Journalism school is pretty dumb. Right?

OK.

Editor's note: Dickie is aware he just put two out of the five of you asleep with that opening question. We tried to dissuade him from writing about a topic that most people find less interesting than rock collections, but he flipped us the bird, polished off his whiskey, and went back to the typwriter. Alas.

J-school is a choice I've grappled with for a while, before arriving at the conclusion that it was the right choice for me. 'Probably as close as I'll get to dealing directly with an unexpected pregnancy.

And I can certainly see both sides of the argument: Why sit around is a classroom playing psuedo-intellectual and talking about journalism? How conceited would you have to be to think that classroom instruction entitles you to a job more than someone who's actually hit the pavement and done it?

I'm a J-school grad student, and I couldn't agree more.

Well, my buddy Brian has a recent piece in the New York Observer (you have to scroll down) exploring the inherent shortcomings of "pretend journalism" of J-School at Columbia.

I couldn't agree more. [snooty snicker]

The best part? Brian has a sweet job writing online for Campaign Desk - the election coverage analysis branch of the Columbia Journalism Review. The blog entry linking his article was appropriately headed "Risking my meal ticket." Brass balls, my friend, brass balls. Excellent.

I was pretty tickled, and a little surprised to see his piece - beyond just the obvious of writing an expose on your current employer.

Back in April Cronkette and I flew out to New York and spent the weekend with Brian, who generously put us up in his efficiency studio. (Rent rates in Manhattan: an entirely different post for another time.)

Brian let me stay with him while I was checking out Columbia. 'Turns out I'd been accepted to the School of Journalism.

(I know, I know - it never made sense to me either.)

I mean, seriously - if I can get into Columbia University then that's strike one against the program right there.

But what an honor. So of course I hopped a plane across the country to check it out. Columbia. Friggin amazing. What a place. How many moments in life do you get to stand on a campus like that and say: "I made it. I got here"?

But you could just tell...they were a little full of it.

I had just come from Open House #1 at another certain university in the [gasp!] Midwest. There, the emcee was pretty friendly and down-to-earth. He didn't have to stand up at a podium and boast ad nauseum about the prestigious tradition of the school. 'No history lesson on the life and times of Joseph Pulitzer. Instead, he let the program - and the numbers - do the talking.

When I was in New York, I didn't want to come clean with Brian about how underwhelmed I was by Columbia's program - and how strange that felt.

(I mean seriously - how much of an asshole do I sound like saying I was "underwhelmed" by Columbia?? Good lord, who the fuck am I? What's next, do I reject Yale Law? How 'bout med school at Johns Hopkins? Are those my safeties? Christ I'm dumb...)

So anyways, I smiled when I read Brian's article subtly tearing them a new one. And, as an enrolled student at that other J-school, I would take his article one step further and compare it to that certain university situated just north of the Chicago city limits.

So Brian, this one's for you. Consider it a nod of agreement and simultaneously a defense of that other place I chose.

1. Quarters, not semesters. Small detail, right? But Columbia floods all of its 200 admitted students into the program in the Fall - then unleashing them all on the city of New York at the same time.

As Brian notes, city officials cringe and expect the usual deluge of Columbia students every year. It's just as dependable as Christmas. (Or Hannukah, for my one Jewish reader.)

Northwes - er - that other school has about the same number of grad students, but they enroll on three different tracks throughout the year, on the quarter system. Both schools are only one year. In that limited amount of time, would you rather have four quarters to play with or two semesters?

2. The News Service. The News Service. Again, The - News - Service. We work out of an actual, legit newsroom in Downtown Chi-town. Sure, we're grad students, but when we call a source we can ID ourselves as members of the Medill News Service, which means our stuff has a pretty good chance of being picked up by one of our regional daily or weekly clients. And people recognize that.

Columbia students get to bring their articles back to their profs. They've got an amazing faculty panel, though. But still, you basically get a pat on the head.

We get clips.

(By the way, your first quarter at the "other" university you basically get pats on the head from your profs too, so that's what I'm doing now. But I can't imagine that being my whole year, with nowhere to go from there, and I wonder what they must be thinking over at Columbia.)

3. ...And more clips. We have the option of a DC semester, where we're assigned, one-on-one with a client paper from somewhere outside the Beltway and we serve as their DC correspondent. Pretty f-n sweet.

4. Oh yeah - in my program you have the option of a quarter overseas working out of a bureau - AP, Bloomberg, Reuters, etc. For example, I've got my sights on a quarter in Cuba, working for the AP (but don't hold me to that...that's a long way's off.)

So Brian, I'd say this other school's program is more impressive, if not quite as prestigious, and the perfect way for a guy like me to get my foot in the door. Hopefully get my foot in the door.

And I think I'll end with this email correspondence I had with the Columbia J-School's director of admissions, which convinced me I'd made the right choice:


From: Dickie C
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 9:08 PM
To: R. McD
Subject: Many thanks

Dear R. McD,

Well the deadline has come and gone...I had a very tough choice between Columbia and another top program - an unexpected, wonderful blessing, but a heartbreakingly tough choice nonetheless. If I had it my way I would have chosen both schools. I was excited about the distinct possiblities both schools had to offer, but in the end I could only sign with one.

This decision doesn't diminish the immense pride I feel at having been accepted to Columbia. It's an incredible vote of confidence I'll carry with with me not just next year, but my entire life. I was so impressed with Columbia - my very first visit over the open house weekend. I was especially blown away by the faculty panel. I was sincerely honored and deeply humbled to have been given the opportunity, and I still consider my choice a win-win. Not that that made the choice any easier!

Please extend my thanks to the entire Admissions staff - I'm truly honored.

take care,

Dickie E. Cronkite

------------------------------------------------

Dickie:

I will assume you meant to say that you are not attending our school?

R. McD
Director of Admissions & Financial Aid
Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University
New York City, New York 10027
www.jrn.columbia.edu/admissions

Names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent, but otherwise that's a pure cut/paste out of my email account.

'Nuff said.