Earlier this year, I embarked on an adventure of sorts. After three years working at the small, community newspaper in my hometown, I had had enough. I needed something more. I needed a sense of gratification. Although that was something that was certainly a part of my job as a small town journalist covering everything from crime, government, community news and religion, I began to feel that there was something more out there for me. Something bigger. And thus, I applied for graduate school at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
The scene was familiar to me, having completed an undergraduate degree in magazine journalism just a few short years earlier, but two months into the graduate school process, I found myself questioning the expectations I’d had for myself to complete a master’s degree with a thesis and then pursue a Ph.D. and become a tenured professor. What more could there be for a journalist who’d become jaded with the current state of the industry?
Along came Patricia Thomas. I didn’t know what to think when I first met her. She had the sort of pizzazz and enthusiasm that catches a jaded journalist like myself off guard. She approached me early on in the program about considering the Health and Medical Journalism specialization degree and initially, I had no interest. But she got into my head. Now, two months into the program, I’ve opened my eyes up to a whole world of possibilities outside of the world of traditional journalism or the academic route. I could work as an independent journalist who was knowledgeable about health and medical topics. I could write a book. I could write for major publications. I could teach the craft of journalism, without the need for research-based publication, to true community college students and find my own niche in this convoluted, difficult media world.
Now, as I am faced with the decision of choosing between a Master’s Degree with a thesis in Mass Media Studies or a Master’s Degree without a thesis with a specialization in Health and Medical Journalism, I am becoming increasingly more open to the idea. I guess it has to do with my journalistic sense of doubt and questioning, but I’m still not 100 percent sure in my decision. But I’m maybe 95 percent sure that it’s a smart, practical decision. Afterall, any decision that doesn’t require more debt from student loans is a smart one in this economy.
So, what’s in it for me? That’s the question I ask myself. Thomas has a long list of contacts whom she’s garnered through her years and years of work within the field. She’s got a great attitude and ability to edit her students’ works, as I recently learned from the editing of a piece I turned in for her Graduate Newsroom course. She offers her students the opportunity to travel to conferences, meet people and network and find their own path in the niche. Now, if I can just garner an assistantship to carry me through the second year of my degree program and a badass internship at a major media institution such as ProPublica, Newsweek/The Daily Beast, GOOD Magazine, or even the likes of the New York Times, the AJC or the L.A. Times. Beyond those objectives, I need a strong footing in “entreprenuerial journalism,” a skill base for being an independent journalist, and I also need a strong skill base of technology skills such as webpage design/app design. Those are my goals as I take a leap of faith into the degree program.
I’ve sent off a detailed list of questions to Pat to help me in officially making this decision. We’ll see what she has to say, but I’m hopeful that she’ll provide the realistic perspective I need to help me in this decision. This blog is a documentation of my thought process and progress as I go forward and, hopefully, will provide me with an outlet to think out loud about my goals, wants and needs for the future. Onward I go on this most curious adventure.
A Curious Adventure 