Are journalism degrees actually useless? (1 Viewer)

[TheDelusionist]

Would you recommend doing it as a double degree to cover myself
Or steer clear of it all together
Basically just dump anything you know about Journalism degrees on me

 

[Zen2613]

Depends what you mean by useless.

There are a LOT of degrees that don't lead directly to jobs in the field (Arts, Journalism, Communications etc.)
And then there are degrees that do lead directly to a field which are more or less engineering, medicine, accounting, actuarial studies etc.

But society today is so corrupt that there are a lot of jobs that just require you have a degree in something, whether it be journalism, medecine co-op or gender studies.
So getting a degree in journalism is useless in the sense that it doesn't determine a path for you or anything like STEM.
However, it is still useful in many job settings due to progressive credentialism (shame but true).

So it's up to you, you can go to uni for 3 years, study journalism hard and get a degree that will put you in the same boat as everyone else.
Or you can go into STEM, study hard and know that you'll get something out of it.
Or you can skip Uni, and take complete responsibility of your own learning.

For journalism, if you have the idea of become a journalist, whatever you do, start a blog. Do what journalists do, write about current issues.
Uni will teach you all the theoretical stuff, but in the real world no one cares about that if you can't even start a blog. Do journalist's need a degree in journalism ? If not, why do you want one ?

I'm a math major, so I'd solve the problem like this. Either you study Journalism or you study in STEM or you don't go to Uni. Look at what you'll have to do in each scenario, what the costs will be and then weigh that up against what you'd think you'd get in the end.

As for the double degree idea, if want to learn journalism for the sake of learning, why not self-teach yourself ? If there's something in the degree itself you want, then I'd recommend postponing it until later. Get a degree in STEM or don't get a degree at all, and then once you've settled down in the world, then go do a masters or whatever for intellectual fulfilment. Beware though, once you go into STEM, you're gonna be pretty busy. It's not lucrative for no reason after all...

Personally, I don't think journalism is worth it, but it's up to you.

 

[StudiousStudent]

getting a degree in journalism is useless in the sense that it doesn't determine a path for you or anything like STEM.
However, it is still useful in many job settings due to progressive credentialism (shame but true).

So it's up to you, you can go to uni for 3 years, study journalism hard and get a degree that will put you in the same boat as everyone else.
Or you can go into STEM, study hard and know that you'll get something out of it.

For journalism, if you have the idea of become a journalist, whatever you do, start a blog. Do what journalists do, write about current issues.

I'm a math major, so I'd solve the problem like this. Either you study Journalism or you study in STEM or you don't go to Uni. Look at what you'll have to do in each scenario, what the costs will be and then weigh that up against what you'd think you'd get in the end.

As for the double degree idea, if want to learn journalism for the sake of learning, why not self-teach yourself ? If there's something in the degree itself you want, then I'd recommend postponing it until later. Get a degree in STEM or don't get a degree at all, and then once you've settled down in the world, then go do a masters or whatever for intellectual fulfilment. Beware though, once you go into STEM, you're gonna be pretty busy. It's not lucrative for no reason after all...

Personally, I don't think journalism is worth it, but it's up to you.

You're projecting your own personal ideals onto the OP, and that's not fair. If you are so interested in STEM, study it yourself instead of directing other people to it. Journalism is nothing like STEM, so why on earth would she be interested in it?

If you have a look at whirlpool forums, the majority of STEM graduates are complaining that they are unable to secure themselves an interview, let alone a job.

OP, journalism is a great degree. Most graduates across fields will take a while to find employment (unless you are in the health field). Do not study something you have no interest in.

If you are humanities inclined, a great degree to consider would be The University of Queensland's dual BCommunications/BA (here)
They'd compliment each other nicely and increase employment prospects. Obtaining them from a Go8 uni would be favoured, too.

 

[Amundies]

If you have a look at whirlpool forums, the majority of STEM graduates are complaining that they are unable to secure themselves an interview, let alone a job.

That's because the STEM grads on the forum are the ones complaining about not being able to secure a job. The ones that did secure a job don't usually go to the forum and say "Yo guys, I got a job", so forums will generally be one-sided. I agree that getting a job in STEM isn't as easy as what some people make it out to be, but it definitely isn't bad enough that the "majority of STEM grads aren't able to get a job/interview".

That said, you're quite right. "Get a degree in STEM or don't get a degree at all" is definitely the wrong attitude. If you can do a double degree, then do it with something that you enjoy. Or perhaps if you know what field you want to be a journalist in, do a double degree in that e.g. politics, environmental science, etc.

 

[Shadowdude]

I have two friends who did Journalism degrees - one of them works at a PR firm doing their social media-ing, and the other is doing her Masters in Social Work at UMelb

They're both awesome bartenders and lovely, generally awesome people who I love in a totally platonic way, very much <3