College Education--What Degree?

[nadopix]

I'm a Marine and will be returning to college (again) next fall. I'm

interested in becoming a photojournalist, and was wondering what should I

study/major in to help me along? I realize nothing substitutes for practical

experience. I do plan to hone my skills as an intern someday, but as long as

I'm going to college I figured I'd ask. I've read some posts (on this site and

others) that say a PJ degree is a must; others, something else. I was thinking

of a Political Science degree (kind of what I wanted to study anyway) and

maybe a history minor (and/or German--always wanted to continue studying

Deutsch). Any thoughts?

[pico]

Killer degrees - a PJ major from U of Missiouri, Columbia and a minor in Political Science,

Anthropology or History.

 

Welcome back and thanks for being in service for the rest of us.

[wigwam jones]

Ooh-Rah, Brother. Semper Fi.

 

Political Science is worthwhile, but don't let 'em turn your skull to mush with that nonsense they teach to slimy civilians these days. Other than that, I have no idea. But welcome home and as pico says, thank you.

[cenelsonfoto]

I got yer slimy civilian hanging, Bill. Open up.

[wigwam jones]

Like I haven't heard *that* before. Promises, promises.

[robert_m_johnson]

I just found this site that posts jobs having to do with journalism.

 

http://www.journalismjobs.com/index.cfm

 

I would say to make sure that you hone your writing skills along with your camera

skills.

[john falkenstine]

Study Law and get a Juris Doctor before becoming a photographer.

[nick_kirkpatrick]

hello, I go to Corcoran college of art and design, i am right now i am working to get a BFA in

photojournalism. its a good school if you can deal with artsy fartsy people. but if you want to

go to a university the best for photojournalism is western Kentucky university and University

of Missouri. i chose corcoran because i did want to be a machine, at those universities they

tend to train you to shoot like they want you to and all of the graduates tent to shoot the

same, all end up doing the same. some of the greatest photographers didnt even get a

photography degree. For example Salgado was an economist, steve mccury didnt even finish

school. hope that helped,

-nick

[sknowles]

Do you want to be a fulltime photographer doing a diversity of work or one focusing on

specific personal or professional interests? I ask this to discern if you want to be a

photographer or use photography. To be the former, go for the photography or arts degrees

and take journalism as a minor or second degree, and to be the later, focus on your interests

and add photography and journalism in the program for minors or second degrees.

 

It's just some thoughts. If photography is your passion, go for it, if it's with other things and

using photography to express it, then go for the other degrees and add photography. Good

luck.

[nadopix]

Thank you all for the advice. Scott, I think you hit the nail on the head. I've always been a history/poli sci/English guy--and I want to continue that with photography.

[graham_line]

The 300,000-circulation daily paper I work for employs 22 news photographers. It's safe to say that no two of them arrived here the same way. There are a couple from Western Kentucky, one by way of Columbia, Mo., two who did degrees at Ohio U. One or two have no degree at all. There's at least one degree in economics. The common denominators are curiosity, initiative, a good eye, and the legendary "ability to work well with others." Interestingly, all of them are strong personalities but also very patient people, which ain't alway the case with photographers.

 

A solid four-year degree in the fields you mention will be a big help. You may not be interested in newspaper work (it's changing a lot) but most of our people have done two or three internships and built up a good portfolio before they land here.