Goodbye UNC and journalism program, hello real world

I will be graduating this Saturday. Overall, my time in UNC’s journalism program allowed me to become a better writer. Most importantly, I learned how to write concise and clear.

I was highly encouraged by many professors in the journalism program to get an internship because they told me that employers are looking for experience as well as education; consequently, I had two internships. Last summer I interned with Focus on the Family’s Thriving Family magazine and learned what it takes to publish their monthly magazine. I also learned more about query letters and online magazines. I am in the middle of my second internship at Group Publishing’s Life Tree Café. Basically, I am doing investigative reporting to find newsworthy people and stories to incorporate into their programs.

All together, the lack of classes and teachers was frustrating with the journalism program; the program is just very small. I wish that the program had an emphasis for magazine writing. I took a magazine writing class last summer, but I feel like overall I was trained to write for a newspaper, which I don’t want to do. I don’t feel that I was prepared by UNC to get a job for a magazine.  

I did like that I had to take electives with the journalism major. This forced me to gain experience with other areas of journalism, which I am now thankful for. I also liked the variety of projects I did throughout all my JMC classes.