Listen to a conversation between a student and his faculty adviser.
Hi, Steve, I schedule this appointment, cause it has been a while since we touched base.
I know, I have been very busy. A friend of mine works on the school paper.He asks me if I would like to try to reporting so I did and I really love it.
Hey... that's sounds great!
Yeah... the first article I wrote, it was profile of the chemistry professor_ the one who was the named teacher of the year.My article ran on the front page.When I saw my name, I mean my byline in print, I was hooked.Now I know this is what I want to do - be a reporter.
Isn't it great to discover something that you really enjoy?And I read that article too. It was very good.
To be honest, the articles got a lot of editing. In fact I barely recognized a couple of paragraphs.But the editor explained why the changes were made.I learned a lot and my second article didn't need nearly as many changes.
Sound like you got a real knack for this.
Yeah... anyway, I am glad you schedule this meeting because I want to change my major to journalism now.
Um... the university doesn't offer major in journalism.
Oh no...
But...
I... I mean... should I transfer to another school, or major in English?
Er... wait a minute. Let me explain why the major isn't offered.Editors at the newspapers... editors... um... I mean when you apply for a reporting job, editors look at the two things: they want to see clips, you know, some of your published articles; they also want you to try out. They'll give you an assignment like... covering a press conference or some other event, then see if you can craft the story about it, accurately, on deadline.
So they don't even to look at my major?
It is not that they don't look at it... it is... well, having a degree in something other than journalism should actually work to your advantage.
How?
Most journalists specialized these days. They only write about science or business or technology for example.Is there a type of reporting you think you may like to specialize then?
Well... I think it can be really cool to cover the Supreme Court.I mean... their decision affects so many people.
That is really a goal worth striving for.So, why not continue major in political science?And as electives, you could take some Pre-Law classes like constitutional Law, and as for you work on the student newspaper paper, maybe they let you cover some local court cases once that the student and professor here would want to read about.
Do you know of any?
I do, actually. There is case involving this computer software program that one of our professors wrote.The district courts decide in if the university is entitle to any of the professors' profits.
Wow... I will definitely follow up on that!