Academic Program
The Master of Arts degree in journalism at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism is an intensive, three-semester program designed to prepare gifted graduate students for a wide variety of careers in the field of journalism.
This full-time program offers students a course of study that is both broad and deep, emphasizing the eternal verities of the journalistic profession while providing ample opportunities for specialization.
There can be no more dynamic environment in which to learn and work than New York City. The city is the media capital of the world, and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism is situated in its very heart.
Located in midtown Manhattan, the School is just one block from Times Square and next door to The New York Times. With dozens of media outlets within walking distance and the whole of New York City just a subway ride away, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism could not be more ideally located.
In addition to the plentiful resources of New York City, the School itself boasts state-of-the-art media technology and a superb faculty composed of industry professionals and veteran journalists who have chosen to bring their expertise to the classroom.
Students will have daily contact with working journalists, developing mentoring relationships and making the connections that will guide them both in and out of the classroom.
Students will also participate in professional internships across the city, gaining the hands-on experience that is so important during that first crucial job search.
Degree Requirements and Core Courses
The course of study for the M.A. degree in Journalism is challenging and requires full-time attendance. Students complete 45 units of course work in three semesters, participate in a comprehensive summer internship, and produce a substantial final or capstone project.
The curriculum is built upon a core of seven common courses, followed by a wide range of courses in different media formats and options for subject matter concentrations. The core courses stress the foundation skills and knowledge that all good journalists must have, including reporting, writing and editing skills, and analytic thinking needed to deal with complex subjects. Other core courses cover journalistic ethics and legal issues, broadcast fundamentals, and fundamentals of interactive media such as online journalism, multimedia presentation, web site design, and blogging.
Media Courses
All students learn the multimedia skills every journalist is expected to have in today’s converged newsroom. Students may concentrate in print, broadcast, or interactive journalism, but they are also free to mix and match media courses, depending on their interests and career goals. They may customize their media course schedule in the second and third semesters. However, keep in mind that some third-semester media courses have second-semester prerequisites: Interactive III requires that you have taken Interactive II; Television News Magazine Production requires that you have taken Craft of Journalism II – Broadcast; Narrative Journalism requires that you have taken Feature Writing.
Students get their media instruction inside the classroom and from professional writers, broadcasters, multimedia experts, and photographers who work one-on-one with students on their projects. These media coaches not only give individual guidance on course assignments but they help students draft pitches and get their work published or shown in media outlets beyond the School.
Subject Concentrations
In their second semester, students will choose a subject matter concentration, selecting from: Arts & Culture, Business & Economics, Health & Medicine, International, and Urban Reporting.
Students will take three courses in their subject concentration that build upon one another. However, they will also have the flexibility to take a course that interests them in another concentration or select from a handful of electives.
The purpose is to develop an expertise in an area that could be pursued following graduation. Once students develop the skills required to be an analytic journalist in one specialty area, those skills can be applied to covering any specialty or beat area in the future.
Capstone Project
To graduate, students must complete a “capstone” project – a professional-level piece of work – in any media format they choose. A broadcast piece will be at least a nine-minute segment prepared to air on CUNY TV. For the print format, it will be a publishable article of at least 3,000 words. An interactive project will be a major web site package that is multimedia and interactive or a new media product developed by the student. Print and new media capstone projects will be posted on the NYCity News Service web site operated by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
January Academy
Between the first and second semesters, the School offers a variety of optional enrichment courses for students who choose to take advantage of them. Examples include workshops in freelance writing, copy editing, travel reporting, food writing, covering personal finance, Excel for journalists, time management, and Flash.
Fourth Semester Option
All students have the option to stretch their studies into a fourth semester. They may choose to pursue this option for any of the following reasons:
- To take additional media courses or electives at the J-School that don’t fit into a three-semester program.
- To take related courses at other CUNY colleges. For instance, a student in the international concentration may want to study Arabic or Chinese at City College; someone in the J-School’s business & economics program may want to take MBA-level classes in the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College.
- To allow more time to complete their M.A. in Journalism degree requirements.
- To take part in an exchange program at a foreign journalism school.
Please note that students who pursue this option must pay full tuition for the extra semester.
Student Services
Students selected to take the road to advanced study at the Graduate School of Journalism will join some 3,700 others who study at CUNY's Graduate Center, all of them competitively selected from a large pool of qualified applicants. This student body, in the heart of New York City, has a remarkable range of backgrounds and interests. Evenly divided between men and women, it is one of the most diverse student bodies found in any American graduate institution, whether classified by age, ethnic background, or socioeconomic profile. Some arrive after years of professional experience, others are freshly minted graduates of public and private colleges throughout the United States and about 80 foreign countries.
The Graduate Center's vibrant campus is housed in a landmark building located just minutes by foot from the School of Journalism campus. J-School students will be able to take advantage of an array of student services offered by the Graduate Center, and will have access to a wide range of public events, including lectures, symposia, performances, and workshops.
Ethnic Diversity
Student diversity is encouraged to open up the top levels of academia to students from ethnically varied backgrounds. In particular, the Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity Programs (OEODP) offers social, academic, and financial support to historically underrepresented students. The office recruits locally, regionally, and nationally, consults with the Executive Officer and admissions committee of each academic program, and confers with the Financial Aid Office in efforts designed to increase access to doctoral studies at CUNY for students from underserved populations. To view the Graduate School of Journalism's most recent class profile, please visit:
http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/admissions/class-of-2010/
For more information about the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, please visit www.journalism.cuny.edu.
Travel Directions
Subway: A, C, E, 1, 2, 3, 7, N, R, Q, W, S (shuttle to Grand Central) all connect to Times Square stop.
College Contacts
Admission:
Stephen Dougherty, Director of Admissions & Student Affairs
Yahaira Castro, Associate Director of Admissions & Student Affairs
Colleen Marshall, Admissions/Outreach Counselor
(646) 758-7700
admissions@journalism.cuny.edu
Financial Aid:
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Office of Admissions and Student Affairs
(646) 758-7700
admissions@journalism.cuny.edu
For a listing of journalism related scholarships, please visit our website:
http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/admissions/scholarships/
