Inside UC Berkeley’s Journalism School

Please excuse my absence from Meridian. I’ve decided to apply to UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism for Fall 2010 and I’m frantically trying to get every thing done by the due date on Dec. 1. Some of you may be wondering how I came to this decision after declaring that I wanted to hold off on graduate study until I really got my feet wet in the field so let’s back track to bring about my thought process.

The idea was put back into my head by a conversation between Will and I that went something like this:

I had pretty much written off the idea because I hadn’t taken the GRE, but when Will informed me that Berkeley just dropped their requirement this year, the thought seemed much more within reach. A few other schools, namely Columbia, hasn’t required the GRE in years.

Will went on to say that he was coming up north and wanted to sit in on some J school classes at Berkeley and invited me to tag along. The idea was genius. Let’s sneak into journalism school to get some free education and a glimpse of what it would be like to go there.

The view of UC Berkeley as you drive up to campus. Photo: Jon Loo on Flickr

So we messaged a few professors whose classes we wanted to observe, they gave us the okay and we showed up to the brown shingled building in time for class to begin.

Will and I first attended “Visual Story Telling” with Ken Light and Mimi Chakarova in which six students workshopped the photo essays they were working on for their final projects. I was amazed at the 1 to 3 teacher-to-student ratio and the bits of wisdom strewn throughout the class.

“It’s all about lines and colors and your edges,” Chakarova said as the class looked at a student’s photo of a bride standing in the middle of a circle of applause. “You don’t even hear the sound anymore you’re so entranced in the moment.”

Next I went to Michael Pollan’s “Following the Food Chain” class while Will sat in on “News Photography.” I learned what sets California agriculture a part from the rest of the country as well as how Pollan approaches the overtures of his long-form science pieces such as Playing God in the Garden, which appeared in the New York Times Magazine.

“The story needs to impart curiosity and initiate a journey of discovery rather than lecture like an expert,” Pollan said. “You’re moving toward a state of knowledge with the reader.”

He went on to say that he is continually humored by the fact that he’s a science writer, having no formal background in science. He seeks out patient experts that are good at explaining things to him, but he also sees the benefit in not being a scientist.

“I’m not too far ahead of my readers,” he says.

At that moment, I realized that this classroom full of students was not only paying for connections and a Master’s degree,

I’ve been in search of this kind of mentorship for over a year and a half now, with little success finding it in the current job market. That’s when the idea of journalism school started to make more sense–to gain formal training, connections AND one-on-one editing opportunities with brilliant minds.

So Why Berkeley?

I think where you apply is completely a personal preference. Having been born and raised in California, I’m partial to this great state (and Berkeley in particular) and I foresee myself ending up in California in the long run. Last summer, I met with a girl going to J school at City University of New York who gave me a piece of good advice: you should take into account where you want to end up because connections from New York don’t necessarily transfer to California. Some other benefits of UC Berkeley, aside from just being a top-rated school are:

• It has been fast to adapt to the changing media landscape, requiring a multimedia bootcamp where students are required to learn CSS, Flash, audio, film, and other web skills, while also offering a New Media track students can emphasize in and by requiring students to work on a hyperlocal community news site during the first year
• Classes are usually capped at 10-15 students
• Students get at least one international reporting opportunity, often more, which is included in tuition or by travel grants funded by the school
• Students can pretty much create their own curriculum except for a few required courses
• While not completely encouraged, students are able to take courses from other graduate school departments and 12 units can be counted toward the journalism degree
• Berkeley is a diverse and stimulating learning environment with a tradition of civil rights and social activism, rooting your education in pluralism and free expression

Advice from an Admissions Advisor

Monday night I attended an information session which shed a little more light on what the admissions committee looks for in applications:

• Letters of rec should be from professionals in the industry. It helps if letters are diverse and if they say what kind of reporter you are and why you’re a good fit for the J school. They should be deep and concrete.
• Work samples should also be diverse (the more recent the better) showcasing the range of your skills (although two of them have to be in print)
• The Statement of Purpose should state your present and future goals and answer the questions: “Why J school?” “Why Berkeley?” “Why now?”
• The Personal History statement should cover any thing up until now: How have you become interested in journalism and how have your life experiences led you to J school?
• The resume should only include RELEVANT experience that has shaped you as a reporter

I also found out that UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism has a 25-30 percent admittance rate, which was much higher than I expected. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get back to my application. Good luck to others who are applying!