-like.
Just thought I’d throw that info in…
Brendon
:smack: Not Brown, Columbia! What the hell made me say “Brown”!? Gad, I hate getting old!
My down-the-street neighbor is the Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism. Nice guy - great writer (he also is a staff contributor to The New Yorker)…its fun to hang out at block parties and here the latest goings-on…
It is one of the perks to living just outside NYC, I guess…
Best of luck to your friend with their choice…
I would encourage him to attend the best broadcast journalism program available.
Traditional print journalism has all the health of the buggy whip business circa 1905. Whether online print can halt the slide is debatable.
Missouri is supposed to have one of the very best journalism programs in the country, although I don’t know if the reputation comes from the graduate or undergraduate programs, or both. And since Carnac comments on print journalism, I think Missouri was supposed to be particularly strong in the broadcast department.
Oregon’s program is well-thought-of.
JBA holder here. Of those four, Missouri. Its undergraduate journalism program is considered one of the best in the country; I assume its graduate program is highly regarded too.
A relevant question that hasn’t been asked or answered: Is your “friend from Vietnam” planning on returning to Vietnam, after her Fulbright? What are her plans?
*Our good friends at Wikipedia remind us: "The media of Vietnam are tightly regulated by the government, which views the media as “the voice of the party and of the masses” and sees its main function as being “to propagate the party’s lines and policies.”
First and foremost, the media are a tool for government information and propaganda. Though market competition has caused the Vietnamese media to embrace popular culture, newspapers, radio and television are still compelled to reflect on the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism and the ideals of Ho Chi Minh."*