Columbia Graduate School of Journalism Day 72

Hey blogsphere!

Another day at Columbia Journalism school and another day of long hours of work. I'm on hour 15 right now. I came in for Video 2 training at 9:00 a.m. and have been working on my assignments since then. I got out of video training at 6:00 p.m. ate dinner and have been back working since then.

My first day of video training was awesome! My professor is great and liked my first script that we wrote today. My health and Science class was Monday and I loved that class too! I really feel like I'm getting my money's worth at this school currently.

Its interesting how the writing style changes from different medium to different medium in journalism. I don't think Broadcast Journalism gets enough credit for transitioning the words to fit powerful images, but that's a story for another time.

How about some practical advice?

Find a professor you like, build a network of people you trust, and work your butt of from there. Don't feel like your going to like everything your doing in school, who does? Just do what you love and what you have a passion for and everything else in your life will find its way there.

More practical advice?

If you do graduate and decide to attend graduate school, work in between the time of undergraduate and graduate school. I found myself getting a little rusty on my 8 month layover and felt like I should've worked to stay sharp.

The most practical advice?

Think logically and go with your gut. Your usually right about what you know, not what you assume.

Columbia Graduate School of Journalism Day 63

Well I haven't posted in my Life after Graduation blog in a while. Things have changed in my life! I got accepted into Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Honored to follow in my father's footsteps of going to an Ivy League University.

Currently students are in the third month of our ten month program. We finished reporting class and our first set of essential classes.

I can't be more excited because I wasn't fond of reporting or covering Chinatown in New York. The language barrier was a difficult obstacle. Chinatown is also very ethnocentric so I received some crazy looks indicating I didn't belong there. However, I'm from the south so this was nothing new to me. I just wanted to get my assignment done effectively. The ethnocentricism and language barrier was frustrating and compounded with my disinterest in writing professionally for a newspaper publication deterred my drive. In the wise word of my sister, "Your not going to like every class in school."

So moving forward I'm taking what I can from the experience and not taking anything for granted. However,  I will certainly voice my concerns of the new curriculum in the teacher evaluation. That is a story for another day.

We have a week break for our master's projects. My master's project is a hybrid between video and a written paper. 4 to 6 minute video and 2,000 to 3,000 words. My topic is consumer habits of African Americans in correlation with socioeconomic status. My master's advisor has been giving excellent advice and will also be my video storytelling professor in the Spring.

On the 28th we begin our written word class and image and sound module class. My written word is covering health and science with Barbara Kantrowitz. My image and sound module is Video 2 with June Cross. I'm super ecstatic about combining video with covering health and science. My ultimate goal is to combine science journalism with videography. Check out some of my video work on my other blog http://hawkspot1.blogspot.com. This is the most excited I have been since I started at  graduate school.

Today is also my Sister's birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!

On to my advice for future undergraduate college graduates. There are many ways to be successful coming out of school. I have seen many of my classmates attain jobs and do what they really want to do immediately out of school. First I want to complement the drive and dedication of my peers who already have jobs in such a difficult market. Much respect to these individuals.

I took a different route in my journey. Many people think going to Graduate school for Journalism after already having a undergraduate degree is pointless. People have stated taking on the debt of Graduate school is not smart and will put you in a trap.

I'm going to be the first to tell you this is a lie. I'm living in the city of my dreams, in the number one market for journalism, at the best University in the city, and the only Graduate School of Journalism in the Ivy League. I'm cultivating resources and networks that cannot be duplicated anywhere else. I'm specializing in a niche field which many media companies are pouring tons of money into. I'm looking to triple my expected undergraduate salary when I leave graduate school.

This has been a long journey for me and a lot of people in my life given me tremendous opportunities, I will never forget them or take those opportunities for granted.

The best advice I can give you is follow your dreams and create something that doesn't exist! There is not another you on this planet so take advantage of your own creative advantage.

Welp, I'm off my stool for today. I'm about to go hoop at Columbia Gym and then get back to work. Oh yeah, the Knicks practiced at our gym on Sunday check out the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw98rWOFDSY&sns=fb to exclusive footage from RatNowNews, don't forget to subscribe!

Catch me tomorrow for more advice. Don't forget to follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/40_hawk